My beloved David is a Bible scholar. Even as I use the words I know that he would protest the title. But I don’t know what else to call a man who spends his time reading and studying God’s Word just for the joy of it. The book of Hebrews has always eluded him so he got a new devotional on the book through You Version Bible app and began studying it on his Kindle. I personally have always liked the book of Hebrews and consider it one of my favorites. I teased him that he couldn’t “get it” because it was probably written by a woman.

He gave me the holy stink eye.

A short while later he accidentally hit a button and the book of Hebrews went from English to the actual Hebrew language.

“No wonder those people in the Middle East are always so angry,” he sighed.

It took a bit but finally his version was restored to English. Unlike him, I am NOT a scholar but I think it’s been about seven thousand years since the Lord first royally confused us by dividing the people with language barriers at the Tower of Babel. We’ve been waving our hands and talking louder ever since. And we still can’t hear each other.

The world is getting smaller though. Through the internet my son-in-law takes Russian and was able to give his first sermon in the mother tongue just a few weeks ago during his trip there. And bless his heart, he’s been working on this for about four years. Our niece and nephew who are missionaries in Africa endure all manner of inconveniencies and hardships. But the language barrier is still probably their hardest thing to overcome.

I noticed something profound in the book of Hebrews that reminds us that no matter where we are and no matter what language we use, we can still see the Lord in His sweetest truest form.

Hebrews 1:3 reminds us that because God created the universe through His Son, it is Jesus that “radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command.”

Like much in the book of Hebrews, the Lord hands us some very heavy truth in a small amount of space. Again, I’m not a scholar but I think He’s telling us plainly:

If you want to know truth and see what real character is, look no further than the Son and you can see Me. I am the One holding all things together by the power of my Word.

It seems like every day our world not only gets smaller, it gets a little bit crazier. Our own country seems to be falling apart. But those few folks who seem to persevere through it all tend to have the character handed down to them that they need most during tragedy. Their practice has been to look to the God of the universe Who sustains everything by the mighty power of His Word. I think of the beautiful worshipers in Charleston who obviously had more to hold onto than hymnbooks and church pews. They stood strong looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of their faith. I’m sure their hearts still ache and long for the ones taken from their arms in such a horribly violent act. But by looking to the One they were there to worship, instead of their city being wracked with violence and hatred, it was infused with peace that no one could understand.

With the current elections and all kinds of craziness spreading across our nation, can we look to Jesus? It may sound cliché-ish, but it sure worked in Charleston.

God has promised to hold us together when we choose to look to Him.

“…keeping our eyes on Jesus, the Champion Who initiates and perfects our faith.” –Heb.12:2b

 

Lynna Clark lives in Salisbury. Read more at Lynna’s Wonderful Life at wordpress.com