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