29 May 2013 - free love

29 May 2013 - free love

Let the prisoners’ sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.

None of us is completely free while we live.  We are imprisoned by the things of this world that keep us from rising to God.  They pull us down like gravity.  And if they have too much sway over they are a death sentence as we choose their impermanence over God.

We need the LORD to set us free.  For us it is simply too hard to sacrifice these short term pleasures. Even though they disappoint us so many times by promising more than they can deliver we are still tied down by then and reluctant to let them go.

Fortunately, we see in history that the LORD delights to set his people free.  His people are constantly finding themselves imprisoned due to their sin.  The LORD sets them free because of his own goodness and the promise he makes because he is so good.  And, importantly, their freedom after is greater than their freedom before.  As his people behold his mighty deeds they are moved to greater trust in him.  They are more and more willing to make him the center of their lives.

Take pity on your holy city,
Jerusalem, your dwelling place.
Fill Zion with your majesty,
your temple with your glory.

They ask the LORD to dwell at the very center of the city means so much to them.  They are confidant in his rule because of his promises to them and the deeds he has done for them.

Give evidence of your deeds of old;
fulfill the prophecies spoken in your name,

Yet even these experiences of freedom do not mean there is a road which the world would consider easy ahead for us.

and they will condemn him to death
and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him,
spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death,
but after three days he will rise.”

And understandably, we do many things to distract ourselves from this reality.

“Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”

But there is no glory without the cross.  To truly be near to Jesus on his right and his left we must follow him here and now in the way that he shows us.

For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

When we come as servants we are  able to ask sincerely: "Give new signs and work new wonders." It is no longer be our pride directing us.  We aren't  seeking distractions.  We finally come to desire only the glory of God.

Thus it will be known to the very ends of the earth
that you are the eternal God.