The Fingerprints of God

"And it came to pass, as Sennacherib was worshiping in the house of...his god, that...his sons smote him with the sword..." Isaiah 37:38

God did not merely send the Assyrians on their merry way. That might have been enough for the average deity, but not for God. It seems that the Lord of hosts cannot help but put an exclamation point on the whole affair. Not only was Sennacherib turned back, but he also was killed; not only killed, but also killed in the house of his god, showing his deity to be impotent (the exact same charge that he leveled against God); not only in the house of his god, but also by the hand of his own children. If all that is not an exclamation point, I do not know what is.
The delicious irony of the situation is more proof that God is not merely a machine, some cosmic thought process moving everything with cold and calculating mathematical precision. One could almost swear that you were dealing with a writer, or at least a poet. He seems to revel in grand monologues, near escapes, romantic rescues, and ironic finishes. He cannot simply enter the formula, press the buttons, and let things fall as they fall; He has to put in a little twist, a little touch, a little of Himself in the process. The "fingerprints" of God are never some sort of authorization signature, as though God were corporate manager, and the universe a well-oiled machine and business. His fingerprints reveal something like a playwright with a play: it is littered with dramatic crescendos and ironic punchlines. One feels like there should have been a comedic drum roll after verse 38 (ta ta, dum!). In addition, one feels (and can wonder at the idea) that verse 38 not only reveals God's judgment and faithfulness, but also, in some sense, His mirth as well.

"You who laughs at the vain things of this world,
You who sings with the morning stars,
And dances in eternal communion,
Take me into Your Mirth and Joy..."
-Jon Vowell

I Tremble at the Thought...

"...the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this." Isaiah 37:32b

Most people get befuddled by the relationship between God's sovereignty and man's freewill, but I find the relationship between His sovereignty and His zeal to be more interesting (and scandalous in its implications). Ask yourself: If God knows all and is in control of all, why is He zealous about anything? Why is He zealous to defend His city and His people? Surely He knows that the Assyrians cannot win against Him? That they cannot take one step without Him? You would think a God with completely control and power would yawn at the flagrant claims of Sennacherib, or any other king. Why, then, does the Bible say that He laughs (Psalm 2:1-4)? What's so funny about things going according to plan? In short, if God is sovereign over all, then on what grounds does He interact with this world with life and energy and zeal? Even shorter: why do we not have the God of the deists? The plan will go as He set it; why such zealous involvement? Why any involvement at all?
I know that there may be deep, theological answers to such queries that a scholar could easily give you. I am not a scholar, and will not try to attempt such answers. I do have two thoughts, however. First of all, God's zeal should be a wondrous reminder to us that God is a person and not a machine. The premium mobile has a heart; the first cause has love and passionate zeal. We do not communion with mere brain.
That communion is the second thought. God is intimate. There is no aloofness, no ivory tower. He is with us always (whether we want Him or not). For some reason, God felt that overarching sovereignty was not enough, that it would make Him (dare we say it?) incomplete. He could not be merely in control of all things; He had to be with all things. Not that He needed to be with all things (for He needs nothing), but that His very nature implies not only all-encompassing sovereignty, but also intimate communion with all that is from Him and of Him. He is paradoxically enmeshed with and independent from His creation; it is not Him, and He is not it, and yet they are one.
If you think such an intimate relationship (one, yet separate) is impossible, you are a blatant liar (or an ignorant fool). Such a unity is known to humanity on its concrete plane, known in a form that only lovers or poets can utter with any clarity. Can it be that the human act hailed as the most animal is in fact the most sacred? Is that so called (and vulgarly called) "biological function" humanity's fullest imitation, on the physical plane, of the very nature of God Himself? I believe it is.
Furthermore (and I tremble at the thought), could it be that this unity (one, yet separate) that is the nature of God, which humans share with each other (how amazing the idea!), is the same basis by which God relates to us? Again, I believe it is, and again, I tremble at the thought; not out of fear, but of wonder. We (through Christ) are made one with God as a lover is one with a lover? Scandalous; yet, apparently, the truth.

"Your Love is Extravagant.
Your Friendship, it is Intimate..."
(from Casting Crowns)
-Jon Vowell

The Wave

"Hast thou, [O Assyrians,] not heard long ago, how I, [the Lord,] have done it [see vs. 24, 25]; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou should be, to lay waste defensed cities into ruinous heaps...Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way that thou came." Isaiah 37:26, 29

C.S. Lewis once said that there is an inherit contradiction in trying to argue with God--He is the source of our reason by which we argue. We can no more argue against Him than a "river can rise above its source." The Assyrians learned the same truth: they could not raise arms against God, for it was God who had given them the strength to raise arms in the first place. They were attempting to cut the branch that they were sitting on. Interestingly, from this incident we learn that even if you are not God's people/children, without Him you are still nothing.
God's omnipotence and sovereignty should not terrify and vex us. They should be, in the end, a source of encouragement and strength. Though we should seek to clear up all the confusions about the relationship between God's power and control and our freewill choices, we need to ultimately seek to stress and embrace the deeper truth: nothing happens that is outside God's control or command. No enemy of ours can frustrate or stop Him; no obstacle can trip or snare Him; and our own imperfections and flaws do not stall Him for a second. God's will is a massive, building wave, rolling ever onward and upward. You can either know they joy of being swept up into and riding it, or feel the oblivion of rejecting and being run over by it. Such joy is real joy, and oblivion real oblivion; and the choice is yours.

You Who controls all things,
May Your wondrous Will
Sweep me away
And take me into You...
-Jon Vowell

The Centre

"Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from [the Assyrian's] hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only." Isaiah 37:20

People are deceived if they think that sins occur due to the sinner being particularly depraved beyond all reason. We are all equally fallen, capable of all the same things. Sin comes at us all with the simplest of attitudes: "It's all about me." Such an attitude is devilishly clever because it can slip into our minds at any moment: while we're doing something genuinely good, genuinely bad, or neutral and asinine. Whatever we have set our hands to do (even writing a blog!), we can turn into a moment of self-idolatry.
"O Lord...save us...[that all] may know that thou art the Lord." Not, "Save us so we can be saved," nor even, "Save us because it is the right thing to do," but, "Save us for Thy sake." You want the secret to a joyful life? Here it is: it is not about you; it is all about Him. Until we get that, we will continue to chase the winds, looking for joy and contentment for ourselves until we realize that such things are only found in Him, for He is all that everything is about; it all leads back to Him (save for the bent will of Sin, that cast itself into nothingness). Our life is a story, but it will be lost into oblivion if we do not surrender it to His Story.
"Thou art the Lord, even thou only," i.e., You alone are the focus, the "centre," the premium mobile. We are never whole until we surrender our little chaotic movement into the Great Dance of the Triune God.

Oh Love that moves the Heavens and earth,
Take my exasperated spirit into Your Dance,
And may I never go back
To the self I left behind...
-Jon Vowell

Who the Enemy Hates

"Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God." Isaiah 37:17

Self-vindication, an affliction for most people, hits Christians due to an inability to properly identify the real cause of attack. We do the right thing, say the right thing, act the right way, and stand up for what is right, and we get scorned, insulted, mocked, and misunderstood. The trick is, however, that it is not we that are being scorned, insulted, mocked, and misunderstood; it is the life of God inside us.
When we are rightly related to God, His presence in us will produce a life and light that those in darkness cannot tolerate or understand. "For everyone that doeth evil hates the light" (John 3:20). It was true for our Lord; it is true for those who have His life and light within them.
Just as we get confused about who is fighting us (viz., Satan and his forces; not your parents, teacher, co-workers, boss, etc.), so too we get just as confused about Who they are fighting. They fight us, not because of us, but because of the Life and Light within us. The darkness attacks the light, and God is the light; if we are with Him, we will be attacked for His sake, not ours. Self-vindication (devilish quicksand!) fades like chaff in the wind when we realize that it is God whom they attack; it is not about us, but always about Him.

I am not in the crossfire;
I am on the front lines,
Not for my own sake,
But for the sake of Another...
-Jon Vowell

Come Unto Him

"And Hezekiah received the letter from [the Assyrians], and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord." Isaiah 37:14

We are the worst when it comes to prayer; we make it more complicated than it needs to be. We fill it with useless pomp and circumstance, acting like we have to say this or that, or else God will go all humbug on us. That is not the God we serve, the One to whom we cry, "Abba, Abba" unto. So many of us get caught up in the tangled web of our preconceived notions when it comes to our relationship with our heavenly Father. How many of us have experienced the joy of simply bringing our burdens to Him and spreading them before Him?
"And Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread the letter before the Lord." How simple and grand! No ceremony; no juggling; no performance; no hoop-jumping. He just came and brought. What more is required of God's children? Absolutely nothing, except to come unto Him all ye that are heavy-laden, and He will give you rest. Too often we make our giving of burdens to God a burden in and of itself. We have to learn: God's grace is poured out in abundance to us, and we can do nothing to make Him deal with us any more or less than that abundant grace.
There is a difference between bringing burdens and bringing petty problems. We often easily bring the latter while over complicating the former. This should not be! Bring your Father your pains, spread them before Him, and know the joy of watching Him fix them.

Unending Love,
Amazing Grace,
Poured out to us.
May I revel in it always...
-Jon Vowell

Edge Moments

"...for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth." Isaiah 37:3b

We've all been there before; we'll be there again; we might even be there now. The moment has come that requires all of our faculties, talents, and strengths to come to bear; for all that we are to stand up and answer the charge laid before us, to stand up and be accounted for. We have truly come to the edge; and it is there, in that moment, that we discover our staggering inability. The enemy is too much, the obstacle(s) too large, the cost too high, the risk too great, etc. It has come time to deliver, and we find no strength to do it.
We will run into this situation again and again, from things of asinine importance to vital importance; and we will continue to stumble through those moments like fools until we realize their purpose. They are not there to make you fall back, nor are they there to make you leap out in reckless abandon onto your own doubtful strengths. The arm of flesh will fail you. "Cursed is the man that trust in man," said Jeremiah. Such reckless abandon is truly only reckless.
These "edge moments" are meant to make us leap out in reckless abandon, not on ourselves, but on God. Hezekiah knew that the moment had arrived, and that Israel could not deliver the goods. So what did he do? "He went into the house of the Lord" (vs. 1), and the he sought out Isaiah, the Lord's prophet (vs. 2). Hezekiah knew exactly where to turn when his strength failed him. Do we have such knowledge?

Lean on the arm of flesh
Or the Everlasting Arms.
How many times
Have I chosen foolishly...
-Jon Vowell

Everything to God in Prayer

"And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard [the threats from the Assyrians], that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord." Isaiah 37:1

To be distressed to the point of weeping and despair is not a sin. God understands and allows for such things (see the Psalms, esp. Psalm 103:13, 14). Sin comes when the despair leads you to anything but Him. Distresses are to make us despair of everything except God. That is their purpose: cause everything else to fall to the ground so we can know the truth, i.e., we have no other hope but Him. The sad part is not that a Christian in despair, but a Christian whose despair does not lead him to grasp hold of their Father's feet.
"Hezekiah...went into the house of the Lord." The king knew from whence comes strength and power and hope. He knew where he should go when despair comes: into the presence of His Father. "Thus saith the Lord, 'Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard...'" (vs. 6). Such a truth is ours for the taking at anytime. Sings true the song that said, "Oh, what peace we often forfeit! Oh, what needless pain we bear! All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!" Why do we allow ourselves to suffer so much when we have God? Distresses will come, but they are never for their own sakes; they are always meant to drive us to our Father so that we can know the joy of watching His intimate care in our lives as He fixes all our distresses.

Lead me not to books of wisdom,
Lead me not to wiser men,
Lead me only to Your Presence,
Lead me to Calvary...
-Jon Vowell

Fear Not

"Rabshakeh said unto [Israel]...If thou say to me, 'We trust in the Lord our God,' is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away?" Isaiah 36:7

Those who are afraid to hear the skeptics are no better than the skeptics, i.e., they have no faith in what they believe. It is true that such dealings should be done carefully and in stages; many get overwhelmed because they took on too much too early. Done properly, however, and you will find the skeptics are full of hot air. Though they may ask valid questions, they are all based on assumptions that are wholly erroneous. The silliness of Rabshakeh's question to Israel is matched only by his bravado in saying it.
Do not misunderstand: this is not saying that we should not take skeptics seriously, but that we should not fear them. Part of being a Christian is believing that there is an answer for the hope within, whether you know it or not. If you do not know it, then seek until you find it. God does not allow doubts to assail us for their own sakes; they are there so that we might seek and know.
"Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria...have cast [the nation's] gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the works of men's hands..." (Isaiah 37:18, 19) Christianity is not a man made thing. A building, an empire, or an institution may be, but Christianity is more than these. It is life in intimate communion with God. That is a truth beyond "just the facts." You can state it in words, but you can never know it until you experience it.

May I never despair of men,
May I never be haughty over them.
May Your Truth be the basis of
My relation to them...
-Jon Vowell

The Great Return

"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return..." Isaiah 35:10

A part of Israel's redemption was a returning, a getting again of what had been lost or taken. Though Isaiah foreshadowed exile for Israel, he also foreshadowed redemption, and that entailed a return to the land of promise. What was once torn asunder is now reconciled together, is made as one again.
Read Romans 5:10. That we were "enemies" of God is incredible to consider. We became the foe of our very Creator, sided against Him in rebellion, and made a pact with His enemy, becoming his children. There has been a great tearing asunder of ourselves from what gave our lives purpose and life. There is now etched in the essence of humanity a longing for return and a sadness at being unable to return.
"We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." Jesus Christ is the Great Return, the bringing together again of what was lost from each other. "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1b) The war, on this plane, is over. We have surrendered; and through surrender, we have won, for our surrender has caught us up in the victory of Christ over death, hell, and the grave. We have left the pits of Sheol and have been swept back up into the intimate communion of the Godhead. The ransomed pf the Lord have returned, ad what a reunion it has been. We have returned to God, with songs and everlasting joy upon our heads. We have obtained joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing have fled away.

My God is reconciled,
His pardoning voice I hear.
He owns me for His child,
I can no longer fear.
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And, "Abba, Abba Father," cry...
(from Charles Wesley)
-Jon Vowell

The Way of Holiness

"And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, 'The way of holiness.' The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for the [redeemed]: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." Isaiah 35:8

There is a reality to the truth of Paul's saying, "We are more than conqueror," that Christians do not live in. To be "more than a conqueror" means to be past the ability of a conqueror to conquer, viz., to be unconquerable. Through God in Christ ("through Him that loved us," Romans 8:37), there is no foe that can beat us, there is no way for us to lose. "If God be for us, who can be against us," carries the weight of this truth. Victory is not something we are striving to obtain; it is forever ours in Christ. At all times, we are victors.
"The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." Even without a sharp mind, or with a disposition given to foolish behavior, once you are set upon the way of holiness, there is no going astray. You are forever the redeemed (vs. 9). The true power of the grace of God is that He brings you into the way of holiness and He keeps you there. You can never lose in the spiritual realm, for the condemnation of Sin is gone. That is freedom.
It is true that, though we are free, we should not behave foolishly because we are free, because Sin has no meaning for us anymore (Roman 6:1, 2). However, get the freedom in your mind first: though you be a fool (a poor, broken fool), God's grace guarantees that you can never go astray on the way of holiness.

The Road goes ever on and on,
Dow from the door where it began,
And never shall I leave that Way,
For I am kept by Grace alone...
(adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien)
-Jon Vowell

Pasture and Water

"[In] the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes." Isaiah 35:6b, 7

Though trials and tribulations are a part of God's plan four our lives, so are still waters and green pastures. We should forget neither the purging fire that He is, nor the invigorating life that He is. In His presence, not only is that which is dead burned away, but also that which is barren and dry is filled and satisfied. Nowhere but in God can we find pasture and water for our soul.
"He maketh me to lie down in pastures of tender green grass: He leadeth me beside the waters of rest." (Psalm 23:2; Rev. Marg.) Just listen to the sound of that! "Tender green grass...waters of rest." There is the valley of the shadow of death, but there is also the pastures and the waters. Both are a fact in our lives. Anyone who tries to simplistically sum up existence with "Life is pain," or "Life is happiness," is selling you something. Life is far more complex than such "boy's philosophies," because God is more complex, and He is our life. Walking in intimate communion with Him will mean walking many times through the twilight of death and the dawn of life. To know Him, intimately know Him, means partaking in both "the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings" (Philippians 3:10, 11). Life with God is a life, with all the beauties and tragedies that come with it.

Oh, I want to know You more.
Deep within my soul, I want to know You.
And I would give my final breath,
To know You in Your death and resurrection.
Oh, I want to know You more...
(from Steve Green)
-Jon Vowell

Some Basics

"Strengthen ye the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, 'Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come...He will come and save you.'" Isaiah 35:3, 4

The strength of the believer is the God in whom he or she trusts. I know that sounds basic, but it is the basics that we most often forget. Our strength and salvation is of the Lord, and nowhere else. Anything, no matter how practical, noble, logical, spiritual, or asinine, anything that distracts you from God is to your detriment.
You are not struggling to find a job in order to find a job; you are getting to know Him. You are not stressing over schoolwork just to stress over schoolwork; you are getting to know Him. You are not sick right now in order to find a cure; you are getting to know Him. Your marriage/relationship is not rocky right now so you can fix it; you are getting to know Him, and sometimes getting to know Him will involve finding the job, succeeding in the schoolwork, finding the cure, and fixing the relationship. Other times, however, it does not. The key is that those things do not become the thing that captures your full attention. Only God should arrest your gaze, only He is captivating, only He is your magnificent obsession. Everything else (when it becomes the thing) will drive you into the ditch.
The Lord knows we are easily distractable. The world is a noisy, attention getting (often ear-splitting) place. Learning to fully focus on God is all a part of living the life of faith. It will take strength, yes; but fortunately, you have the life of God living through you, and nothing is impossible anymore. As a learning experience, it does not matter if you get distracted (you will!), so long as you realize what's going on and refocus yourself. This realization comes when God gets your attention, and much His attention-getting hurts depends very much on your stubbornness to not realize what is happening. We may get so fixated on something other than Him that He must pry our fingers loose. Pry He will, however, and though it may hurt, it is for our good in the end.

"Death is God's delightful way of giving us life."
-Oswald Chambers

Lord, set me free
From all these things
That arrest my gaze.
Please captivate my soul...
-Jon Vowell

Life

"...the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing...they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." Isaiah 35:1, 2

The presence of God means many things. Several we've looked at before were truth and light. Now we add another one: Life.
"Our God is a consuming fire," i.e., ever growing, never static, over abundant energy. There is never a sterile monotony with God; there is always a flair, an exuberance, life. Deadness is the furthest thing from Christianity, and yet it is so often pictured as such. If we really believe in sacramental living, if we really believe that God Almighty now dwells in our bodies, deadness can never be a part of our reality. The true life of God is too much to contain. We often successfully bury it under stinking piles of legalistic to-do lists or sentimental fluff and trash, but even that cannot contain it. Death itself could not hold such life in the grave; and at the midnight hour, its song will disturb you out of sleep, and you will feel the ache of knowing that you are not truly living.
"The desert shall...blossom as the rose." Does that happen in our lives? Do those who are barren feel the irresistible presence of Life when you come around? Or do you have to hand them a tract before they realize you're a child of God? Most of evangelism (generally speaking, of course) is to take place before we even speak a word.
Please note that there is a difference between deadness and death. Death is (for the Christian) the gateway to life; through Christ's death we are saved, and through dying daily we release the Life of God in ourselves and to others. Deadness, however, is the continual absence of life. We are to recklessly embrace the former and utterly condemn the latter. The death that leads to life should be a hallmark of a Christian, but deadness should have absolutely no meaning to them.
If such living sounds like a high standard, it is one. However, it is a high standard because through Christ we have been given the Highest, i.e., the presence of power of God Almighty. Christ did not save us into keeping rules or being good; He saved us into God-likeness, and that is only possible if somehow, someway, everything that God is, we are.

Your Life is abundant.
Your Love is extravagant,
That You would give me
Your Love and Life...
-Jon Vowell

Incredible, but True

"Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: 'Not one of these shall fail...for my mouth, it hath commanded, and His Spirit, it hath gathered [the beasts together; see vs. 11-15]'" Isaiah 34:16

The word of the Lord is paradoxically incredible and sure. It is so hard to take God at His word because it is such a matter of great faith when you get right down to it. Our practical common sense revolts against the promises of God: "Yes, Lord, that sounds all beautiful, but how will it put bread on the table, or pay the bills, or get me a job?" A modern mindset that demands "just the facts," coupled with an American drive for success through results, creates an agnostic Molotov cocktail in us all. God's promises light the fuse, and we blow with all the skepticism possible for a person.
Talk to anyone in a strong and growing relationship, and they will tell you that the fundamental thing to their relationship's success is the issue of trust. The same is with God, in Whom we have intimate communion in Christ. He does not ask that we grasp all that He is; He asks that we trust Him. If we trust Him, we will obey Him; and if we obey Him, we learn to know Him. God is known only in the dynamic of personal fellowship, not abstract syllogisms.
God promised that Edom would be desolate, and the habitation of every foul beast. It is incredible, but it is true. All God's promises come that way. For our relationship with Him to grow, they can come no other way.

Leaving my wits at their end,
I embrace the Mystery
And Security
That is Your Consuming Fire...
-Jon Vowell

The Absence of God

"...and He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness." Isaiah 34:11b

Edom is receiving the judgment of God, and the results are chaos and emptiness. Interestingly, in the original language (i.e., Hebrew), the words "confusion" and "emptiness" are the same words used in Genesis 1:2 for "without form and void." In Paradise Lost, John Milton had the outer darkness that surrounded creation ruled by "Chaos" and "Night." Absolute disorder and absolute nothingness are the direct result of the absence of God. Before "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," the earth was chaotic and empty. Could it be that Edom's judgment is to be ignored by God and left to the darkness and chaos of evil?
The absence of God is the presence of Hell, for Hell is the only place that God is not, the one place for those who reject Him could possibly go; and it is His absence that makes it Hell. It is no small thing to teach that Sin brings separation. To be separated from God means to be separated forever from the Source of all joy, love, hope, virtue, wisdom, righteousness, goodness, peace, order, justice, honor, kindness, light, knowledge, strength, grace, mercy, and all things "good and green in this world." To reject and be ultimately cut off from that which our heart truly desired, from that which we were created to be one with, is Hell indeed.
The choice between Heaven or Hell is really the choice between God or not-God. Heaven means nothing without Him, and Hell is what it is without Him. This includes our daily choices as well as the ultimate one. Every day, our choices unleash Heaven or Hell in ourselves and unto others. Will our choices today release the presence of God, or will we suck Him clear out of the room?

Heaven and hell lie in my hands;
To unleash or quench, my choice stands.
May Your Presence, like a Fire,
Burn within my soul, and unleash Heaven on earth...
-Jon Vowell