Since August, I have written only twice here, although I had words inside of me for many more posts. What I had to say did not seem to fit into this space very well, if at all.
But this space is my podium, my journal, my lessons, my little place I have called my writing-home since 2009. Why can’t I write words that speak of my personal journey in this personal, although also public, space?
Of course, I can!
I live in a nation where speech is still free! I pray it stays that way too!
Here at Being Woven, you will start seeing more of the under-belly of the weaving which is me being woven. I have spent much of these thirteen years in this space sharing the more finished side of the weaving rather than the side where those yarn-ends are sticking out, not yet tucked in properly, although I did write from that well now and then too. With a voice that may be somewhat unfamiliar to my readers (and to me), those raw points of this weaving may protrude. It is still me, my friends.
First Amendment of the United States of America’s Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
I hope and pray that I will honor God in all I say and do. Lord, please guide my steps, my words, my voice(s).
My voice has been silent for two and a half months now.
I have had so much to say yet no words would come in any semblance of order.
I felt like my voice was being snuffed out!
It is NOT, although I am still struggling.
BUT…I will speak up.
I will utter what is important for me to say. It is vital.
The United States of America is the country I have lived in and loved for 75 years.
The divisions…the lying…the violence…the fears…the hatred…all overarch this moment we, as a country, are standing in. It is a precipice from which we may not come back. We are on the brink of losing the democratic form of government we have known for the past 226 years. Yes, there have been other moments in our history when this same democracy was on the brink of possible collapse, but it DID NOT.
IT DID NOT THEN.
I PRAY IT WILL NOT NOW!
We cannot take this moment for granted, saying, “Oh, it’ll be alright. Just relax.”
WE CANNOT RELAX! WE MUST NOT RELAX!
THREATS and FEARS cause us to be STILL and SILENT.
WE MUST NOT BE STILL.
WE MUST NOT BE SILENT.
ANYMORE!!!!
READ THE PREAMBLE to the Constitution of the United States:
“We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ”
This is NOT the description of the United States of America as I see it today. Where is the justice, domestic tranquility, general welfare, blessings of liberty? Oh, that more election candidates would run on these things rather than on slander, libel, lying, violence. We are certainly not living in a ‘perfect Union’ for ‘perfection’ just is not humanly possible, but I wish for something nearer to that ideal than what I currently see!
My voice has been silent for these months, but I do not want to remain so.
I am not the only one who is losing her/his voice…
WOMEN are losing her voices.
DARK SKINNED people are losing their voices. (Most have never really been allowed to speak wholeheartedly here in America, I am sorry to say.)
IMMIGRANTS are losing their voices too (but most have never had loud voices either).
ASIAN-AMERICANS are losing their voices.
JEWS are losing their voices…AGAIN.
LGBQT people are also losing their voices (people who have only recently had a voice yet now are finding it threatened).
VOTERS are being intimidated from expressing their voices on ballots.
ELECTION WORKERS are being intimidated and many have left their VITAL ROLES in keeping ELECTIONS SAFE.
TRUMP FOLLOWERS actually lost their voices years ago when they chose to believe his lies and no longer know what the truth is. They think they have a voice but what they have is the former President’s and his buddies’ voices and the FOX news’ voice, all of which have been telling lies for years now. TRUTH has lost its voice in some realms of our country/world.
Our voices are vital to keeping hold of a democratically-ruled country.
The 2022 Midterm Elections are next week.
Our democracy is on the ballot.
Truth is on the ballot.
Every race on your individual ballot is vital to this election. Consider each candidate seriously because who we choose down the entire ballot can make, break, upend our democratic type of government.
Let us hold onto it!
If we vote for those who continually deny the outcome of the 2020 election, then the democracy we have known for 226 years will disappear soon, I truly believe, because that is what the deniers of election outcomes are saying!
I DO NOT want to live in a country run by an AUTOCRAT, DICTATOR, AUTHORITARIAN.
I WANT DEMOCRACY, A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC! WHAT DO YOU WANT?
PLEASE…VOTE WISELY!AND VOTE!Your country depends on you!
After it His voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard. Job 37:4
And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of His arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. Isaiah 30:39
C. H. Spurgeon in “The Treasury of David:”
“The thunder is not only poetically but instructively called “the voice of God,” since it peals from on high; it surpasses all other sounds, it inspires awe, it is entirely independent of man, and has been used on some occasions as the grand accompaniment of God’s speech to Adam’s sons. There is a peculiar terror in a tempest at sea, when deep calleth unto deep, and the raging sea echoes to the angry sky. No sight more alarming than the flash of lightning around the mast of the ship; and no sound more calculated to inspire reverent awe than the roar of the storm.”
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 2 Peter 1:17
I am overwhelmed by the majesty that is God. His majesty is truly something that drops me to my knees, humbled by the awesomeness of Who God is. I do not physically hear God’s voice yet the ears of my heart do. It is through these ears that I am awed. I am filled with reverence and humility. I am not afraid. When I hear His voice, I am at peace while at the same time filled with a thrill that I cannot explain.
Psalm 29
A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
May the LORD give strength to His people! May the LORD bless His people with peace! [Psalm 29:1-11]
Again, Mr. Spurgeon says: “‘The voice of the Lord is powerful.’ An irresistible power attends the lightning of which the thunder is the report. In an instant, when the Lord wills it, the force of electricity produces amazing results. … God is everywhere conspicuous, and all the earth is hushed by the majesty of his presence.”
O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah,to Him Who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, He sends out His voice, His mighty voice. Psalm 68:32-33
Charles H. Spurgeon wrote of verse 33 as:
“‘To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old.‘ Before, he was described in his earthly manifestations, as marching through the desert; now, in his celestial glory, as riding in the heavens of the primeval ages. Long ere this heaven and earth were made, the loftier abodes of the Deity stood fast; before men or angels were created, the splendours of the Great King were as great as now, and his triumphs as glorious. Our knowledge reaches but to a small fragment of the life of God, whose ‘goings forth were of old, even from everlasting.’ … ‘Lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.’ Was there a thunderclap just then heard in heaven? Or, did the poet’s mind flash backward to the time when from the heaven of heavens the voice of Jehovah broke the long silence and said, ‘Light be,’ and light was. To this hour, the voice of God is power. This gospel, which utters and reveals his word, is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Our voices are fitly called to praise him whose voice spoke us into being, and gives us the effectual grace which secures our well being.”
Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies.
Awesome is God from His sanctuary; the God of Israel—He is the one who gives power and strength to His people. Blessed be God! Psalm 68:34-35
The God of all creation, the God of the Majestic Voice heard on high, may I know Your voice in Your guidance for my life. I pray the magnificence of it so moves me to know Your voice, to heed Your voice, to bow in adoration and praise the One Who created me in my mother’s womb. You mean so much to me, Father. Please take my hand and lead me to the place to which you would have me to go. I find that I can seek You and praise You while at the same time, I am not comprehending the ways in which You work here in this world. Some of Your children seem to have strayed, yet is it I? Have I lost my way? Take me and hold me near, Father. May Your voice be of comfort as well as mighty. Thank You, my Father. In Your Son’s Holy Name I pray. Amen.
We know “Audible” as a membership from Amazon to listen to books read by the author or someone else rather than read them ourselves. But the “audible” I am writing about today is the voice of God actually heard. Not only could Jesus hear the Voice of God but at three points in the life of Jesus, the people around Him could also hear God’s Voice in some manner. God had something to say to those around Him on those moments. We know these because they are written in the Word of God. Yes, God spoke many other times in the Bible but these are the New Testament audible moments that are written down for us.
At the baptism of Jesus
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17
φωνή
phōnḗ – (fo-nay’)
a sound, a tone
of inanimate things, as musical instruments
of wings, of wind, of thunder, of waters
a voice
of the sound of uttered words, (of declarations from heaven, heard though no speaker is seen)
of crying, shouting, lamenting
speech
such as language tone, a tongue
I love the Greek word for this audible sound. Our English word telephone is rooted in this word as are phonetics and phonics, cacophony, symphony, saxophone, microphone, xylophone, megaphone, etc.
Matthew Henry on Matthew 3:17 in his Commentary on Matthew: “To explain and complete this solemnity, there came a voice from heaven, which, we have reason to think, was heard by all that were present. The Holy Spirit manifested himself in the likeness of a dove, but God the Father by a voice; for when the law was given they saw no manner of similitude, only they heard a voice (Deu. 4:12); and so this gospel came, and gospel indeed it is, the best news that ever came from heaven to earth; for it speaks plainly and fully God’s favour to Christ, and us in him.“
Think about how often we have prayed to our God asking Him for an answer. We hope to hear from Him. We hope to get a sign. We want to know His will so that we do not stray. And often there is silence, but He hears us in our prayers, in our hearts and minds and souls.
And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him. 1 John 5:14-15
We may rarely physically hear, see, or feel an answer from God yet He provides it at the appropriate time…His perfect timing.
Yet, God spoke audibly:
At the transfiguration of Jesus
He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” Matthew 17:5
Matthew Henry on Matthew 17:5 from his Commentary on Matthew:
There came a voice out of the cloud, and it was the voice of God, who now, as of old, spake in the cloudy pillar, Ps. 99:7. Here was no thunder, or lightning, or voice of a trumpet, as there was when the law was given by Moses, but only a voice, a still small voice, and that not ushered in with a strong wind, or an earthquake, or fire, as when God spake to Elias, 1 Ki. 19:11, 12. Moses then and Elias were witnesses, that in these last days God hath spoken to us by his Son, in another way than he spoke formerly to them. This voice came from the excellent glory (2 Pt. 1:17), the glory which excelleth, in comparison of which the former had no glory; though the excellent glory was clouded, yet thence came a voice, for faith comes by hearing.
What this testimony from heaven was; This is my beloved Son, hear ye him. Here we have, (1.) The great gospel mystery revealed; This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This was the very same that was spoken from heaven at his baptism (ch. 3:17); and it was the best news that ever came from heaven to earth since man sinned. It is to the same purport with that great doctrine (2 Co. 5:19), That God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Moses and Elias were great men, and favourites of Heaven, yet they were but servants, and servants that God was not always well pleased in; for Moses spoke unadvisedly, and Elias was a man subject to passions; but Christ is a Son, and in him God was always well pleased. Moses and Elias were sometimes instruments of reconciliation between God and Israel; Moses was a great intercessor, and Elias a great reformer; but in Christ God is reconciling the world; his intercession is more prevalent than that of Moses, and his reformation more effectual than that of Elias.
This repetition of the same voice that came from heaven at his baptism was no vain repetition; but, like the doubling of Pharoah’s dream, was to show the thing was established. What God hath thus spoken once, yea twice, no doubt he will stand to, and he expects we should take notice of it. It was spoken at his baptism, because then he was entering upon his temptation, and his public ministry; and now it was repeated, because he was entering upon his sufferings, which are to be dated from hence; for now, and not before, he began to foretel them, and immediately after his transfiguration it is said (Lu. 9:51), that the time was come that he should be received up; this therefore was then repeated, to arm him against the terror, and his disciples against the offence, of the cross. When sufferings begin to abound, consolations are given in more abundantly, 2 Co. 1:5.
Before the Last Supper
“Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your Name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not Mine. John 12:28-30
In these verses from John 12, God speaks for the sake of those around, for my sake and your’s, even today. We are to glorify the Father in all we are and in all we do. A real reminder! Jesus reminds those around Him that He does glorify His Father and we are to be imitators of Christ. This is not some light and fleeting statement. This is what our walk with the Lord is all about…to glorify Him.
Matthew Henry writes of this glorification in his Commentary on John:
1. How this answer was given. By a voice from heaven. The Jews speak much of a Bath-kól-the daughter of a voice, as one of those divers manners by which God in time past spoke to the prophets; but we do not find any instance of his speaking thus to any but to our Lord Jesus; it was an honour reserved for him (Mat. 3:17; 17:5), and here, probably, this audible voice was introduced by some visible appearance, either of light or darkness, for both have been used as vehicles of the divine glory.
2. What the answer was. It was an express return to that petition, Father, glorify thy name: I have glorified it already, and I will glorify it yet again. When we pray as we are taught, Our Father, hallowed be thy name, this is a comfort to us, that is it an answered prayer; answered to Christ here, and in him to all true believers.
(1.) The name of God had been glorified in the life of Christ, in his doctrine and miracles, and all the examples he gave of holiness and goodness.
(2.) It should be further glorified in the death and sufferings of Christ. His wisdom and power, his justice and holiness, his truth and goodness, were greatly glorified; the demands of a broken law were fully answered; the affront done to God’s government satisfied for; and God accepted the satisfaction, and declared himself well pleased. What God has done for the glorifying of his own name is an encouragement to us to expect what he will yet further do. He that has secured the interests of his own glory will still secure them.
The Father’s answer to this address; for he heard him always, and does still. Observe,
Three times, the voicewas heard from above, speaking to Jesus, speaking about Jesus, speaking to and for the hearers of the Word. God came in ways that were not understood by some standing nearby. The voice was heard as thunder, as an angel, and in words telling those around just Who this Man was and is still today.
So often, we want to hear from God, know the exact answer, the exact moment, the exact person, etc. It is a rare communication we audibly hear with the physical ears that God, our Creator, gave us. Yet, our spirit hears. Our heart hears. There is communication by the Holy Spirit to our spirit from God. It reaches the very depth of our beings. It may come when we read His Word or when we pray or when we are silent before Him. God communicates with us by many paths. Our “inability to hear it cannot invalidate it. Our inability to understand it cannot void it. God’s phōnḗ sounds within His Son’s followers, saying, ‘You are known. You are heard. You are loved. You are mine. I, your heavenly Father, keep My promises.'” **
Jesus, the Son of God, heard His Father all of the time. Jesus is always with the Father. The two communicated continuously and directly with one another.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. John 1:18 KJV
Dearest Father, Christ is my life as He is my Lord and Savior. Please open the ears of my heart because I want to hear You. I want to know You more and more. You know all about everything. You touch every piece of Your creation for always. You know the number of hairs on my head. You know where I am to be when. You know where every sparrow is and when they fall from the sky. Your Providence is magnificent. I want to be close to You that I can know and understand Your will for me. I desire to be obedient. I desire to be submissive to and for You. Guide me in the ways that You want me to go. If Your voice is not to be audible to my ears, please let me understand the inaudible sounds, the quiet words, and the silent guidance. Through Your Word, through silence, through others’ voices, through the beauty that surrounds me, through the love for and from those many ‘one anothers,’ I ask You to make Your message clear to my spirit by Your Spirit. Please block the many sounds of this world, Father, so that Your voice reigns in strength in my being. I want to hear You, Lord. I want to know You. I desire You and You alone. Continue to help me ‘decrease’ as You ‘increase.’ I bow before You this day, oh Lord. I love You so. I pray all in the beautiful Name of Jesus. Amen.
Being Woven 
