It is the disenfranchised who are empowered by the gospel. Those who have no place and no name. The broken and forgotten. The insignificant and unimportant. When those people find out they have a name that no amount of money or followers or applause can give, they become the happiest people on earth. The boundary lines have indeed fallen in pleasant places for them. They did not gain territory by conquest or by subterfuge. They gained what could not be taken by force of any kind and cannot be taken away by any force on earth. Their business fails and they smile. Their health fails and they do the same. Their children curse them and still they enjoy the sunlight and the rain. They have found the secret.
There is a secret you know. Yes. There is a secret. Lean in. This is a secret meant to be told. It is only kept in darkness to those who refuse to turn aside and ask why a bush burns but doesn’t burn away. Are you turning aside? Are you listening? Take off your shoes. It will help you hear. This is whole ground. You can’t walk into it or on it if you think you’ve earned it. You didn’t get here through work, you got here by failure. And you’re here now because all your names don’t work for you. Now you’re ready to hear the secret? Yes. Hear this:
“I want you.”
“I know who you are.”
“I will tell you who I am.”
“We will be friends.”
“I have things for us to do.”
Don’t miss the secret. It is not any of these things. It is all of these things. It is not in the words at all, but in the voice; in the Speaker. The secret is not the existence of God or the words of God. The secret is the nearness of God. The presence of God. The penetration of the holy into the unholy. The secret is that God can be heard; wants to be heard. That God can be touched; wants to be touched. That God can be known; wants to be known. This is the great secret. Those who find it are the most happy people on earth. Those who miss it are the most unhappy and will be unhappier still.
Now, will you come aside and see this strange sight? How this bush has burned for all eternity and not been consumed? How men have attempted to extinguish it, ignore it, bury it, co-opt it, explain it away? Now you come. Come on your own. Come away from the noise. Come aside and just ask. Are you here? Do you want me? Can you tell me who you are and who I am? Do not be afraid. Hear what you hear. It will seem to wonderful to be true but believe it. Depend upon it. He wants you. He has nothing to gain from you and will not use you. He wants only to be your friend.
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