The Bugle Call

We were talking last night about what the finished work does to us when we hear it... how good it is to hear something and say, 'That is finished work truth.'

This morning I started to think about bugle calls...

To start the morning with reveille, then later in the day came retreat and taps before bed. To have a musical cycle of life where parts of each day are punctuated by piercing sounds. All three brought attention to flag which represented a nation. No matter what you were doing you and everyone around you stopped and positioned themselves to face the flag if they could see one and the music they were hearing. All would stop at the music and then know what came next.

"If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air." - 1 Corinthians 14:7-9 ESV

The finished work is my certain sound. When I here it I hear a bugle on Earth and a bugle in Heaven echoing one another. There a beauty there... I can stop, reflect and have an idea of what comes next.

The finished work awakens me to prepare for action. It also puts me to rest as I remember a fallen Savior, a casualty of battle, who the rose from the grave. The music reminds me of a plan born outside of time but executed within the confines of historical days and years.

Reveille is playing for me this morning. Promises unfold before me as a flag that has never touched the ground and never will. Promises linked to an eternal kingdom. Promises about who God has made me to be and what He has done on behalf of all mankind will fly high on my person. The wind may blow them so they wave wildly or they may hang still in the heat but they will be there until evening when they are gently caught again and folded up to be safely stored in my heart as I sleep.

"Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!' " - Zechariah 4:7 ESV

We hear truth and know 'It is finished!' It is then when we can shout 'Grace, Grace' at the mountains in our lives. We have heard the music and that is why we can shout that shout.

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