“You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “Never again…” Isaiah 62:6b-8a
Having the opportunity to speak to High School Freshman classes, and having spent hours preparing, I was nervous! I told them so. The presentation I had prepared was, “How NOT to HAVE to live with your mom after graduation.” Preparing and RE-PRE- preparing, Katie guessed why I was so nervous saying, “You care about this too much!” She was right!
When I was in high school, I didn’t get much help in the “whaduhyawanna do with your life,” department. Consequently, as a junior, I found myself in the ‘Guidance Office’ talking to an uncaring counselor. When I asked, “what am I going to do with my life? I have no ideas?” His response was “There’s a catalog over there… go look through it. You’ll find somethin’!”
50 years later, as I sweated the details of what to say to kids who are now where I was, I was again… VERY NERVOUS! I look around the world and I do not like what I see. Evil is not just lurking… it’s attacking… and right around the corner! Truth be told, I actually wonder how much freedom today’s kids will have. Will their voice, if they choose to have one… matter?
This verse I read this morning… jarred me! Written by a prophet of God about 3,000 years ago, it is GOD telling people what it is that HE wants! It may be the craziest piece of Scripture of all! God wants ME, to PESTER Him, until He DOES, what it IS… HE REALLY WANTS to DO! Go ahead… read it again! Apparently after 3,000 years, He hasn’t been pestered enough!
The opportunity to stand before classes of kids, starting out where life starts mattering. On a road of Apathy! From there on, their lives will be tracked and scored. Winners go on to win. Losers will go on to ‘the college of hard knocks’ to learn ‘the hard way…’ or just plain lose! But the one thing that kept me nervous was their apathetic ‘freedom of choice.’ Now God… I get it!
The apathy in the room scared me. I tried to scare that from them with numbing facts of what awaited if they didn’t start the course clearly pointed out before them. Checking the news when I got home, I saw Jews being viciously persecuted around the globe. The UN, our own Senate and Congress have become a zoo! Many people have yet to learn a thing! I give up!
I don’t mean I give up – up! I can see that doing Earthly things Earthling’s way isn’t working. This verse today feels heavier to me. So instead of poking at the world, I’m going to try poking at God to remind Him (at HIS request) that it is HIS wish to make Jerusalem (the City of Peace) the center of a loving peaceful world… where we who love Him will live FOREVER! But I have to ask myself if I really CARE enough to work up my voice! What about you? “HEY GOD!”
Here’s a challenge… I was a kid in the 60’s. Try reading the 60’s chapters in Isaiah! See what God has to say about what just MIGHT be going on… TODAY! And POKE HIM! After all, HIS heart is broken too!
