Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
The LORD wants to teach us not to judge our success or failure by human standards. We usually judge our efforts successful when we build sandcastles that manage to last for a little while. The LORD is interested in seeing the kingdom built, which only happens on foundations of rock. He is interested in the ways in which eternity can break into this temporal order in which we live. Jesus knows this. His cross seems to be the ultimate human failure. Yet it is the ultimate divine triumph.
Jesus says he is glorified now, in the midst of his passion, not just at the resurrection, because he knows how to regard success and failure:
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
This lacks all the marks by which we normally judge something successful. There is no happiness. It is not comfortable. There is pain and emotional turmoil. But Jesus knows that the kingdom is being established once and for all. He can see the kingdom success amid the temporal failures.
And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
He can see the plan the underlies the pain.
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
He is able to keep sight of this because he knows who he is and from where he comes.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
His Father's purpose and will for him allow him to see past all the obstacles in his path. His vision beholds not just the cross. It beholds not just the days in the tomb. It sees those, yes, but as vitally necessary preludes to the resurrection.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.
His obedience to his Father's plan and purpose for him brings him eventually to the kingdom's success, a victory more glorious and permanent than anything the world can propose.
I will sing of your salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment