A yearning to be free accompanies the feeling of the status quo and the dissatisfaction that is part of the human experience. Humans want to be free to do what they desire to do. They do not want an authority figure to stand over them and tell them what they must do. They want to make up their own minds on matters.
Such was the plight of the people of Israel at several junctures in their history. They entered Egypt as guests of the Pharaoh due to the influence of Joseph who was elevated to a position of power in the government by Pharaoh himself. Joseph welcomed his brothers and father and all the people of Israel so they could escape the ravages of famine and hunger. They were fed and kept by the people of Egypt as long as Joseph was alive. Joseph died and soon a new Pharaoh arose "who did not know Joseph." Suddenly, the people of Israel were no longer seen as guests but as threats so they were put to work as slaves. They were made to work long and hard to bring about the many building projects that Pharaoh envisioned for the land of Egypt.
The people of Israel cried out to the god of their ancestors whom they had heard about in tales handed down by many generations. They did not know this god but they hoped he would be the source of their deliverance. And so it was that a man who was named Moses arose and God used Moses to set the slaves free from their bondage with many miracles and signs.
So, the people of Israel were out on their own in the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a rocky and tenuous existence because repeatedly they were threatened by others in the land who saw them as a threat to their own safety and welfare. The people of Israel became a warring people constantly in battle to protect their land and interests.
Then, one day the Babylonians invaded their land and destroyed their temple, murdered many people, and took a portion of the population as slaves once again to serve them in their land far away from the land that God had promised Abraham. The land of Israel lay in ruins and the people who were not killed were held hostage against their will. Some intermarried with the Babylonians and found a place to begin a family, content to be there. Others, however, mourned for the loss of their land, their heritage, their freedom. They cried out to God, as their ancestors in Egypt had done, asking for God to intervene on their behalf.
"O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence--as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil--to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!" (Isaiah 64:1-2) Isaiah speaks on behalf of these captives and pleads with God to act justly so that the captives may be set free. Isaiah remembers the times of old when the God of Israel had done mighty things on behalf of God's People Israel. Isaiah wonders aloud if the reason for what has happened to Israel is not connected to the sinfulness of the people. He ends his plea with a reminder to God that Israel is God's People and they belong to God.
People who are enslaved often cry out for relief to whoever will listen. "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down..." Hurting people want help from a source of help and want their situations to be resolved quickly. The people of Israel did it when they were in Egypt. They did it again when they were in Babylonia. They did it again when Rome ruled over Jerusalem and finally destroyed the city and its inhabitants in A.D. 70. They were dispersed into all the surrounding nations to live a life of wanderers until finally they had a homeland once again established in 1948.
This cry for freedom was part of the African-American experience as well as they suffered as slaves centuries. They too cried out for God to come to their relief and saw that relief coming through a cosmic event that would destroy their enemies and literally wake the dead. They saw passages such as Mark 13 as speaking to their own plight in life. A song arose from among them that spoke to their belief that God would work supernaturally for them---"My Lord, what a morning...when the stars fall from the sky." The stars would fall, the sun would refuse to shine, and the moon would turn to blood on the great and terrible day of their deliverance.
It must have seemed to some that all those things happened when the War Between the States finally brought about freedom for the enslaved ones on the many plantations of the South. When the dust cleared and the bodies were buried, the slaves were set free to live as second class Americans until 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was finally passed. The road to freedom has been a long one for those former slaves but it still continues daily as civil rights must be claimed in the face of racism which seems it will not die, even in the land of the brave and the home of the free.
People who are enslaved still cry out for freedom and people see the Day of the Lord as a sign of hope that things can be better than they are now. God is Still Speaking and God's promise of deliverance has not been cancelled. God is still working to bring about change even in the midst of new that confounds us daily. O that God would tear open the heavens and come down to straighten out the evils of our day and to bring about the change that is needed. Until then, God has people who work with God and for God to do God's Will on earth even as it is done in heaven. If you believe that you are one of those people, then do not give up and do not lose hope. God is still using those who will be God's hands and feet to bring about justice and equity on the earth for those who cry for freedom.
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