Its a cloudless morning. The wind is blowing just enough to make my hair wave in the wind. Echoes of songs sung in the chapel behind me are still sinking deep into my soul and causing my head to spin. Eventually, the melody and words of worship sink so deep that they penetrate my very heart. It breaks. Shatters even. I feel completely taken back as if a hot wind knocks me to the ground. I sit there, on the precipice, over looking a sight that has caused others to weep more than once.
I hear the words of a man, ragged from persecution and sadness, a prophet even, who was here before me wept intensely as this place was destroyed by war. The old man's heart broke as mine had done. He would no longer hear the sweet songs rising up to heaven, he would no longer hear the sound of celebration. There was nothing before him but a wasted land and a wasted people. Another man approaches many years later and stands perhaps in the same place that I know sat, completely heartbroken, this man's heart broke as well. Though I would never say mine broke like his broke. The people below were singing, celebrating, living their lives as normal individuals, but he saw deeper than that. He saw a torn people, there, in that city. He saw a torn land, plagued by war. He saw every place like it that has ever existed in history. This man sobbed, in a way that others could probably not. He cried out: "How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"
I hear these voices as I sit there overlooking that great city, Jerusalem. I see some of it's brokenness and heartache. I see it's desire for something more. Then I wake up from my dream. With the picture in my head and the burden in my heart. You see, while I felt the pain in my dream of a city that was broken and chained, I knew that this was much more than just a city on my heart: Standing there with its stone walls and ancient buildings. No, that was just the symbol of what my heart had been pierced by. There on that mount overlooking the city, I heard the cries of the lonely, the poor, and the oppressed. I heard the cries of those who were bound in the chains of addiction and believed they were destined to live with them on forever. I heard them all ask and beg: Is there any hope for me?!
When King David looked at the beloved city of Jerusalem he was inspired to sing and encourage everyone to pray for it's peace. I would encourage you to pray for its peace as well. But I do not mean just the city. I mean the symbol of what the city stands for. Pray that the peace that passes all understanding comes upon people so that they will know hope. Pray that those who know hope will hear the cries of those still in their chains and will run their with the hope and freedom that we know.
I'm sharing this today specifically, because I feel it so intensely right now. I talk to a friend and can see they are hurting so much, but don't realize they don't have to live with that kind of bondage and pain forever. You've all heard it said: "To whom much is given, much is expected." We have been given much hope. Let us then give what is expected of us.
Psalm 122:6 says: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, may those who love you be secure."
Peace be with you,
-AM
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