May the mumbling commence!
The One who holds the Church up and holds her together is not always easily seen. Sometimes, He is hidden in the corners of the building in the great supporting arches. Read from Isaiah 28:16-18a –
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.
Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the grave will not stand.
God has set the precious cornerstone that secures the foundation of His people of the promise. We are to trust in the justice and righteousness of the Lord as He placed this cornerstone – Jesus the Christ. The things that we once thought brought us security – retirement money, insurance, influence, power – will be swept away. They will be our refuge no more. But that precious cornerstone cannot be moved. Our former hiding places will be deluged. They will look as effective to us as the infant or toddler, who covers his eyes to hide from others.
And the lie that we have been living has led us into sin – which has brought us into a covenant with death and an agreement with the grave. Thanks be to God for the precious cornerstone that annuls and voids this covenantal agreement!
Sometimes, the One who holds the Church up and holds her together is hidden beneath the surface. Read from Isaiah 11:1-9 –
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him –
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord –
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
A shoot will come up, and a Branch will come forth from that and bear fruit. But neither of these things would be possible without the root to uphold them. And roots are below the surface – easily missed. To be rooted, we must be in the Spirit of the Lord – the Spirit that imbues wisdom and understanding, counseling and power; so that righteousness and justice will be clearly seen. May we walk with Jesus and be connected to the root of the Spirit of the Lord. Then, God may begin to construct the peaceful world described in the green portion of this passage.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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