Ravi Zacharias — The Need to Act
As my closing thought I've heard so many talk about a place of a child, our children, our grandchildren. I've often made the comment that the ultimate test of any civilization is what we do with our children. And when you go back to the time of Manasseh and Josiah you see why that statement can be made.
But it is also what the Lord tells us about children, that out of the mouths of infants and babes he has ordained praise. It's a remarkable thing what we can learn from a child if we just listen to them. As G.K. Chesterton said he learned more from observing a nursery than he ever did in his philosophy lectures.
I have a five-year-old grandson; his name is Jude. He has a phenomenal vocabulary. I don't know where he comes up with some of his words. But when he was just about three-and-a-half years old my daughter Naomi, his mother had lost her car keys in the house and couldn't find them. She stopped, slapped her forehead and said, "I must be losing my mind."
And little Jude comes and stands in front of her and says, "Mommy, whatever you do, please don't ever lose your heart because I'm in there."
When a little guy like that can get the attention of his mother and I watch him so carefully, how he relates and the things he says, they just spent the weekend with us and I'm worn out from just that, taking care of three little ones. But I go back many years ago to a twelve-year-old girl, the present Queen Elizabeth. Her father 1939, December of 1939 was facing the ominous reality of what was looming over the world and he had a stuttering problem, as you know. He was going to speak to the world. He went to the microphone and before he got there his daughter, I think she was only 10, handed him a piece of paper.
What she had given him on that piece of paper became the most famous lines of his speech when he spoke to the world and said:
"I said to the man at the Gate of the Year, 'Give me a light that I might walk safely into the unknown.' And he said to me, 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. And it shall be to you better than the light and safer than the known.'"
A 10-year-old gal found that quote and gave it to the father who then calmed the whole world. And very few people remember anything else about that speech, they just remember those lines.
So with you as my brothers and sisters the question I'm pondering in my mind here with all that I'm hearing and what you've done is the most important thing in my life or anybody else's life I think, you've inspired me. You've inspired me. Inspiration is a component that is so conspicuous by its absence in life. We need to be inspired.
So the question I'm asking myself here is how do I teach those whom I meet to put their hand into the Hand of God so that it shall be for them better than the light and safer than the known? So the challenge I give to you is whether you're on the pulpit or in the business world, wherever you are, you've got your orb of influence. Find a way to impart to your people how to put their hand into the Hand of God and it will be to them better than the light and safer than the known.
In my own life I know of no better way than starting my day on my knees in my prayer bench in the basement with the Psalms opened before me for just lyrical worship, the Word of God, and on my knees in prayer. If we can get our people on their knees in prayer each day before these elections come, I believe God will speak with them in a way that you and I really cannot do. And once he inspires and motivates them we will see a change and we will see a difference.
So maybe for myself that's what I'm asking myself, as I go away from here, how best. We have a small staff all over the globe, no more than 150-160 or so, and about half of them are in our Atlanta office. How can I inspire them to put their hand into the Hand of God over these next few weeks? Because if they seek him, I have no doubt whatsoever he will give to them that which is better than the light and safer than the known.
A child led her father and the father then led the world. And out of the mouths of babes he has ordained praise. To me, that's the lesson I go away with to help people put their hand into the Hand of God and he will speak to them and inspire them. And hopefully, we will see a better day and a better future for the sake of our little ones whom we need to raise with the confidence that they are loved and they belong and they are cared for; and their country is going to be safe because of a mom and a dad who love them and love God more than anything else.