The LORD will roar!

The Lord will roar

I love old those old movie Westerns, the ones where the good guys wear white hats, ones in which good triumphs, the nice guy gets the girl. There’s no moral ambiguity in those old films. Everybody knows what’s right and wrong.  Even though the villain looks like he will win, in the end, the hero prevails and we are glad. I like those stories because I don’t see it happening in the world in which I live.  Too often I see the ruthless and cruel step on those who refuse to act selfishly.  The self-promoters, the arrogant, and the willful frequently end up running the show.  It appears that morality is determined by power, that ‘might makes right,’ is true.  We wonder if Friedrich Nietzsche was right when he said  “All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.”

When I see a godly person abused by another, I cry out for God’s justice. When a person is rejected for no better reason than his love for the things of God, I pray for blessings to come. When the evil and godless trample on those who are good and godly, I pray that God will defend His own.  When those who claimed His Name turn to their own ways and disgrace Him in the eyes of the world, I pray for Him to break the spell of the deceiver and reveal His glory anew! “Set things right, Lord. Vindicate those who hope in You.”   I borrow these words of the Psalm in my prayers: "May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, “The LORD be exalted!”" (Psalm 40:14-16, NIV)

Is my faith an empty hope?  There is a thread that runs through all of Scripture that assures the faithful that God will bring about justice, that the righteous will find their reward. He does not always act on our timetable, however.  For reasons we often cannot grasp, He allows us to suffer. Evil struts about with disdain for those who love what is good, pure, and right. If we look deeply enough, we see that the seed of evil does ultimately produce a crop of destruction.  Greed, sensuality, and selfishness bring short-term gain, but in the end those who choose them as their god are consumed by their own vanities.  But, those who hope in the Lord, will be filled with joy.

The prophet says "The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. ‘Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her. ‘In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s house and will water the valley of acacias. But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations." (Joel 3:16-20, NIV)  It’s poetic and true!

Here’s a word from the Word. May it be our prayer this day and always.

"We depend on the Lord alone to save us.
Only he can help us, protecting us like a shield.
In him our hearts rejoice, for we are trusting in his holy name.
Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
for our hope is in you alone." (Psalm 33:20-22, NLT)  Amen