“The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous” (Ps. 118:15). This is an interesting phrase, isn’t it? “The sound of joyful shouting,” and “the sound of salvation.” “Joyful shouting,” I get; but, what does salvation sound like? I’ve never even thought of salvation as having a “sound.”
I am thinking the psalmist had to turn to metaphor to express the faith of God’s people. Some things have to be experienced and, once experienced, it is often difficult to describe for someone who wasn’t at the experience, exactly what it was like. Some experiences need to be shared with others, but how does one share them? Maybe the “sound of … salvation” must be heard by one’s self before it can be grasped, if “grasped” is even the right word.
I love the word “salvation” because it implies a need of some kind from which someone needs to be delivered. Metaphorically, we might see it as someone being in deep trouble who doesn’t have the resources at hand to solve the problem. So, going down for the third time, as it were, and crying out for help, they know that if help doesn’t come, they’ve had it. Then, wonder of wonders, they feel the hand of someone who has come into their story, with the strength to save them. In a few moments they find themselves in the place of safety and deliverance. The near tragedy has passed and they know they were saved.
The Bible refers to our Living God as one who saves. He comes into the stuff of our lives with deliverance and mercy and grace in His arsenal. Coming right down into the trenches of life, He saves us; and, for the rest of our lives, no matter where the journey might take us, we know that it is only because of God that we even have a story to tell. What does salvation sound like? Maybe it sounds like “amazement,” if amazement could have a sound. Maybe it sounds like “pure wonder,” if pure wonder could have a sound. Maybe it sounds like that feeling of experiencing something so awesome that one blurts out, “it’s too good to be true,” If that emotion could have a sound.
Throughout the life of Jesus people were amazed at Him, mystified by what He taught, how he interacted with people, and how he touched people and brought healing into their lives. In this light, maybe salvation sounds like hope. Good Friday thought it had destroyed hope. Easter says, “Not so fast. It’s not over yet. God is on the move.”
God is on the move in our lives, isn’t He? And, He is on the move in resurrection power.
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