Tuesday, February 19, 2008

His Side

“If the Lord had not been on our side— Psalm 124:1

Remember when we were kids and it was time to choose sides for whatever it was we were going to do? Maybe you were one of those who were always picked first because you were good at baseball or football or whatever. Perhaps you were one of those who were always the last to be chosen. Not a fun experience, as I remember.


The Psalmist proclaims that God is “on our side.” The reality is that we are on the same side because He has chosen us. Because that is true, we have a Protector when the burning anger
of men assaults the Church of Jesus Christ, when the flood of evil in our society attempts to rip us apart—sometimes with words, other times with deeds.

It seems at times that the Church (read: the men and women who make up the Body of Christ) is slandered and hindered from its mission by those who would marginalize the value of living a moral life, scoff at obedience to God’s revealed Word, and attempt to remove from the public eye any reference to the historical Christianity of our Nation’s past.

A significant number of individuals both inside and outside Christianity are ensnared by immorality, selfishness, unbelief, a non-Biblical worldview, and ignorance. As a society we have by-in-large abandoned, to one degree or another, “the maker of Heaven and Earth.” (See Psalm 124:8) We are content to believe that we are capable of minding our own affairs, ruling our world, and blind to the insidious plot of the Enemy to separate us from God for eternity.

The only help for our situation is Jehovah. He is on our side—because He has chosen us for His team. He is the sustainer when otherwise we would be overcome and swept away.

I am excited about being on His side. It is the side that has set us free to become victorious in life, to be an over-comer rather than swept away in the torrent of despair, and to have no fear for the future, because His team wins in the end.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And, by God's grace, may we be among the players, rather than mere spectators, when the "sides" face off!

Indeed, the kind of experience you characterize is the experience of much of the church around the world, which differs from that of ours in the west, which explains why errors like eternal security without regard to perseverance, the prosperity and Schuler/Osteen's positive, success-oriented "gospels" find their origin in our Laodecian, materialistic and self-centered Western culture. When our side of the world really begins to face the persecution faced by our brothers and sisters in other lands, may God grant us the grace to persevere!

Without him we can do nothing! Thank God he elected us to be on his team, which puts him "on our side!"

Christian West said...

John,
Thanks for your reply. I fear when the real persecution comes, we will be looking for "players" and finding only "armchair" quarterbacks.

I'm grateful God chose you and me for the same "team."

Christian