MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE

All eyes and hearts are on Haiti. Following a cataclysmic earthquake of unprecedented proportions, the world stands in complete dismay. How could this happen with scalpel-like precision to the poorest, most needy country on this entire earth? It is incomprehensible. We look and then look away. We don't want to understand it. There is no explanation. Almost more impossible to understand, as the first night befell the people of Haiti . . . as utter darkness consumed this country now riddled with a new form of gloom . . . was not the silence of the streets devoid of traffic, or the cities devoid of electrical noise, was perhaps an unexpected sound, as unexpected as the quake itself. Anyone having experienced the quiet following a natural disaster knows too well the deafening quiet of a land robbed of the sound of life beating. The sound of nothingness is almost surreal. Thoughts race through your mind. Does anybody know we are here? Does anyone know what has happened to us? Does anybody know our suffering? Thoughts will soon turn to the only One who always does. And, the silence will fill with singing.

Singing! A joyful noise? In the dark of night, less than a day after loved ones were ripped from the arms of our fellow man? The media reports confirmed it. "The Lord will save us" became the battle cry of the Haitian people and song filled their hearts. Amazing grace in the face of utter disaster, unconscionable fear, grief seemingly too great to overcome . . . a people paralyzed, save for their ability to sing.

This is a country on the mat. Like the paralytic in Capernaum, they cry out making a beautiful noise, waiting to be lowered through what is left of some makeshift straw, mud and tile roof down to the floor at the foot of our Savior, Jesus. Over $300,000,000 has been raised in relief effort. Rescue agencies, teams and militaries have been mobilized as a world stands by watching the miracle begin to take place. It gives me pause to be reminded, again, about our humanity and compassion for our fellow man. More importantly, however, I stand amazed at the magnitude of faith of a nation choosing praise over sorrow, anger or self-pity.

I have seen this strength of human spirit first hand in every visit to the ECC in Bosnia. Fifteen years after the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian War, the faithful continue to gather and make a joyful noise. Still, they hope and pray for complete recovery of a country torn apart by war, hatred, persecution, ignorance and intolerance. As Muslim terrorist groups move into the Northeast (see side bar article), the faithful sing out to their Savior. Deliver us! You are mighty, God. You are sovereign. Nothing will challenge their belief in an all knowing, all seeing God who will not forsake his children.

This, too, is a country on the mat. Whether for a moment or for a decade or two, it is all but a vapor in time from God's perspective. He has a plan. He will never leave you and will never let the righteous fall. He is faithful. To witness these truths, this kind of faith, lived out by those who have the most reason to question is most humbling and strengthens my own walk.

Psalm 100 is one of my favorite psalms. It is a psalm of thanksgiving, inviting us, reminding us to be thankful to God. He is a God of mercy. I thank God for those who reveal His truths to me in such relevant ways, and pray continually for their deliverance.

"Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing."

Psalm 100:1-2

Make a Joyful Noise!

Grateful,
Kathy