No Excuses: The Joy of Man's Desiring

"Behold, the Lord...shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it." Isaiah 19:1

The idea of the lost being "without excuse" before God seems painfully unfair until God actually comes. At the sudden and uninvoked presence of Jehovah, there is no sense of surprise, just the cold sting of recognition (mixed with a good bit of shock). "The heart of Egypt shall melt." A melting heart is a heart that understands that it has run afoul; it knows it has been in the wrong. All the stony obstinacy that once served as a sure and comforting barrier against the solemn cry of the truth are turned as fluid as liquid at the presence of Truth Himself. Even the stony idols tremble with recognition, for "the devils also believe, and tremble." (James 2:19b)

St. Augustine was right when he said that God is the human heart's one and true desire. God is what we are all truly looking for. He speaks to that desire through everything: from the glory that is sung through the declarative words of creation, to the joys and sorrows of life that stir and shake our souls--God's siren call overshadows all.

We must get out of our heads that we do not know what we want. The law is written in our hearts (Romans 2:14, 15), and therefore we know and desire what is good (Romans 7:22). God spends our entire lives letting us know that He is the highest good, the form of the Good itself. If we reject Him, it is because we loved the darkness rather than the light (John 3:19). When He steps into time and space again, and the whole earth is full of His glory, there will be no question in any one's mind that this is the one that they truly wanted, though they rejected Him in the end; and every knee will have to bow in heaven, earth, and hell, declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord, and singing as one, "Jesu, joy of man's desiring!" Amen.