The Sounds Of Revolution

 One of the most successful political activists in history was not a great orator, did not have much of an ego, and wasn’t prone to long speeches. In fact, he didn’t have much to say except, “Let my people go.”
Four words uttered his defiance of the political structure. Often, he would prefix his words with four other profoundly superior words, “thus saith the Lord.”

An activist who wishes to start a revolution or overthrow a political structure does not need to first gather a bunch of political trappings to succeed in his/her mission.

A revolutionary first needs to come with a voice greater than their own.

When the 80-year-old Moses would prefix his demand to the Pharoah of Egypt, he was communicating to him that he spoke under someone else’s authority, not his own. 

Moses came to Pharoah with two very powerful voices. One was the groaning of a people. The other voice was God responding to the groaning of a people. Here is what the scripture tells us of this incident:

And God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob.
“Now, therefore, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.”
“Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharoah, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”-Exodus 2:24; 3:9,10

Moses came with the backing of the groaning and unrest of the people and with a divine conviction of his mission to be an instrument of deliverance for them.
When an activist springs forth armed with the weapons of a cry of a people and a divine calling and conviction, this kind of movement cannot easily be quenched.

Movements such as these have a history of suffering fierce and ruthless opposition; however, they were not quenched. Many of us know the end result of Moses’ rebellion. The Egyptian king increased his oppression before Moses finally succeeded in delivering the people from their oppression. 

This is the stage of many revolutions. First, there is unrest, stemming from exasperated people. Those voices, once they erupt from the fire of people’s inner beings, they meet divine ears. God causes universal forces to come into agreement with the groaning and cry of hurting people.  Efforts begin to snowball and eventually become successful. Opposition increases during the interim and some warriors fall during the process. However, revolution is inevitable. Why? Because God called for it, and someone obeyed that call.

Many are being called today to house and express God's revolutionary spirit. However, because of fear and the worship of personal interests and security over God's interests and security, they won't answer, and therefore won't ultimately be chosen. 

There is a deep love inherent in a revolutionary spirit. Dr.King once said, "There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love."  

There needs to be a deep love for a particular cause, love, dignity, and respect for oneself, or a deep love for humanity in general that fuels the revolutionary spirit. The greatest and noblest of these is love for all humanity. Jesus' love for humanity was the fire that caused him to boldly take on the political structure of his day and gave his life for a civilization that brutally rejected him. 

Jesus once explained that whoever is focused on their own life in this world would lose it and whoever doesn't put all their stock in their own life in this world, will gain true life(St. Luke 17:33). Dr. King agreed with Jesus when he said,"if a man has not discovered something that he would die for, he isn't fit to live."

Today, we must tune our ears to the sounds of revolution. We must be attentive to divinely inspired activism and political revolution that are designed to relieve economic and racial oppression, which are issues that God is concerned about. The Bible says that "whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their maker."-Proverbs 14:31(NIV)

Too often, our ears are not open to God's offenses because we are too consumed with our own interests and that which offends us. 

Therefore, we miss the sounds God needs us to hear. 
This is one of  the reasons why the sounds of revolution are never clear to the average ear. Additionally, these sounds too often fall upon deaf ears owned by even those who are being oppressed! This brings me to the other reason why an average ear won't hear.

The scripture in Exodus 6:9 gives this reason:

"And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel, but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage."

People cannot hear clearly when they are being oppressed. 

There is much anguish of spirit today, and therefore, a mass falling away from God and his voices.

This is why many deliverers, whether they be prophets, activists, political reformers, or other deliverers tread lonely paths, especially in the beginning stages of their mission. They often are greeted with cynicsm and rejected by the people they come to free.

Deliverers must tread on, however, as they are also armed by their answer to a divine call and destiny, a voice higher than any detractor. Some will eventually catch on to the inherent love in the revolutionary spirit that came to free.

Moses, Jesus, Gandhi, King and the many less famous activists and revolutionaries in between all had detractors among those they came to free. Many that were on the wrong side of history, yet saw history unfold anyway. Decide which side of history you want to be on, and which voice you want to be attuned to.

There is a distinct sound of revolution that is being trumpeted, designed to usher in freedom from oppression. I challenge the reader to listen attentively to the voice of your inner heart and listen to the revolutionary voices of today crying out for justice on behalf of those that are oppressed. Compare and judge what voices echo your inner voice. 

I will submit to you that when it comes to the political voices of the day, whoever is not preaching justice on behalf of the commoner, the vulnerable and oppressed of society, and who is not saying in essence, “Let my people go,” then they are not speaking with the backing of the groaning and cries from an exasperated people, and they are not divinely inspired by the God that hears the cry and groaning of oppressed people.