The Mighty One, the Lord of the Most High, the Lord of it all, who speaks out to the earth, making things happen—it is He who will have his way with it and all its inhabitants. The Judge enters accompanied by firestorms and winds, already raging, as he takes up His task, sending the heavens off to bring forth his subjects, the revered ones to whom he has spoken promises. “You know me? the One who made it all? the One who is intimate with it all? I need nothing…except your praises, and your cries in the midst of distress. I’m the One who made you and cares for and caresses the whole creation. Speak to me, for I am your father.”
But it’s more than words, isn’t it? It’s more than empty jingles and jangles of noise and “sacred” activities…it’s the whole being, the whole life that is before the Judge, who condemns those who abuse his word, who forget the care and justice and righteousness that even the heavens speak and rumble about in all that they are about in His world. Those who have turned away, forgotten the Maker, made their own way, are now to be ripped apart like those sacrificial goats.
Righteousness reigns down and all about, separating the faithful from the stragglers. The Mighty One gently shows the way forward to these grateful creatures, the way to deliverance. Thanksgiving is all He wants.
