"Save Your Fork!"

As you know, I’m just a cynical old guy whose saving grace is that I’m more cynical about me than I am about you or anybody else.

My cynicism about the world is bubbling up again as I look at the problems all around civilization. There was a time when I was very political and thought that if the right people had the power, then things would get fixed. But both sides of the political spectrum have assumed power in the last few decades and things were still not fixed.

Then I turned to the church and I really thought that the right presentation would build the kingdom and the world would flock to the church and her King.

But the kingdom still tarries and they aren’t flocking to us – in fact many are running away. Perhaps this is slowly changing – I hope that it is.

My mind keeps turning to the words of Isaiah about the idyllic future promised by God. You may know the words, but let me give them to you. They are appropriate words to cover any cynicism:

 

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:6-9).

What a beautiful biblical message! But I surely don’t see it around yet. I see sin. But I’m no longer surprised at sin – mine or yours. The older I get, the more I’m aware that if the message I hear and teach on radical grace isn’t true, then we're doomed!

But there is still Isaiah and his dream – the lion, the wolf and the calf together, and a child leading in a world full of the knowledge of God. That promise would be a pipedream were it not for the One who made the promise.

It is God’s promise. And as I pause over Isaiah’s dream, something in me is hopeful and even excited by the future.

Something in me, even when it’s dark, sends me to the dawn of a new day and the beginning of a time of joy. Maybe today or this year God will say, “It’s enough! That society of men has had its chance!” The trumpet will blow and God will bring down the curtain of history.

If I were not a believer, wishing people a “Happy New Year” at the start of each year would be mindless drivel with no possibility of anything but the darkness. If I were not a believer, common pessimism about any meaning in this mess would make a drunk out of me at best and suicidal at worst.

It’s the reason I don’t begrudge the unbeliever his or her life of denial because that’s all unbelievers have. Go ahead: amuse yourself to death or do it with pills. If all we have is environmentalism, politics and New Age drivel, go for it!

“Men must work, and women must weep, and the sooner it’s over, the sooner we sleep.”

If that’s all there is…go for it!

But now this cynical old guy is, believe it or not, going on record with a great degree of hope. It’s anchored in the promise of a Creator God who loves us and promises to clean up the mess. It’s enough for anyone to hold onto in the dark.

I don’t remember his name. He was a Christian comedian who talked about having dinner with a friend who was a wonderful cook. He said that the most glorious words in the English language were often spoken when she was cleaning up the dishes on the table after the main course.

She would always say, “Save you fork!”

The comedian said when he heard those words, knowing that dessert was on the way, “All the fat cells in my body stood up and sang the Hallelujah Chorus.”

Something sort of like that happens when I read those words from Isaiah 11.

I’ve read them many times more than I can remember, and can come close to repeating them by heart, not because I memorized them but because they have always stuck with me.

When I think about those words from Isaiah, all the cynical cells in my body groan, get off the couch, and stand up and sing the Hallelujah Chorus.

I’m forgiven, loved and accepted just the way I am – and so are you when you see your need for a Savior, Jesus Christ, and desire to make Him the Lord of your life.

And not only that, you have a future promised by the only One who can make and fulfill that promise.  

SO SAVE YOUR FORK! THE DESSERT IS COMING!