Forty Days in the Psalmsনমুনা

I (Josiah) don’t know if you have seen any of the 23 Rocky movies (I may be exaggerating a bit) but the basic outline is pretty simple. An underdog boxer from the streets of Philly faces overwhelming and sometimes unfair odds but overcomes them through heart and grit.

I don’t know all of the reasons that they have been able to thrill audiences so many times with just that simple premise, but I know what kept me coming back. I call it "the moment". The moment when the powerful and prideful opponent who could not even imagine the concept of being beaten by this ragtag little bump-in-the-road on their way to total domination, begins to understand that they are losing. Something in me rises up every time. I scoot to the edge of my seat and prepare to enjoy watching prideful evil get pounded to the mat by someone they should have thought twice about underestimating.

This brings us to the Cross. If you and I had been there the day Jesus was stripped naked, beaten and mocked, paraded through the streets, and then pinned to the Cross until He died, I do not believe we would have thought we were witnessing a Victory. This is the covert and Divine Genius of the Cross.

God allowed evil to wear itself out on Jesus and play its only ace, which is death. Jesus set fire to that ace when He rose from the grave three days later with Victory over death, hell, and the grave in Hand. That would have been moment enough to bring me to the edge of my seat once more. But from there, Jesus ascended to Heaven and poured out His Spirit on this world. His Spirit, through His people the Church, has revealed the weakness of the enemy all over the world and is freeing all of His people from being enslaved.

That's the moment we have described in Psalm 21. The victory of King Jesus! When He seemed most defeated, Victory unfolded. He continues that Gospel pattern of strength through the guise of weakness, through His Work in our lives, and in answer to our prayers. He must be seen through the eyes of faith, or we may miss out on seeing evil humbled in our lives once again.

RESPOND IN PRAYER:

Are there moments of defeat in your life that you want to see God redeem and use for His Glory? Offer those painful moments or broken dreams to Him and ask Him to do with them whatever He wants.