Leverage

I.
The truth is the truth
Whether we believe it or not.

When I am unsettled, uneasy,
It's usually because
I've reverted to subjectivity

I forget, momentarily
That there are absolutes
Things that are universally true
And my belief has no impact
Whatsoever on truth.

If a tree falls in the forest
And there is no one there to hear it
Does it make a sound?

The answer is yes. Man's presence
Or absence, does not dictate truth.
When the tree falls and makes its sound
It makes its sound for God.

Men think
That our perception
Becomes reality.

But that's because we think
We are more than we really are.

God is.
Truth is.

Life is a trust fall.
Will God catch me
If I fall into His arms?

Yes, forever yes.

So fall.


II.
When I am afraid
It's usually because
I have allowed the facts
To be taken from me.

And I must face a hostile environment
With what I feel, or see, or think.
"How things appear"
Carries more weight with me
Than it should.

The "maybes" and the "what ifs"
Come out to hunt me, they pierce my heart
With holes. My confidence hemorrhages.

I forget that
Even if I am not there to hear it
The tree still makes its sound.

You could put it like this:

If God speaks a word
And there is no one there to hear it
Is it still true?

If God exists
And there is no one there to see Him
Is He still there?

If God loves me
But I have no sense of it whatsoever
Is it still a fact?

All men must render a verdict
On this philosophical question.

Is my God in my mind?
Do I have to convince myself?
Do I have to worry?
Is God just something men made up
To help us cope with the fact
That we're all just spinning
Out of control, with only our own hands
To save us?

Or equally:
Is God only strong enough
To help me with small to medium-sized issues
Whereas the issues of crisis
--The terrors of life, the tsunamis--
Are beyond Him?

Or, on the contrary:
God is who He says he is
With or without my consent,
Confirmation, or belief.
He is a rock. A fact.
An absolute. The sovereign one.
Higher than all crisis
Greater than all terrors
And nothing that ever has happened
Or ever will happen
Is void of
His attention
His touch
His intent
His love
His purpose

But all that happens
Is rather, the expression
Of these.

My weakness is ever only
My failure
To cling to
The Rock

To hear the sound
Of the tree falling in the wilderness
Even when I am not there
To hear it.

I "hear" it
With my faith

To know He's there
Even when I can't see Him

To know He's speaking
Even when I can't hear Him

To know He loves me
Even when I can't feel it.

To know there is truth
That my senses can't confirm or deny.

To lay myself down
On the rock.

III.
Psalm 46:10

"Be still
And know
That I AM
God."

"I will be exalted
Among the nations"

"I will be exalted
In all the earth."