YahwehT'sebaoth

There is a moment in that old movie, The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy and company discover that behind the curtain there is only a little man pulling levers! The mystery is stripped away and the ordinariness of the machine revealed. Is your God too small? It's thought I'm working through today. Is He so great in your life, so amazing, that you tremble before Him, or have you tamed Him, explained Him, defined Him to such an extent that He no longer reigns in majesty? When we pursue the knowledge of the Holy One, we find that His majesty grows greater, His grandeur only increasing with discovery!

In that great hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, there is a line that says, "Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same." YahwehT'sebaoth- the Lord of Hosts- is a name given to God often in the Old Testament. Some modern translations say "Almighty God" but I really love the imagery of The Message which translates that title as "God-of-the-Angel-Armies." The Hebrew - "tsaba" - is a generalized word that means a force, a group, or an army. When the Scripture calls God, Yahweh T'sebaoth, the intent is to impress us with His power that is beyond challenge.

How easily we trivialize God, fooling ourselves into thinking we are reverencing Him by attaching a Christian fish to our car's bumper, or wearing a cross on our lapel, or saying a ritual prayer before we drop off to sleep. True worship of Yahweh T'sebaoth is expressed in trusting Him implicitly and following His commands without question! That can be hard to do when He only allows us to see a slice of time that doesn't include a neat ending to the story of our lives! We discover the true depth of our surrender to His authority when His orders appear to leading us into tough times or costly sacrifice.Let me illustrate the principle of submission from common experience. If you think your project manager is competent, if you understand her goals, if you agree with her strategy, it's easy to fall in line, isn't it? If our boss or leader inspires us we readily put ourselves wholeheartedly into the effort they're leading. But what about the times when you don't know the plan, when you only have your assignment and not the whole plan, and have not worked with the one in charge enough to really know if she's all that competent as a leader? It is natural then to wonder - "Is this the right thing to do? Will this really succeed?"

The Bible tells us that God is Yahweh T'sebaoth, urging us to trust Him totally, even when He doesn't reveal the whole plan to us! The General of Heaven's Armies has it all worked out and He's been very successful! So, when He sends us into the battle in life - be it with temptation, with sickness, with Satan or his demons- we go with full assurance, and with authority - not of our own making, but from His Name! David, just a teenager, went to do battle with Goliath, the giant champion of the Philistine army that was holding the line against the armies of Israel. Filled with faith and in spite of not knowing exactly how the Lord would provide the victory, the teenage shepherd strode onto the field where the contest would take place. His courage came from knowing he was in the Lord's army. As he approached the skilled warrior, he said, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, butI come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty (YahwehT'sebaoth), the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me... and the whole worldwill know that there is a God in Israel." (1 Samuel 17:45-46, NIV) And, we know the rest of the story. David defeated the hero in the power of the Lord and God's Name was honored.

Don't make God too small in your understanding. Don't steal His majesty. Let Him impress His majesty on you. "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." (Ephesians 1:17-19, NIV) Stay patiently with this theme as I take you to one more Scripture passage.

After Judah was destroyed by Babylonia and Jerusalem lay in ruins for about 70 years, some Jews hadreturned from Babylon to rebuild their nation. Nehemiah had led the campaign to restore the city walls. Ezra headed the campaign to rebuild the Temple. Surrounding nations were threatened by the re-building and sent an emissary to Xerxes, the Persian king who had allowed the reconstruction, asking him to stop the effort. The enemies of Judah said, "If the Jews rebuild their Temple, their God willreturn and make them strong again!" For several years the work was at a standstill, the foundations and stonework reminding the Jews of their weakness before the great Persian empire. During that time, Zechariah preached and encouraged Zerrubabel, the mayor of Jerusalem.

The prophet said, "This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor bystrength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty. (YahwehTsebaoth) Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel's way; it will flatten out before him! Then Zerubbabelwill set the final stone of the Temple in place, and the people willshout: `May God bless it! May God bless it!' " (Zechariah 4:6-7,NLT)

Who is trying to stymie God's work in your life?
Who is trying to discourage you, cause you to doubt or fear?
Bow in humble reverence, magnify God in sincere praise.
Then, speak to them and say, "It is not by force nor by strength, but by mySpirit, says the Lord Almighty (Yahweh Tsebaoth)!"
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