THE END OF OUR CONFUSION
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!...Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins and share in her plagues." Rev. 18:2-4, N.E.B.
The crowd is large and the street unfamiliar. You have become separated from your friend. You decide to try to return to the place where you last were together. "Pardon me," you say as you stop someone who looks like he knows where he is going. "Could you tell me how to find my way?"
"Sure!: he answers. But in following his direction, you discover yourself still lost. Asking someone else, you become even more confused. Suddenly you hear a familiar voice calling your name. "Over here!" Together once again with your friend, you work your way through the crowd and home.
In this world, the crowd is large and the way through life uncertain. We hear conflicting reports about how to get where we want to go. Not only have we lost sight of our Best Friend; we aren't even sure He is our friend! The things we hear about Him greatly intensify our anxiety. When He calls us, "Over here!" we are wary and distrustful. In the end, it is our own personal Babylon--confusion--that keeps us separated from Him. And as long as we remain apart from Him, our passage through this life remains hazardous and uncertain.
Does God fold His arms over His chest in disgust, saying, "Well, if they won't come when I call, it's their own fault if they stay lost"? No! He is not offended by our confusion. He does not condemn us for our wrong concepts about Him. He simply comes closer, mingling with us in the midst of the crowd, pacing Himself with us, going with us down one dark passage after another. Never does He try to force us to go His way, but quietly converses with us as we stumble along. Slowly we begin to realize that His commitment to us is genuine. His love unfailing. We sense that He is interested in us--not just getting us out of our predicament.
Our good Father calls us to come out of our Babylon confusion and into an understanding of who He is. We need not remain separated from Him. We need not experience the woeful effect of that separation--spiritual darkness, emotional starvation, atrophied capacities. We need not be plagued with guilt and remorse.
Well might we then shout with joy, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!"
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!...Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins and share in her plagues." Rev. 18:2-4, N.E.B.
The crowd is large and the street unfamiliar. You have become separated from your friend. You decide to try to return to the place where you last were together. "Pardon me," you say as you stop someone who looks like he knows where he is going. "Could you tell me how to find my way?"
"Sure!: he answers. But in following his direction, you discover yourself still lost. Asking someone else, you become even more confused. Suddenly you hear a familiar voice calling your name. "Over here!" Together once again with your friend, you work your way through the crowd and home.
In this world, the crowd is large and the way through life uncertain. We hear conflicting reports about how to get where we want to go. Not only have we lost sight of our Best Friend; we aren't even sure He is our friend! The things we hear about Him greatly intensify our anxiety. When He calls us, "Over here!" we are wary and distrustful. In the end, it is our own personal Babylon--confusion--that keeps us separated from Him. And as long as we remain apart from Him, our passage through this life remains hazardous and uncertain.
Does God fold His arms over His chest in disgust, saying, "Well, if they won't come when I call, it's their own fault if they stay lost"? No! He is not offended by our confusion. He does not condemn us for our wrong concepts about Him. He simply comes closer, mingling with us in the midst of the crowd, pacing Himself with us, going with us down one dark passage after another. Never does He try to force us to go His way, but quietly converses with us as we stumble along. Slowly we begin to realize that His commitment to us is genuine. His love unfailing. We sense that He is interested in us--not just getting us out of our predicament.
Our good Father calls us to come out of our Babylon confusion and into an understanding of who He is. We need not remain separated from Him. We need not experience the woeful effect of that separation--spiritual darkness, emotional starvation, atrophied capacities. We need not be plagued with guilt and remorse.
Well might we then shout with joy, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!"
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