A MAN OF GOD…. A PROMISE OF GOD
PART 1
God keeps His promises. It’s a major part of His immutable nature. He doesn’t hold out hope with nice-sounding words, then renege on what He said He would do. God is neither fickle nor moody. And He never lies. As my own father used to say of people with integrity, “His word is His bond.”
When you stop to think about it, it was because of a promise of God that Elijah came on the biblical scene in the first place. It was the prophet’s unpopular task to announce God’s message to the king. That message had to do with a terrible drought that was coming: The drought would last for years, and it would not end “except by my word” (1 Kings 17:1). That message was not only a wake-up call to get Ahab’s attention, it was also a not-so-subtle reminder that, even though Ahab thought he was in charge, “the God of Israel lives” and He, alone, determines what will happen when.
Elijah’s heroism in standing before the king of the land and telling him what he didn’t want to hear came from the man of God’s confidence in the word of his Lord. The Master of heaven had spoken, and that was the message Elijah brought to the attention of Ahab. God promised a drought, and nothing Ahab could do would keep it from arriving of diminish its devastating results. Furthermore, God had assured the prophet, who passed it on to the king, that the drought would not end until God determined it would end. Period. End of announcement. Exit Elijah. Bring on the drought.
The very thing that God had communicated through His prophet came to pass. Exactly as God promised, there was not a drop of rain to relieve the scorched earth. The land became parched and barren as months passed, turning into years. Rivers no longer flowed, streams dried up, wells ran dry, crops burned to a brown crisp, animals died, and the king found himself totally helpless to interfere with God’s act of judgment.
God keeps His promises. Agree with it or not, His word is final.
As we have seen, many things were happening behind the scenes during this drought. God’s servant was put through the paces as his Lord prepared him for the mission He had in mind for him. The only “headline news” was the dreadful drought, day after monotonous day. But behind the scenes, unheralded, God was working His sovereign will in the heart of His man, Elijah, just as faithfully as He was sustaining the drought across the land of Israel. And even though it may have seemed that He had forgotten all about His earlier statement regarding the land, He never forgets anything He promises. That’s right… never.
God’s agenda continues to unfold right on schedule, even when there is not a shred of evidence that He remembers. Even when the most extreme events transpire and “life just doesn’t seem fair,” God is there, carrying out His providential plan exactly as He pre-arranged it. and to complicate matters, He doesn’t feel the need to clear any part of that plan with any earthling. Why should He? Chances are good we’d not agree anyway. And so we wait. And wait. And wait. Our faith is stretched because, I repeat, there is absolutely nothing that makes us think He even remembers the promise He made.
And then suddenly, without warning, He keeps His word. He decides it’s time to step back into time as we reckon it (which is not at all the realm in which exists) to make good on His promise. It’s the right moment. Enough waiting. And wouldn’t you know it? As He said He would, He acts. Changes occur just as He promised. It’s happened like that ever since our Creator has been dealing with His creatures. Yet we still doubt. We still worry. We still wonder if He will remember. Strangely, we just don’t get it.
Now, back to our friend Elijah. In the first verse in 1King 18 there is an eloquent phrase: “The word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year.” Three years! That’s an incredibly long time to go without rain. We can’t even imagine it, can we? But God was up to something. By now, not even those false prophets could garner much credibility. All repetitious prayers and rituals and voodoo tactics had proven useless. Is it any wonder that Elijah had the people’s attention when he challenged the prophets of Baal and Asherah to a public showdown with Jehovah God? By now, they were willing to try anything. Elijah didn’t have to plead for their cooperation.
And is it any wonder that, when God proved Himself to them, the people “fell on their faces” and immediately acknowledged, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God” (18:39)? And when Elijah told those same people to seize the prophets and not let one of them escape, he didn’t have to beg them; the people of Israel had had enough of those idolatrous fools! The fire from heaven may have convinced them, but the never-ending drought had already sucked dry most of the confidence they’d had in the pagan leaders they had once followed. God’s delay worked wonders when the choice between who was worthy of worship needed to be made. Natural calamities normally turn hearts toward God, not from Him.
But look again at the first verse in 1King 18, and you will find another promise of God. Elijah was more than ready to hear this one! “I will send rain on the face of the earth,” God said.
Finally. What relief that promise must have brought. I find it interesting that God’s prophet had never once complained about the drought, even though the very brook from which his water supply came had dried up, and even though it must have been as dreadfully difficult for him as it was for the others in the land of Israel. But the difference between Elijah and the others was simple: He knew God would one day fulfill His promise and bring rain. Until then, Elijah would wait, never doubting, because he was fully persuaded of something most of us, at one time or another, doubt: God keeps His promises.
SOME CLARIFYING COMMENTS ABOUT PROMISES
The Bible is full of promises-thousands of them. In fact, I recall reading many years ago in a national periodical that someone had taken the time to count all the promises in the Bible and had come up with almost seven thousand five hundred of them! I have not counted all of them, therefore I’m not able to verify that figure, but it is safe to say there are indeed several thousand promises in the Word of God. Admittedly, they are not all as specific and direct as the ones we’ve reviewed from Elijah’s day, but there are numerous promises punctuated throughout the Scriptures.
The question worth pondering is one I’ve seldom heard addressed: Can we claim every one of those promises personally? I can still remember singing a little chorus in Sunday school: “Every promise in the Book is mine…” But that isn’t true. That’s a major overstatement. As a matter of fact, one of the best ways to get yourself in trouble really fast is to start claiming every biblical promise you come across. Though some would encourage us to go in that direction, I need to warn you: That’s a dangerous practice.
In an excellent book that speaks to this very issue, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, I find some extremely helpful counsel. The author, theologian Bernard Ramm, warns against trying to force any and every Bible promise into our specific situations. As a case in point, he cites the example of a man who, during World War II, wondered if he should enlist in the military service, of join the Merchant Marines, or seek a theological waiver. Like many believer, he turned to his Bible for help and, while reading in the Psalms, he found a reference to “those who go down to the sea in ships” (Psalm 107:23). He took that personally and literally, claiming it as a direct order from God to enlist in the United States Navy.
The action could not be based upon any sensible exegetical principle,
nor upon any spiritual principle. It was a haphazard coincidence be-
tween the verse that had the word seas in it and the United States
Navy.
Unfortunately, that young man is not alone in employing this method of determining God’s message to them. He meant well, but he made the common mistake that so many untaught believer make. Ignoring the context and overlooking the possibility that certain promises were given to one specific person for one particular situation, these individuals claim that all the biblical promises are there for us today, in whatever circumstance we may find ourselves. Those who do this will someday find themselves woefully confused, however, for not all promises found in the Bible are for us to claim. Nor were they ever meant to be.
Don’t misunderstand. The Bible is, indeed, God’s inerrant Word. And His Word is authoritative, profitable, and reliable. God has preserved it for us to guide us into His will, to assist us in our struggles, to comfort us in our sorrows, and to equip us to stand firm through trials. There is no question about any of that. But this is not to say that every single promise that has been recorded in the pages of Holy Scripture is written for us to claim and count on.
So please stay with me through this important section of clarification. We’re not going to lose sight of Elijah, but we do need to understand certain things about God’s promises.
PERSONAL OR UNIVERSAL
Before you and I can claim any promise, we need to determine in which category it falls. Is it one of those promises that was meant for a uniquesituation and given to a specific person or group of individuals who lived in the days in which Scripture was being written? Such personal and direct promises applied to them and only them, at that time, for specific purposes God reserved for their time and place. Or is the promise one of the many general promises that have a much broader-based universal appeal and application?
Is it one of those unique promises, not addressed to us, but specifically meant for another? Was that the setting in which God had that promise recorded? Or did He intend it for anyone in any generation?
To determine the answer, we must check the context, read the passage carefully, and employ great discernment. If it’s the former, then stay away from it. Don’t go there. Refuse to set your heart on that promise as though it’s for you. Otherwise, you’re in for a massive disappointment and future disillusionment! However, if it is in the latter category, claim it. Count on it. Believe it. I would even say, more often than not, memorize it! It could prove to be a source of enormous comfort and reassurance in the days ahead.
An example of a promise to a specific individual in a unique situation would be God’s promise to Joshua in Joshua 6:
And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the
city once. You shall do so for six days. Also seven priests shall carry
seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day
you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow
the trumpets.
And it shall be that when they make a long blast with the rams’
horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people
shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down
flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Joshua 6:3-5
That promise was given to Joshua for his specific situation at the city of Jericho. It is not a promise to be claimed by any other military commander, past or present, in attempting to take a city.
Or consider the promise in Mark 16:18: “They will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them.”
Certain groups of people today use this verse as a basis for their beliefs, claiming this as a personal promise for their disciples. Consider this newspaper report headlined, “2 Holiness Die in a Test of Faith.”
Two Holiness preachers who had survived the bites of poisonous
snakes tested their faith with strychnine and died a few hours after
drinking the poison…. Cocke County officers [of Tennessee] said copperheads and rattlesnakes were handled at the… religious service Saturday night. After the snakes had been handled, Mr. Williams and Mr. Pack drank strychnine as a further test of their faith [based on] Mark 16:18.
I repeat the warning: It is dangerous to claim a promise out of its context, apart from its primary setting and away form its original meaning. If it is a personal promise in a unique situation, stay away from it. That promise is not for you and me.
If, however, the promise is a universal one, then claim it joyfully. Several in this category come to mind:
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp;
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Psalm 103: 11-13
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
&nb sp; &nb sp;
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Proverbs 3:5-6
Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Isaiah 41: 10
Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and
it shall be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him
who knocks it shall be opened.
&nb sp; &nb sp; Matthew 7: 7-8
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Romans 10: 11-13
And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Philippians 4: 19
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for you testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. By on means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a believer, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; 1 Peter 4: 12-17
CONDITIONAL OR UNCONDITIONAL?
Even with those promises we may claim, however, we need further discernment. We must determine whether they are conditional or unconditional.
A conditional promise will not be fulfilled until we have kept our part: the condition on which the promise hangs. For example, consider 1 John 1: 9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness.” If I refuse to confess my sins, I cannot expect my holy, heavenly Father immediately and automatically to forgive my carnality. In other words, I cannot claim the promise of God’s forgiveness until I’ve done my part (the condition), which is to confess my sins.
Matthew 21:22 says, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.’” People point to that verse and say, “There is my promise. I can ask God for such and such and I will receive it.” But they often over-look the condition in Scripture that says, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:18). In other words, a sinful, disobedient heart, though it may be the heart of a child of God, does not arouse the activity of God. The vessel must be clean. That’s the condition that must be met.
Unconditional promises are just that: unconditional. They are neither qualified nor limited. What is promised by God will occur, regardless of anyone’s response. Several come to mind.
Thy word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Psalm 119:105
And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But He
does according to His will in the host of Heaven and among the in-
habitants of earth: And no one can ward off His hand or say to Him,
“What hast Thou done?”
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Daniel 4:35
And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Philippians 4:19
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Titus 2:11
For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.
&nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; &nb sp; Hebrews 6:10
The Bible is God’s inspired truth. It is wholly trustworthy, for God is trustworthy. It is our sacred guide, written for our instruction. But it is not some kind of rabbit’s foot we carry about, hoping for good luck. It is to be read intelligently, interpreted carefully, treated respectfully, handled wisely, and applied correctly. Down through the centuries the Scriptures have been misread and twisted, forced and abused, by saints and sinners alike. Often, those who go farthest away from God’s intended direction are those who pull promises from their original and unique settings and push them, inappropriately, into applications they were never meant to fulfill.
PART 2 WILL BE PUBLISHED ON SATURDAY JUNE 28, 2008
Tags: A PROMISE OF GOD
THE PAST DAYS [JUNE 13 THROUGH JUNE 17]
These past days [June 13 through June 17] I spoke with two people, who told me how they were feeling and as strange as it may be, during that period of time, the identical feelings were upon me, pressing me down and keeping my spirit downtrodden! Thus it should be a serious business with us to be thoroughly purged of every error which may have a tendency to foster the spirit of Popery, and when we have made a clean sweep at home, we should seek in every way to oppose its all too rapid spread unto the others and the world. This can be done in secret by fervent prayer. We must warn with judicious boldness those who are inclined towards the errors of neglect; we must instruct the young in the gospel truth, and tell them of the black doings of Popery in the olden times. We must aid in the spreading of the light more thoroughly through the land, like owls hate daylight!
BONDSLAVE OF DESPONDENCY!
Memory is frequently the bond-slave of despondency. Despairing minds call to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past, and dilate upon every gloomy feature in the present; thus memory, clothed in sackcloth, presents to the mind a cup of mingled gall and wormwood. There is, however, no necessity for this. Wisdom can readily transform memory into and angel of comfort.
That same recollection which in its left hand brings so many gloomy omens, may be trained to bear in its right a wealth of hopeful signs. She need not wear a crown of iron, she may encircle her brow with a fillet of gold, all spangled with stars. Thus it was in Jeremiah the great Prophet’s experience, memory had brought him to deep humiliation of soul: “My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me,” and now this same memory restored him to life and comfort. “This I recalled to my mind, therefore have I hope.” Like a two-edged sword, his memory first killed his pride with one edge, and then slew his despair with the other.
As a general principle, if we would exercise our memories more wisely, we might, in our very darkest distress, strike a match which would instantaneously kindle the lamp of comfort. There is no need for God to create a new thing upon the earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they would prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and the throne of grace, their candle would soon shine as aforetime. Be it ours to remember the loving-kindness of the Lord, and to rehearse His deeds of grace. Let us open the volume of recollection which is so richly illuminated with memorials of mercy, and we shall soon be happy. Thus memory may be, as Coleridge calls it, “the bosom-spring of joy,” and when the Divine Comforter bends it to His service, it may be chief among earthly comforters.
GRACE LIKE LIGHT REVEALS OUR IMPURITY
If Mephibosheth [King Saul’s grandson] was thus humbled by David’s kindness, what shall we be in the presence of our gracious Lord? The more grace we have, the less we shall think of ourselves, for grace, like light, reveals our impurity. Eminent saints have scarcely known to what to compare themselves, their sense of unworthiness has been so clear and keen. “I am,” says holy Rutherford, “a dry and withered branch, a piece of dead carcass, dry bones, and not able to step over a straw.” In another place he writes, “Except as to open out breakings, I want nothing of what Judas and Cain had.”
The meanest objects in nature appear to the humbled mind to have a preference above itself, because they have never contracted sin: a dog may be greedy, fierce, or filthy, but it has no conscience to violate, no Holy Spirit to resist. A dog may be a worthless animal, and yet by a little kindness it is soon won to love its master, and is faithful unto death; but we forget the goodness of the Lord, and follow not at His call. The term “dead dog” is the most expressive of all terms of contempt, but it is none too strong to express the self-abhorrence of instructed believers. They do not affect mock modesty, they mean what they say, they have weighed themselves in the balances of the sanctuary, and found out the vanity of their nature. At best, we are but clay, animated dust, mere walking hillocks; but viewed as sinners, we are monsters indeed. Let it be published in heaven as a wonder, that the Lord Jesus should set His heart’s love upon such as we are. Dust and ashes though we be, we must and will “magnify the exceeding greatness of His grace.” Could not His heart find rest in heaven? Must His needs come to the tents of Kedar for a spouse, and choose a bride upon whom the sun had looked? O heavens and earth, break forth into a song, and give all glory to our sweet Lord Jesus!
CONQUEST MUST SUSTAIN YOU!
Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The believer’s life is not a beginning only in the ways of God, but also a continuance in the same as long as life lasts. It is with a believer as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, “Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me.” So, under God, dear believer in the Lord, conquest has made you what you are, and conquest must sustain you.
Your motto must be, “Excelsior.” He only is a true conqueror, and shall be crowned at the last, who continueth till war’s trumpet is blown no more. Perseverance is, therefore, the target of all spiritual enemies. The world does not object to your being a child of God for a time, if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage, and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair. The flesh will seek to ensnare you, and to prevent your pressing on to glory. “It is weary work being a pilgrim; come, give it up. Am I always to be mortified? Am I never to be indulged? Give me at least a furlough from this constant warfare.” Satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance; it will be the mark for all his arrows. He will strive to hinder you in service: he will insinuate that you are doing no good; and that you want rest. He will endeavor to make you weary of suffering, he will whisper, “Curse God, and die.” Or he will attack your steadfastness:
“What is the good of being so zealous? Be quiet like the rest; sleep as do others, and let your lamp go out as the other virgins do.” Or he will assail your doctrinal sentiments: “Why do you hold to these denominational creeds? Sensible men are getting more liberal; they are removing the old landmarks: fall in with the times.” Wear your shield, child of God, therefore, close upon your armor, and cry mightily unto God, that by His Spirit you may endure to the end.
Tags: WRITING AND POETRY
“THE TRIUNE GOD”
Thomas Carlyle, [1795-1881] following Plato, [437 B.C.] pictures a man, a deep pagan thinker, who has grown to maturity in some hidden cave and is brought out suddenly to see the sun rise. “What would his wonder be,” exclaims Carlyle, “his rapt astonishment at the sight we daily witness with indifference! With free, open sense of a child, yet with the ripe faculty of a man, his whole heart would be kindled by that sight… This green flowery rock-built earth, the trees, the mountains, rivers, many-sounding seas; that great deep sea of azure that swims overhead; the winds, sweeping through it; the black cloud fashioning itself together, now pouring out fire, now hail and rain; what is it? Ay, what? At bottom we do not yet know; we can never know at all...”
To meditate on the three Persons of the Godhead is to walk in thought through the garden eastward in Eden and to tread on holy ground. Our sincerest efforts to grasp the incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity must remain forever futile, and only by deepest reverence can it be saved from actual presumption.
Some persons who reject all they cannot explain have denied that God is a Trinity, subjecting the Most High to their cold, level-eyed scrutiny; they conclude that it is impossible that He could be both One and Three. These forget that their whole life is enshrouded in mystery. They fail to consider that real explanation of even the simplest phenomenon in nature lies hidden in obscurity and can no more be explained than can the mystery of the Godhead.
Every man lives by faith, the nonbeliever as well as well as the saint; the one by faith in natural laws and the other by faith in God. Every man throughout his entire life constantly accepts without understanding. The most learned sage can be reduced to silence with one simple question, “What?” The answer to that question lies forever in the abyss of unknowing beyond any man’s ability to discover. “God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the places thereof,” but mortal man never.
How different are we who have grown used to it, who have become jaded with satiety of wonder. “It is not by our superior levity, our inattentions, and our want of insight. It is by not thinking that we cease to wonder at it… We call that fire of the black thundercloud “electricity, and lecture learnedly about it, and grind the like of it out of glass and silk: but is it? Whence comes it? Whither goes it? Science has done much for us; but it is a poor science that would hide from us the great deep sacred infinitude of Nescience, whither we can never penetrate, on which all science swims as a mere superficial film. This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle, wonderful, inscrutable, and magical and more, to whosoever will think of it.”
These penetrating, almost prophetic, words were written more than a century ago, but not all the breath-taking advances of science and technology since that time have invalidated one word or rendered obsolete as much as one period or comma. Still we do not know. We save face by repeating frivolously the popular jargon of science. We harness the mighty energy that rushes through our world; we subject it to finger tip control in our cars and kitchens; we make it work for us like Aladdin’s jinn, but still we do not know what it is. Secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation of zombies. We cover our deep ignorance with words, but we are ashamed to wonder, we are afraid to whisper “mystery.”
What God declares the believing heart confesses without the need for further proof. Indeed , to seek proof is to admit doubt, and to obtain proof is to render faith superfluous. Everyone who possesses the gift of faith will recognize the wisdom of those daring words of one of the early Church fathers: “I believe that Christ died for me because it is incredible; I believe that He rose from the dead because it is impossible.”
Reflection upon revealed truth naturally follows the advent of faith, but faith comes first to the hearing ear, not to the cogitating mind. The believing man does not ponder the Word and arrive at faith by a process of reasoning, nor does he seek confirmation of faith from philosophy or science. His cry is, “O earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord. Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar.” It was both the sinfulness of humanity and God’s plan to save humanity that put Jesus Christ to death on the cross. It was not an afterthought but it was part of God’s eternal plan!
That rough-looking diamond is put upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much-much that seemed costly to itself. The King is crowned; the diadem is put upon the monarch’s head with trumpet’s joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from the coronet, and it beams from the very diamond which was just now so sorely vexed by the lapidary. We may venture to compare ourselves to such a diamond, for we are God’s children; and this is the time of the cutting process. Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown shall be set upon the head of the king, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one ray of glory shall stream from us. “They shall be Mine,” said the Lord, “in the day when I make up My Jewels.” “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” Ecclesiastes 7:8
In 1951 the year I was born was the inception of the Korean War between America and North Korea. That conflict raged on for two years and an “armistice” was declared in 1953. Since then Korea became North Korea and South Korea. A demilitarized zone was created and American Soldiers have been there since then. It is amazing to see the mysteries of God’s mercies. At 1:00AM Pacific Standard Time, February 25th 2008, where Politicians, Diplomats or the Military could not go, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra was playing at Pyongyang East Theater in North Korea– The United States National Anthem - The Star Spangled Banner and the North Korean National Anthem. It was an amazing site to see Lorin Maazel conducting the New York Philharmonic as he continued with Dovark’s Symphony # 9, Gershwin’s – An American in Paris, and music from such great minds such as Wagner and others. I think the most striking moment was looking into the seated crowd, Americans and Koreans alike, shedding tears of joy. I can only imagine what they were thinking! Perhaps, just perhaps, they were thinking, after all, we are just alike, so why do our respective Governments continue with their phantasmagoric rationales and internecine policies. You see for me, that amazing site represents hope for the future. I believe it will be well with the souls of world leaders to take a page out of this extra ordinary event and see that people of good will can come together, and in so doing they can help to make a better world for all people, irrespective of beliefs, nationality, color, creed or class!
It may also be well for each and every one of us to realize that irrespective of whether we are rich or poor, smart or dumb, highly educated or of little intelligence, through the eyes of God, we are not better than each other, we are just “different.” The One who holds up the foundation of the world on “nothing,” created each and every person individually for a special purpose and “we can all make a difference in this very troubled world
Tags: WRITING AND POETRY
