30 March 2012

30 March 2012



"But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph."


Do we realize that the LORD is greater than our circumstances?  Do we realize what it means for God to be God.  Even though we feel like Jeremiah and it seems that the whole world is out to get us we have to remember that the LORD is bigger than the world.  Perhaps we don't understand this right away because our human minds compare One with the many circumstances that conspire against us and we foolishly assume that circumstances are greater.  He is the One from whom all things are.  We can safely entrust our cause to him because he is greater than all the darkness of the world combined.


The LORD allows circumstances that seem overwhelming to teach us to call upon him and trust him. We learn faith in that the One whom we cannot see is greater than the summation of all the oppressive circumstances that we can see.  Particularly if we know that our hearts don't fully accept this we need to proclaim our faith in the LORD's protection.


"My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies."


Such words will help us to recognize more fully the power of our omnipotent God in our lives.  Recognizing it we will trust him.  Trusting him we will call out to him in distress.  He will hear us and keep us safe from our enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil.


Jesus saves us from our enemies, it is true.  But it is more important to acknowledge that he saves us for life with him.  He wants us to know that he is in the Father and that the Father is in him.  We can only know this by having "the mind of Christ" and by being caught up into divine life with him.  He speaks his words and does mighty deeds that we might come to trust him.  He is consecrated and sent by the Father into the world so that we may realize and understand the truth of who God is and to somehow be made a part of that dynamic and everlasting love.


We know we aren't there yet.  We know our hearts still shy away from admitting not just with a thought but with our whole lives that Jesus is the Son of God.  We know that our lives would look different if we acknowledged that fact with our whole being.  In him we would see the Father's limitless love poured out and we wouldn't fear the "cords of the nether world" or the "snares of death".  In him we would be able to offer our lives back to the Father without compromise.  


"Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor"