Daily Word of Grace # 49 (May 22, 2020)
One beautiful May morning while walking through the streets of Paris, my daughter Becky and I came across a portion of ruins from the Bastille, the once notorious centuries old prison that held such famous prisoners as Voltaire. It later became a symbol of royal despotism that as you may remember was stormed on July 14, 1789—a date which has since become known as Bastille Day, a national holiday in France commemorating a key event in the French Revolution. All that remains of the Bastille today are a few places where you can see some ruins, like the one Becky and I came across. In spite of all the captivity and violence associated with the long history of the Bastille, guess what is now atop those ruins today? A playground. Literally on top of these Bastille ruins little children were running around as they laughed and played. That is an image of what God will do with this world, which like the Bastille, has been the scene of many people captive in a myriad of ways, as well as the scene of incalculable violence. And yet, as the great Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold, part of God’s work of salvation looks like this: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn way anymore” (Isaiah 2:4). In other words, places with histories of imprisonment and violence like the Bastille, like the world itself, will be turned into playgrounds—the captivity and violence replaced with freedom and laughter.
Love and Prayers,
Dave