It’s been quite some time since I have picked up a pen. Of course, I am speaking figuratively, as I just set down the pen I use to make notes in my Bible every morning. What I mean is that it has been awhile since I have sat down with a cup of coffee, put on a little Siriusly Sinatra, and get lost in my thoughts as I jot down my observations in the world, in the church, and in the Scriptures.
“Pastor, what are you talking about? You write a sermon every week. Certainly, you’ve been writing.” True, but I don’t necessarily count my sermons as “writing.” A sermon is a different kind of writing. There is more prose, more bullet points and less full sentences, less “structure” (at least the way it physically looks on my note sheet). When I write a blog, a “post,” or parts of the book I am writing, I take much more time with word choice. There is no “leaving room for the Holy Spirit” because what is printed on the page has finality. There is no verbal delivery or riffing off a point that is made from the pulpit. What is written, is written.
No takesies backsies.
And so, maybe that’s why I haven’t been intentionally sitting down to write. Sometimes we forget that when we hit that “post” button, whatever we say is now cemented in eternity. That can be a be good thing, to be sure! But ask anyone who has ever made a mean or ill-advised Tweet or Facebook post. All it takes is for someone with nothing better to do than dig through decades-old information to use and abuse it for personal gain.
For reasons that I can suspect, but not be that confident of, I haven’t really been able to formulate or string thoughts together very well as of late. I have noticed it in my conversations, my sermons, and my Bible studies. Certainly, the Spirit has taken over my words for me at times but overall, from a human perspective, it has been incredibly frustrating. I love to write. I love the organization that has published some of my writing. I love all of you who give a damn about what I have to say. I feel like when I can’t produce good writing, I am letting people down. Which then makes it all the more frustrating when I can’t seem to compile two coherent thoughts. A great idea comes to mind, and I go to speak it but it comes out all jumbled and confusing.
Michael Scott of The Office has a great quote about this: “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence, and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation.” Do you ever feel like that?
I am certain that this is how the people felt in Genesis 11. The first documented event post-flood with the infamous Tower of Babel. The great “reset” button is hit, the world starts over with just eight people and we hear of the descendants of this family. Chapter 11 begins by telling us that all these generations of people had but one language and the same words. But soon they, as their ancestors did, pursue selfish evil, desiring to make a name for themselves (v. 4). The Lord, recognizing this rebellion against His commands, goes down and confuses their language so that they would not understand one another (v. 7). From there they are dispersed over the face of the earth.
Babel. Confused. Imagine these conversations prior to being scattered. Imagine how frustrated they must have been, trying to communicate simple sentences only to receive a dumbfounded look of confusion in return. It reminds me of one of our guys at Family of God who physically can only speak one or two words at a time. He knows exactly what he is saying, but nobody else does. Once we have a break though, tears of joy stream down his face because at last, finally someone understands him.
If you are anything like me and you are struggling to communicate, take heart. Our Lord knows our needs even before we ask of them. We can “babel” on to Him in what sounds like complete and utter nonsense to us. But He hears it in rystal clear, hi-definition.
He hears our pleas, He sees our frustration, He feels our struggles and pain, He is acutely aware of our inability to string two sentences together to ask Him for what we need.
So He acts without being asked. Just like in Genesis 11, He descends from the heavenly realm. Only this time, it’s not to confuse us. It’s to die an unspeakable death as payment for our sins. It’s to rise a victorious resurrection for our justification and life. It is to unite us, the bride of the groom, to Himself in a marriage that will never end. This is an event that will be etched into the pages of history forever. No confusion about that.
God gives to us His one and only Son Jesus Christ.
No takesies backsies.
Rev. Tyler Cronkright 