We fall; we rise.
We are adjudicated and found guilty and then …
The Judge steps down from the bench to plead our case.
It is as if we cannot lose; every loss becomes a win.
" Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the LORD will be a light to me.
I will bear the indignation of the LORD
because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
I shall look upon his vindication."(Micah 7:8-9 ESV)
I've lived too long among those who hate peace!
Maybe you have felt this way before.
When the city erupts in violence, when the culture cries out for vengeance, when nations are quick to take up arms, when men love war more than peace, and when those who speak for peace are marginalized as soft, impractical, or disloyal, we cry out to God:
"Too long have I had my dwelling
among those who hate peace.
I am for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war!"(Psalm 120:6-7 ESV)
We are on a mission of peace, but we do not always feel particularly successful. In fact it seems, sometimes, that our presence and words make no difference at all.
Even Moses doubted in the midst of the mission.
Even while performing signs and wonders, having seen what he had seen and having experienced what he had experienced, he doubted and questioned God.
But he dealt directly with God about the matter. He did not skirt the issue or complain to others. He took the matter to YHWH Himself and this was also a part of that later reflection that he would speak to God like no other had before, face to face.
When he brought the matter to the Almighty, he was heard and he was answered. Greater glory would come by letting the process play itself out.
"Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, 'O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.'"
"But the LORD said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.'"
(Exodus 5:22-6:1 ESV)
"But as for me …"
It is my response to truth for which I am either culpable or commendable.
I am not in charge of anyone else's opinions or choices. I can care, but I cannot control.
I can converse, but I cannot coerce. I can seek to convince the mind, but I cannot convict the heart.
Neither need I be swayed by the resistance of another.
I need not the validation of peers in order to believe that which resonates truth in our hearts.
We can relax in this because trust is resting in God and waiting for Him.
" But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me."(Micah 7:7 ESV)
The longer we live in and with faith, the less we feel compelled to justify, prove, or vindicate God for being God.
We come to rest, not only in God's goodness, but in the unshakable reality of the truth God embodies and exercises.
Truth shall been known and shall not be tilted nor shifted by our words or opinions.
Sometimes we just need to wait until it is made known and not be rattled by the rantings of nations or pseudo nations.
" Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases."
(Psalm 115:2-3 ESV)
There is so much more abiding I must learn and practice, so much more.
" Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
(John 15:4-5 ESV)
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