The Final Word

He spoke the Incarnation

And then so was born the Son

His final word was Jesus

He needed no other one" 

The Final Word ~ Michael Card

    The overarching theme of these weekly messages changed to encouragement around April 1, 2020. The great COVID busting hunker down that would be over in a month started looking like a journey of many months. Rising anxiety started a slow crescendo reminiscent of Ravel's Boléro. Circumstances dimmed the summer’s brief ray of hope and around November, the virus coincided with political vitriol to bring grief, sickness, and hopelessness to the Christmas season we celebrated online and in our homes. If the maestro had known his gradually intensifying orchestral works would become a theme song for our angst, he would have added a few more movements with undulating peaks and valleys. Once again, we find ourselves isolated, untrusting, frustrated, and hopeless at Christmas time. Many things differ from a year ago, but the stress and anxiety remain.  

     The encouragement I’ve sought to give is wide and varied, as I have endeavored to listen to the Spirit and write as I am led in the moment - usually Wednesday morning. It is a kind of public journaling exercise, which may explain why some of the recent messages seemed to be about encouraging me. Every wilderness wanderer of the Exodus suffered, even Moses and his team of leaders. The land of promise was geographically near, but God’s timing was unknowable. One simply had to remain faithful and monitor the pillar of cloud and fire. Thankfully, there are moments of inspiration and hope.        

     I have found that memories are vitally important to my faith journey. Looking back to other times of anxiety and strain and remembering God’s faithfulness and my resilience causes me to believe it can happen again. With the LORD’s help, I have reframed my circumstances, revised my expectations, and adapted. If I did so without the guiding light of the Spirit, I’d still be wandering in a wilderness encountered long ago. With the help of those memories, I can reframe, revise, and adapt again. 

     A series of youthful errors of judgement and their consequences led to a season in my mid-twenties that felt the same as the present times. That time in the 1980s was highly personal, and this one is global, but the feelings are the same. Anxiety, stress, isolation, and hopelessness drove me to my knees and my keyboard - it was a Smith-Corona electric typewriter! I wrote my questions and then attempted to write the answers. I often used short stories and poems to flush out the wounds and peel away dying flesh. I loved music, as most young people do, but I sought originality and richness in verse. The gifted poet and the songwriter often merge complex ideas into beautifully succinct phrases. 

     Michael Card is an artist whose influence on my spiritual life I cannot adequately express. His warmly styled, theologically rich songs enlivened my soul and filled in gaps that hindered by sanctification. I’ve quoted a brief phrase from a Christmas song he wrote in 1986 - “The Final Word” plays in my mind often these days. Because of it, I keep telling myself and others to have hope this year, because Jesus is God’s answer to all the questions. 

• When you don’t know who to believe, Jesus is God’s answer. 
• When you don’t know what is real, Jesus is God’s answer.  
• When you’re alone and broken, Jesus is God’s answer. 
• When the world lets you down, Jesus is God’s answer. 
• God created you for eternal life in God’s home. Jesus is the key that unlocks the door. 
• God made you for eternal life. Jesus bought it for you. 
• Change is inevitable. God is unchanging. 
  

    Michael Card is one of several voices through whom the LORD spoke in my past. Each was unique and critical to my maturity. I now see clearly from the future that my wilderness time was used to refine, nurture, and train me for now. Today’s wilderness is the same. The Spirit will use the voices, signs, and symbols around us to make us ready for the future. Thanks to the One who stepped out of eternity and into time, we can step out of time into eternity. Therefore, whatever we endure now is significant, even if it prepares us for life beyond the veil. 

    You may not write things out like I do, but I’ll wager you have other forms of relief and recreation (re-creation). You might not take comfort from poetry, literature, musical verse, but you have sources of inspiration. God will meet you where you are, like Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. He understands your situation and how you got there, just like Jesus and the Samaritan woman, because Jesus is God’s answer. Jesus is your hope. 

CCLI Song # 228362

Michael Card

© 1986 Birdwing Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

Mole End Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com

CCLI License # 1252648