“For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.”
Psalm 18:28-32
The grace, the mercy and the compassion of the Lord, that transcending love, that encompassing charity that surpasses all human understanding, all our worldly wisdom and our earthly enlightenment…
There is nothing in this world that we can rightly view as being perfect or as being flawless. We may see great and wondrous sights, our eyes may behold fantastic mysteries that confuse us in this sense of magnificent awe, we may hear wisdom that astounds and amazes us as we finds ourselves marveling at it. Yet there is nothing in this world or of this world that can be considered perfect, and we know that perfection, it is just so far off and incomprehensible by our enlightenment and our knowledge.
Yet there is one place we can look where it is not far off, where it is not just a distant concept or some remote theory, a place where it seen as the guiding, transcending principle that guides the destiny of men. Through the hand of God we see perfection abounding in the flawlessness of His reasoning and the wondrous miracles of His enlightenment. There is no force, there is no strength in this world or of this world that can stand against that amazing perfection that comes by His will and might, there is no coercion, no vigor, no energy that can stand again the power that comes through His divine precepts as He contends with the cause of His children.
After all “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me.” (Psalm 118:6)
Still it’s not hard to look at this world and somehow believe that the cause of the Lord is far off, or that the perfection of His hand is not at work. It’s not hard to look at this temporal existence and wonder, where is the Lord? Where is our God? Why does He not contend with our cause or with our suffering and our struggle? We long for answers, we yearn for His mercy, and yet it seems so distant of a thing, it seems like we abide amidst exile from His grace as we see what looks like the victory of evil and iniquity as they inflict darkness on the souls of men
There’s just so much pain and turmoil, so much chaos and hurt, where is the Lord in all of this? Where is the Lord in the agony and the anguish of the captives taken, as they are made hostages, their lives held to be contemptuous by bitter men of wicked iniquity? Where is the Lord in hurt of the slaves as they cry out for mercy, their bodies bruised and broken by whip as they tortured, and wicked men guided by their own wicked ways? As the prisoners are ripped away, dragged away by brutal regimes of hatred and oppression, left to rot or die where is the Lord? As women are grabbed from the streets and turned to drugs so that their will and their determination, their resistance can be broken by evil men who commit unspeakable evils against them as they turn them into sex slaves, where is the Lord? As the sweatshops remain, as the secret prisons exist, as the tyranny and the oppression persists, where is the Lord our God and why does He not contend with the cause of these people?
It’s hard to imagine the suffering and the agony that grips these people's souls as they find themselves amidst such darkness and pain. Yet just because we cannot see the hand of the Lord at work, does not mean that it’s not present, moving throughout this world to battle for the cause of justice as He seeks the deliverance of His children.
Yes it may seem like dark forces are on the rise, it may seem like sin and iniquity is on the march and that they are unstoppable amidst the chaos of this world. But we must remember that the Prince of this World, he gives these evils the appearance of unparalleled strength and might as to grip our souls in terror and fear and to cause us to question our Lord. But still it is no match for our Heavenly Father and the power of His might. In love and mercy he battles for the cause of His children as His hand is at work throughout all the challenges of this age and throughout all ages.
Trust therefore in His love, and His compassion, knowing that His mercy is at work in this world and through the perfection of His grace there is no force that can stand against Him. He shall be at work in all ways, in all things, to battle for the cause of His children, giving them hope and courage even amidst the deepest of challenges and the harshest of struggles. His truth and righteousness shall illuminate even the darkest of places, revealing that there is nothing that shall remain hidden from Him.
His ways shall be revealed as perfect and His understanding shall shine the light of righteousness in all things, in all places, through a mercy that cannot be removed or put down, regardless of how powerful the forces of sin, death and the devil may be. Just as He, through the hand of Moses, delivered captive Israel from the hands of the Pharaoh, just as, through Christ Jesus, His only Son, offered us salvation, putting the captivity we were in to sin to flight, so too does he stand with the captives today. Put your faithful trust in that promise and know He shall always be true to His word.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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