The Sound In The Fog

I woke up to the fog.
Fog so thick I could reach outside my window and touch the cloud that seemingly came down.
It was a cooler morning, so I decided to take my walk a bit earlier.
There is something mysterious though not ominous about walking through the fog.

As I set out, I heard it.
It is a unique sound that can be recognized by hunters near and far.
It is recognizable though it is a far cry from a bark.
It is the sound of a baying beagle.

It is instinctive for beagles to bay.
The baying sound has been described as a half bark, half howl.
Some say it is really just a long, drawn out bark.
Some say it is actually a musical cry.

The sound of baying gave me a start as I set out on my walk.
I could hear the dog but I could not see him.
I knew that he was hot on the trail of his prey.
I almost expected to be on the misty moors of England in pursuit of a fox, bugle in hand.

It was an eerie sound as I listened through the fog.
It was actually a terribly sad sound.
It was pining away for something that was beyond its grasp.
It was an alert, for whom, I did not know.

I thought of the headlines in the news.
I thought of the refugees that are fleeing persecution and dying at sea.
I thought of the people in third world nations suffering in horrific famines.
I thought of those that are displaced because of an earthquake or other natural disaster.

I could hear the sound of their baying.
I could hear the sound of their mourning.
Through the fog, I heard them.
Miles away, I heard them.

I could turn around at the end of my street.
I could go to the lovely stone wall that welcomes the traveler onto our road and go back home.
I could go back to my comfort and go about my day.
But the baying continued.

It continued.

I walked up the hill towards home.
However I turned the corner and walked around again.
I still heard it.
I could not walk away from the sound.

The baying continued.
Whatever the dog wanted was not satisfied.
It was such a mournful cry.
It filled the fog with urgency.

It filled me with a sense of urgency.
This is a baying world.
There are so many urgent needs that are not being satisfied.
Individually and collectively, we all are baying.

We all have those unmet needs that are deep within our heart.
They are not the selfish needs that are really wants.
They are the unspoken needs that hide behind a quiet tear or catch us in our throat.
They are the needs that no one knows about; the ones that only the Lord can answer.

So we bay.
We bay in prayer.
We bay when we are alone near the ocean and we feel so small.
We bay when we are in the quiet of our rooms and the tears come but we cannot explain them.

God knows the reason for our baying.
God provided an answer to that recognizable sound.
God sent His Son in the likeness of a man to experience our needs and our wants.
Yet Jesus did not bay; He was silent like a sheep before its shearers.

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:2-5)

The Suffering Servant did not bay.
The Lamb that was led to the slaughter on our behalf was silent.
God the Father allowed His Son Jesus to have the experience of humanity.
Jesus, fully God and fully man did not bay at this fallen world.

He took our sin and suffering upon Himself; we have Someone who understands.
The punishment that should have been on us was placed on Him; we are redeemed.
When we hear the sound of baying, we should think of our sinful state.
We should think of our inability to save ourselves or fulfill our deepest need.

We could bay forever on our own and never be satisfied.
We could make that mournful sound and no one would come to our aid.
No one but One.
The Holy One of God.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion therefore I will wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:19-26)

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning.
Great is His faithfulness.
His great love, His compassion, and His faithfulness are the only answer to our baying.

He hears.
Our cry is recognizable to Him.
We are not consumed.
Our deepest needs do not go unanswered.

Our mourning becomes rejoicing in the hands of the Lord.
Our cry becomes a song as He answers our deepest need.
All the things we think we want, pale in comparison to what we really need.
We need our silent Lamb who listens to our baying, yet never once bayed Himself.

It is instinctive for us to bay.
There is One who never bayed.
Because of Him, we have hope.
Praise His Holy Name.