Hold

This week we begin worship with:

Psalm 139:7-10

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 

If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 

even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

This is so comforting.

Regardless, if one has participated in the first resurrection or as Job understood and prayed, if there was a time one must first wait for God's wrath to pass, God's Holy Spirit is present.

Job 14:13

Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,

    that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,

    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

For that wrath could not be satisfied until God became both the just and the justifier in the perfect sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Romans 3:25b-26

This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Regardless, if I obtain the power of flight, and can fly as fast as the dawn, and can visit the remotest locations of the earth, the LORD is not simply a carved image and one of many household gods, He is all-powerful and omni-present.

But that is not the comforting bit!  

The comforting bit is what He does when He is with us.  The Holy Spirit leads us and He holds ('āḥaz) us.  He does not cloister or confine us, but instead during this adventure we call "life", He walks ahead of us and with a firm hand he holds onto us so we are not lost.

John 6:39-40

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Sting

  This week we begin worship with:

1 Corinthians 15:54-55

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

With gleeful shouts, kids taunt "You can't catch me!" to start an imprompto game of tag.  That is not our relationship with death.  For, if the Lord tarries, death will surely tag us. 

Here our taunt with death is instead "Where is your sting?".  To understand, we must read on . . .

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Though death will tag us, the sting of the law will not be present.  The author of Hebrews puts it beautifully:

Hebrews 9:27-28

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

The eagerness with which we wait should be more akin to a different schoolyard cry "Pick me, pick me!".

Stand

Today we begin worship with:

Ephesians 6:12

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

This is not simply the daily grind.  This is not the missed bus or the rude person in line at the store.  This is not the toast landing buttered side down.

This is a battle into which we must walk prepared.  This is leaving the safety of the rear guard, being rotated forward to the contact line, and engaging the enemy.  This is war.

That said, we are not on the offensive.  The surrounding verses, our instructions on how we are to prepare, say we are holding ground already taken.  

Ephesians 6:11,13
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
. . . 

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

What ground?  Our own soul.  

That said, it is not a fair fight.  It is ground, that He will not lose.

John 6:39
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

Incompetence

This morning we start worship with:

1 Samuel 2:10

The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.

Frequently when faced with an absurd situation, in jest, I will say "If I were king" and then pronounce some new law or change of process that would remedy the situation.  The author Lawrence J. Peter wrote that people are promoted until they achieve a level of incompetence that prevents them from further advancement.  In business this is called the "Peter Principle" and it is the reason I will never be king!

Our verse this week is not subtle.  The words are straightforward and declare the supremacy of God.  The LORD will have dominion over the whole earth and through His anointed, He will judge it.  By "it", that means "me".  He will find me wanting, not up to the mark.  He see perfectly my incompetence, my reproach:

Psalm 119:38-40

Confirm to your servant your promise,

    that you may be feared.

Turn away the reproach that I dread,

    for your rules are good.

Behold, I long for your precepts;

    in your righteousness give me life!

Praise God, He has graciously given us life, having paid our debt on the cross.