Come Out

Come out, come out, wherever you are?

Be out, not in?

Come out of confinement?

For the slave inhabits the place of seclusion.

For who gave you a spirit of timidity?

Who caused you to be timid?

Who was it that bound you up?

There you are, there you are, there you have lost yourself.

There you find yourself dependent on the attendance of others.

There you find yourself awaiting their instructions.

There you find yourself responding to their voice.

There you find yourself bound to their movement.

There you have lost your voice.

There you have hidden your face.

There you have closed the door.

There you have blocked out the noise.

There you have closed the curtain.

There you have blocked out the light.

There you have hidden yourself.

There you have locked yourself in.

There you have chained yourself.

Yet you cannot stop.

Yet you don’t have to stop.

Who told you to stop?

Yet you cannot silence my voice.

Yet you cannot tune me out.

For I am broadcasting on all channels.

In the busy place, in the noisy place, in the midst of your conversation you hear my words.

You cannot escape.

You cannot hide yourself from my purpose.

For I am calling, I am calling, I am calling, I am calling your name, I am calling you out.

You know what happens when I call your name.

Come forth ……, come forth like Lazarus.

Bound up, in the deepest depths, beyond redemption, beyond healing, beyond the light, far from the light, shut in, contained, abandoned to the pits of hell.

Yet I called him out, out of seclusion, out of isolation, out of confinement, out of the place where everything stopped, where his heart was stopped.

For you know my voice.

You know the only response when I say come.

For even in the place where you find yourself confined, I am calling your name, I am ordering your steps.

For the only response to my voice, the only response when I say come, the only response to my command is to come!

How is you have come to a stop, when I am establishing your goings?

Now is the time to come, to come out, to be out, let’s go for a walk in the garden.

Come out of seclusion my shy and modest dove, let me hear your voice, let me see your face, for your voice is soothing and your face is ravishing.

I know what it is like to be confined.

Yet my spirit rose up in me and called me out.

Your period of confinement is over!

1 Kings 19:1-13 AHAB TOLD Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had slain all the prophets of Baal with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. Then he was afraid and arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba of Judah over eighty miles, and out of Jezebel’s realm and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a lone broom or juniper tree and asked that he might die. He said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers. As he lay asleep under the broom or juniper tree, behold, an angel touched him and said to him, Arise and eat. He looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a bottle of water at his head. And he ate and drank and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and nights to Horeb, the mount of God. There he came to a cave and lodged in it; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle stillness and a still, small voice. When Elijah heard the voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?

What are you doing here?

Go out and stand. Yes go out and stand, whether you come or go, be out and stand.

First come out and sit.

Second arise and eat.

Third go out and stand.

Fourth watch me pass by.

For I am in the move, I am making a way, I am making a way for you.

For your opponent seeks to make you as one of them, to make your life as one of them.

Yet I am calling you out, while I am waiting for you to come, while I am waiting for you to speak, my word came and said.

For I spoke on my own behalf, I delivered the word and He said.

For when you don’t know what to say, I sent my word to speak.

How many times have you asked me to put my word upon your lips, and how many times have I done so?

Every time.

How many times have I asked you to step out, to move out, to come out?

When you asked, and I obeyed, I possessed that which was valuable.

Have I not given you a mantle? Have I not given you power? Have I not given you my word?

Have I not got you covered?

Have I not given you covering?

Have I not given you shelter from the wind, the earthquake, the fire?

Yet will you not receive my stillness.

For I am sending you my stillness, so that you may advance, that you may come out, that you may stand out.

For I know you don’t know what you are doing, you don’t know what to say, you don’t know the question or the answer.

For the answer comes, despite the question.

For I have sent out my word to say…