Sõnasisu Igavesti

 

Integral to the Finnish national psyche is the concept of sisu.

Determination, endurance, grit. The quiet and indomitable and stubborn willingness to continue in the struggle. The kind of attitude that will take on the vastly superior might of the Soviet Union with a calm and relentless ferocity like it did in the Winter War of 1939-1940. 

We Christians could do with more of what I'll call Sõnasisu.

Taking this sisu and applying it to the source of our strength, hope, and life: the Words of the living God.

Taking the Word of God and treating it with less of the hobbyist's pleasure and more of the warrior's sisu.

Now I know that many a time in the history of God's people, and still today, we are tempted to overemphasize the "seriousness" of our Christian walk, and establish rules and orders and tiers of holiness to show our piety. 

That's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, and clinging to that truth with the same dogged determination that led those Finns to eat the flesh and blood of the Son of God, and then ski out to fight and die against the forces of darkness.

I'm Estonian, not Finnish. Our recent national history has been more a story of willing subjugation and godlessness, not sisu and faithfulness. But I want to be like one of the hundred or so Estonian soldiers who made the deadly trek across the frozen Gulf of Finland, all the way to the front lines, joining their brethren in the good fight. And I would like to do my part in redefining the Estonian national ethos to be more like that of the Finns.

Except that I would root our sisu not in human will, but in the Word of God. Sõnasisu. The faith of the watchmen, whose hope is in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who stand firm upon the field of battle fearless and deadly, Sword of the spirit held in hands trained for war by the LORD God almighty.

Sisu can only take you to the grave. Sõnasisu is an abiding in God's Word, a continual prayer, that reaches beyond the grave. For the Words of Jesus Christ are the Words of eternal life.

Sõnasisu Igavesti.

How do we take up this Sõnasisu? How do we begin to grow into good men, armed for war? Start with your knife. Mine is Psalm 130. Find yours. The specific choice is not as important as using it - constantly. The only trick of our godless enemies is to turn us aside from the Word of God. If we cling to it, all their thousand plots are foiled in an instant. The Word comes to us in a book, in preaching, in absolution, in water, in bread, and in wine. It is our hope. And it endures forever. Commit yourself to it, cling to it, do not run aimlessly, keep yourself from idols, lest you should be disqualified. You belong to Christ. You who think you stand, take heed, lest you fall. Be a man of God.

Psalm 130

Sõnasisu Igavesti