[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]
Today: Psalms 35:1-10; Luke 2:21-40; Numbers 7:1-65
Psalms 35
One of my favorite movie lines was delivered by Aragorn to Theoden in Lord of the Rings: “Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not.”
This is the situation in which we also find ourselves, in the midst of a cosmic spiritual war between good and evil. We are not merely pawns in this battle, we are the prize that is being fought over.
And we are invited, by both sides, to participate.
I’ve chosen to engage. I’m a prayer warrior. I spend a lot of time every week on my knees, and with my nose in the Bible. It is a profound calling and I take it more and more seriously all the time.
But that doesn’t make me anyone special. We are ALL called to this.
We are all called, like David, to this spiritual battle where God is our help and our salvation. The LORD is the one “who rescues the afflicted from one who is too strong for him, and the afflicted and the poor from one who robs him.” (v.10)
Luke 2
Every child wishing for a friend, every depressed young person, every lonely woman, every man addicted to porn… all have one singular thing in common. They are all longing for something to complete them. This longing for completeness, for fulfillment, for a ‘savior,’ is the common state of every human who has ever existed. At the very foundation of it all, this quest for a savior is the motivation behind every thought, every action that has ever existed.
We are created to long for God. Our souls recognize that we are incomplete. Most of us spend our lives running around trying to satisfy that emptiness within us — through money, relationships, power, material things, adventures, etc.
But if we’re honest, we never quite get there. Nothing ever completely satisfies. Even things that might make us feel ecstatically happy at first eventually fade and bore us.
That is because the thing we’re really seeking is beyond the veil of this physical life. We can’t really lay our hands on it here… not totally and not in our own power. This thing we seek is the God who created us to begin with. We came from Him and we’ll never feel complete until we are back with Him again. He is our true home.
And although we will always be limited while in these physical dying bodies, we still can tap into that thing we long for… our Father who art in heaven… our Father who art Heaven. Jesus’ very name means ‘the Lord saves.” Jesus is our key to unlock that door. When Simeon takes baby Jesus into his arms, he says, “My eyes have seen [God’s] salvation.”(v.30) Jesus is “a light for revelation” (v.32) because through Him, we are able to SEE GOD.
