Voice

Knipper's "Isaiah in the Temple"

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me.’ And he said, ‘Go, and say to this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull…” (Isa. 6:8-10).

And the Word of the Lord came to Habakkuk:

“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation,

who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.

They are dreaded and fearsome…”  (Hab. 1:5-7).

Cornelius “prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, ‘Cornelius.’ And he stared at him in terror…” (Acts 10:3-4).

“Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending” (Acts 10:9-10).

Do we really know what it means to pray? We think we know what to expect. I read my Bible, sip my coffee, pray, then go to work. But we are talking, engaging in two way conversation with the one who makes his messengers winds and his ministers a flaming fire (Ps. 104:4). The one who made the bush burn, who spoke through a donkey, who sent an earthquake and a fire and a quiet whisper to Elijah to communicate. The one whose word turned Isaiah’s, Jeremiah’s, Habakkuk’s, Peter’s, and Cornelius’ life upside down. One word. No longer the same. A word that can build and plant, destroy or establish nations (Jer. 1). God—I AM WHO I AM—spoke! To mere mortals, like us, some of them just in the course of their normal prayer time. And we dare come cavalierly as if we know what to expect?

Do we know what it means to pray? To enter into a dialogue with the King? The One who has the right to demand all and ask all as Creator? The One who himself poured himself out to utmost humility and even to death, death on a cross? How dare I think he will respect my selfish comfort? My pouting of self-pity? Requests that kind of tend to be more, “My will be done?” “This is what I want, please bless it?” And I treat prayer as a wish list or a honey-to-do list?

Do I really know what it means to enter into an audience with the King who has angels covering their face before him? The Holy One before whom no one can see face to face and live? Yet to enter boldly into his throne room?

Do I really know what it means to ask the Voice of the Prophets who sent Jeremiah to a rebellious nation, who asked Isaiah to walk naked, Ezekiel to eat bread baked over excrement? For his name’s sake, to be his vicarious suffering voice?

The Ruler of the Stars can speak, respond. Every time I pray he can speak back. And his word has ultimate authority. Nothing is off limits. No comfort. No fear. No location. No change. No money. No “mine.” No “my.” He could say anything! Anything! And I have said he is my King. No and King do not belong in the same sentence.

But yet what adventure and dignity. We are treated as individuals, persons. We have the dignity to be in conversation with him! What a God! What a wonder! What is man that you are mindful of him?! May we tremble at this awesome privilege, the burden of being free creatures.

But yet what beauty. Angels may tremble but I call him Abba. Mountains may jump at his bidding, and he bids me to come and ask. Not a snowflake slips from the silvery clouds without his say so, and I name him Supplier of all my needs, Sustainer, Shelter from the Storm, One Who Speaks to Me. Grace. Christ the Stairway to heaven, who bridged the gap, who condescended in human form. Who left the angels calling his praises to speak to me. Do I know what prayer is? In Christ alone.