"Captive Audience"

"Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the steams in the south." (Psalms 126:4)

  He is not done yet, that is for sure! There is something about knowing that God is always working, even when He is resting, He continues to work: He holds everything together, He makes all things new, and His love never ceases, regardless of the stupid things that we do! This is the beginning of something new; and as with everything that becomes new, with that comes change; and change sometimes makes us uncomfortable and puts us on edge. If you really want to see what we are talking about, imagine what, "the steams in the south," might look like and what they represent: because they represent calmness and prosperity! If you know anything about how the Holy Spirit works, He is all about those two characteristics, calmness and prosperity; as in control and order, as well as making us prosper in the spreading the Good News. I don't know about you, but if I am visiting a church where people are uncontrollably falling on the floor or laughing hysterically, I head for the door; the Spirit that I believe in does not do things that are out of order. When the disciples that were gather all spoke with different dialects, in Acts 2:3-13, they were all speaking about Jesus and the wonderful works of God. This is what Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do, to proclaim His name and the works of God; not be out of control and unruly, but under the control of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that proclaims Christ and redemption. The point of what I am trying to say, is quite simple: That it might be dream like, this journey we are in, this boat we are on, this bus ride to glory; but it is not out of control! God does not start something and then leave it up to us to finish; He finishes everything that He starts, including that work that He started in you! I never actually visited Niagara Falls, but from what I understand it is pretty intense. The streams in the south are pretty much the opposite of that kind of experience; so is the request being made in this verse; a request for calmness and prosperity! "Peace, be still," was what Jesus said to the raging sea; which is also what He continues to say to you and me; along with something else we sometimes forget to do, "to watch and be amazed"...

"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open the rivers in the high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the olive tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it." (Isaiah 41:17-20)