I will praise you among all the people; I will fulfill my vows in the  presence of those who worship you. The poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the Lord will praise him. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy. The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. People from every nation will bow down before him. For the Lord is king! He rules all the nations.

Let the rich of the earth feast and worship. Let all mortals – those born to die – bow down in his presence. future generations will also serve him. Our children will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those yet unborn. They will hear about everything he has done.

Psalm 22:25-31

Hebrews declares above all else the worth of Jesus. He is uniquely Lord, uniquely worthy of all our praise and adoration. This is both because of who he is and what he has done. The audience of the book was questioning whether or not following this man was worth the cost. The answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

What makes you shout aloud the greatness of God? Our culture tells us that religion is private, not to be shared, vocalized, brought to attention. But Jesus shared a different worldview. One where religion is public. Not showy or self-involved, but open, vibrant and active. How often do people not respond to Jesus because we have not offered anything worthy of a response?

People who saw Jesus recognized power and authority – even when they were contrary. Jesus didn’t have to tell people he had been with the Father. They knew by his words and his actions. With the Holy Spirit within us, we need to praise what God is doing. We need to share why we follow Jesus. Because if he is not worth the “shame” of putting ourselves out there on a limb, if he is not precious enough to risk our comfort zone, then why follow? I’m telling myself this as much as you! Are we going to praise our God before men like he deserves it, or will we fearfully sulk through each week waiting for a comfortable church setting where we can sing about God’s works? Joyful praise needs to leave the church  building and be present in the church throughout the week.

What is it about Jesus that makes you bow before him? Bowing is an act of submission that shows our loyalty and respect. It isn’t about a low self-esteem or feeling inferior. It is about honoring the exalted character and worth of the one we bow before. As we bow we put our lives at the disposal of the king, for his service and pleasure.

Typically, we bow in silence. It isn’t about what we have to say. Bowing isn’t about asking for something, it’s about honoring and listening. I want you to take a couple minutes and sit silently, even bow. Don’t think about your day, your sin, your goals, your needs. Instead, let God remind you how big he is. Rather than asking God whether your plans will work, let God tell you where he is headed. Take some prolonged time – maybe even do it on a regular basis. Placing ourselves quietly before God is something that we need more of in our fast-paced and often chaotic lives.

These two things need to be consistently practiced as we develop spiritually. Joyful praise. Quiet reverence. Both are a challenge as we follow Jesus, one day at a time.

As Abram returned from his victory over Kederlaomer and his allies, the king of Sodom came out to meet him…Then Melchizedek the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought him bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has helped you conquer your enemies.”

Then Abram gave Melchizedec a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.

The king of Sodom told him, “Give back my people who were captured. But you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered.”

Abram replied, “I have solemnly promised the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from you. Otherwise you might say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich!’”

Genesis 14:17-23

The king of Sodom doesn’t stand out in this story. though he makes commands, he is not in charge. But the character of Melchizedec is exciting and different. Who is this man that would receive offerings from Abram? What is God doing, preparing the people with this singular mention of the roles of priest and king in one person? Remember that this is before the nation of Israel has been freed from bondage in Egypt, before the rule of the judges, even before the rule of the first kings of Judah and Israel. There is no priesthood designated by the law of Moses, as God has not yet made a covenant with the people of Isreal – Israel not yet even being born!

The writer of Hebrews makes much of this man. Melchizedec as both king and priest is a forerunner for Jesus – who is both priest in the heavenly sanctuary and Lord, king of God’s people and eternal ruler over creation. The fact that never once is mentioned a lineage stands out to a people who thought so much of priesthood. The priests under the Mosaic law were required to be able to prove their heritage. Nothing of the sort is mentioned with the king of Salem. Even the fact that there is a priest to the Most High God before the law prepares the people to recognize that the priesthood, the whole entire sacrificial system, is meant for a time and place and points to something greater.

I’m always amazed at the way God uses patterns to share with us his truth. Spanning the Testaments, he provides examples in the Old and then shares fulfillment in the New. He prepares the people for truth they are not yet able to receive. The whole story here points to God. God is blessed as the one responsible for the victory. God is the one who must be obeyed. Abram has a keen awareness of where his strength lies.

As we near the end of our look at the book of Hebrews, we once again need to remember the call to persevere. We are encouraged to do so because we are the people of God. We act under the authority and power of the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. How would your day look different if you acted with that kind of authority – as if every breath and every step was on mission, acting as God’s representative? Would you say less or more? Would the content of your words be different? What about your actions?

Would we be so prone to sin and excusing our sin if we took God’s authority seriously? if we counted Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf and considered the steps he took to even now defend us before God’s throne? I think the world would have a whole different view of Christianity – of a people serious about God, about mercy and justice, about lifting up those who have fallen and rescuing those who are captive to their sin.

Thank you Jesus, for rescuing us. Guide us each day as we grow in love for you, as we come to recognize your voice better and more accurately represent your presence before our family and friends. Build a strong love within our community, based on your leadership and example. Your will be done, Lord!

]]> http://devotionals.themountchurch.com/2009/02/05/genesis-14/feed/ 0 http://devotionals.themountchurch.com/2009/02/04/satisfied/ http://devotionals.themountchurch.com/2009/02/04/satisfied/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:00:09 +0000 George http://devotionals.themountchurch.com/?p=275

Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never forsake you.” That is why we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” …Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your spiritual strength comes from God’s special favor, not from ceremonial rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them.

Hebrews 13:5-6, 8-9

The book of Hebrews ends with a redirection. With all the competition for our attention, God knows we need a focal point; something stable when the world is dizzy and incoherent to us.  The author has repeatedly pointed out Christ’s supremacy: the overwhelming glory of his very person, the exalted nature of his work – past, present and future. He has shared the deep compassion that God has for us in Jesus, and offered compelling examples of those who lived by what they knew to be true, though it was costly and they never experienced or saw the fruition. The evidence is there. We have every reason to trust.

Yet we don’t trust. We aren’t satisfied with what God offers. Our attention is on this present world, and God calls us to turn our gaze to himself, to Jesus, to eternity. Hebrews 13 redirects our attention from a number of things:

money

“Be satisfied with what you have.” You have the riches of God at your disposal, to spend in whatever fashion God desires. Whether little or much, we tend to get caught up in wanting more. God wants us caught up in generosity. He has displayed it, taught it, commanded it. And he now asks us to do it. Being satisfied assumes we don’t have all that we might want, or even think we need. But scripture repeats that we have God who will not fail or leave us. We have the thing most valuable.

people

It is not difficult to direct our attention to people.

Some we idolize, worshiping them for their skill, their personality, their beauty. We exchange God’s gift to us for self-doubt, complaints and jealousy. God calls us to activity, and we wallow in the dirt declaring our inability and unworthiness. We’re not satisfied with who God made us to be.

Others we fear, worrying they can harm us, or prevent us from whatever. To this the author of Hebrews offers a simple solution: “What can mere mortals do to me?” The Lord is with me!

ideas

We are big on ideas. There’s always a new imaginative twist. A new scheme, a better explanation, hidden knowledge. Don’t be too quick to believe every strange teaching, every new idea. Some of those ideas are tricks. They are clever deceptions. Christ doesn’t change, and we shouldn’t expect his message to change frequently. And often the new ideas are just the same old, disproven and worthless concepts that previous generations discarded. Humanity puts forward so many ideas, ways to extend life, make it simpler. But it seems getting us to stop and remember what God has already done is difficult. The writer of Hebrews points us back to God: “Your spiritual strength comes from God’s special favor…”

Our world teems with distractions, competing for our attention. God asks us to be satisfied with him. He has sacrificed everything to make us his own, to rescue us. He has promised us his presence. What are you putting your hopes in today other than Christ? A job or investment? A spouse or friend? A skill or a trait? This world is fleeting. The things of this world are temporary. Hopes based on Christ are the only ones that provide true and lasting satisfaction. That is where we find the confidence to stand firm through any trial that comes our way.

However, I understand that wishing these things will not, on its own, make them happen. God has given me the privilege of being a mother. He chose this little blond girl to be mine on this earth, and I take that job very seriously, for I know I will be accountable for her raising. Even though she is only two, I already know that there is nothing more rewarding than watching her learn or holding her close as she snuggles. But there is nothing more heartbreaking than hearing her cry when I must discipline her. However, if I truly want her to become the woman I described previously, I must consistently train her to know right from wrong and to take accountability for her actions.

Despite my understanding of the importance of disciplining my own child, and having seen the results of parents who do not, I still do not always appreciate God’s same role as disciplinarian. When facing trials and difficulties in my own life, I often think, “this simply is not how it is suppose to be” or “this isn’t fair.” I let my weak human mind and body fail under the stress instead of looking to the wisdom God offers. Hebrews 12 offers me a great reminder of why God, like me as mother, must discipline His children:

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:7-11

I definitely don’t put my daughter in time-out because it’s fun, nor do I expect her to follow certain daily routines because it’s easy. I create discipline because it works—it enforces good behaviors, encourages respect, and sets up healthy habits, and because I love her. Why, then, do I so often doubt that God does the same thing. Instead, I think I know best and question my circumstances and His callings. These verses in Hebrews offer an insight that I may not have fully understood without being parent. I am God’s child, and he loves me with a love that is even more profound and more perfect than I can ever love my own children. If I believe that discipline is best for my daughter, I must then also believe that as a daughter of my Heavenly Father, obstacles and difficulties are necessary; they enforce good behaviors, encourage respect, and set up healthy habits, and most importantly, prove that God loves me. Hebrews 12: 10 emphasizes that God desires Holiness in my life. Wow! I can’t imagine being Holy, as God is Holy, but if He knows how to get me there, maybe I should stop whining and start paying attention. My prayer is that I am ready to be trained as a child of a sovereign God.

Hebrews 11 is known in Christian circles as the “Hall of Faith” or the “Hall of Fame” for those who exemplified genuine faith in God.  From Abel to Noah (vs. 4-7) to Abraham and his descendants (vs. 8-19) to Jacob, Moses, the Israelites, and Rahab (vs. 20-31) to other Old Testament believers (vs. 32-38), the chapter is replete with example after example of people who embodied the kind of faith that we are to emulate.

Like the people listed in this chapter, and many others whose names could also fittingly find themselves on the roll, we are all called to possess such faith.  We’re all called to leave the comforts and trappings of our safety nets, and walk through life with the awareness that God is in control and we are to trust Him completely.  One of the signs of a true believer is a desire for their heavenly inheritance; a yearning to be in communion with their Creator and Savior, and to spend all of eternity with Him.  The stronger our faith is, the more fervent those desires become.

Perhaps one of the greatest accounts of faith in action is the offering up of Isaac by his father, Abraham.  (Genesis 22)  In the face of such trial, Abraham’s faith stood strong.  And we too, when confronted with opportunities to demonstrate faith, must stare down our doubts and fears as Abraham did by trusting in the power of Almighty God!

How have we responded when called to much lesser acts of self denial than was asked of Abraham?  Have we done what was called for, trusting that God had our best interest in mind and would make everything right?  Have we relied on the truth that God is always working for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes?  (Romans 8:28)  Are we able to take it a step further and thank God for our trials even while we’re in the midst of them?  (James 1:2-4)

The believers faith endures ’til the end, and even in death then gives them victory over death.  Faith emboldens us to take up the cause of Christ and to do the good works that He has for us.  Faith reminds us that God can easily subdue even the most powerful of kings and nations who would set themselves against Him.  By faith we know that nothing can oppose the LORD!

Listen to how Matthew Henry finishes out his commentary on this chapter:

The world considers that the righteous are not worthy to live in the world, and God declares the world is not worthy of them. Though the righteous and the worldlings widely differ in their judgment, they agree in this, it is not fit that good men should have their rest in this world. Therefore God receives them out of it. The apostle tells the Hebrews, that God had provided some better things for them, therefore they might be sure that he expected as good things from them. As our advantages, with the better things God has provided for us, are so much beyond theirs, so should our obedience of faith, patience of hope, and labour of love, be greater. And unless we get true faith as these believers had, they will rise up to condemn us at the last day. Let us then pray continually for the increase of our faith, that we may follow these bright examples, and be, with them, at length made perfect in holiness and happiness, and shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father for evermore.

How’s your faith looking these days?  At the end of your life, would you like your name to be added to the “Hall of Faith?”

And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s people, let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:21-25

When we are confident in our relationship with Jesus, the results are limitless. It’s not about working up a sense of trust, or having “unconditional faith”, a sense of belief divorced from our ability to think, reason and experience. It’s about recognizing who Jesus is. And when we recognize who Jesus is, we can begin to understand what he has done. And when we understand what he has done for us, we can come boldly into God’s presence knowing that he longs for us to be there.

Our confidence is based on who Jesus is first. He is our Lord. He rules over his people – a leader who cares for and protects his people, who is not in it for personal gain, but in it to serve those under his charge. The fact that he is a great high priest points out his ability to offer compassion and sympathy. He is not far away, nor proudly judgmental of our weakness and failure. He knows what it is to deal with our cravings and insecurities; his experience enables him to minister for us in God’s presence.

Once we understand who Jesus is, we move to what he has done for us. As a priest, he offered himself – the only sacrifice God would accept. Hebrews 10 makes clear that God did not want animal sacrifices, even though they were stated in the law. Rather, animal sacrifice never could do what the people expected it to do. They wanted the regular sacrifices to clean them, remove their guilt. Instead, it only reminded them of their guilt. So Jesus offers himself, and God is pleased. God had prepared Jesus for this very purpose. Now, using the metaphor of the Tempe sacrifices, we have been sprinkled with Jesus’ blood. The sprinkling makes us clean – holy – prepared to be in God’s presence. Dirt was a good metaphor for sin in the Old Testament. Dust and grime got everywhere in the lives of wandering shepherds. Having been washed by water, we can be sure that the sin has been removed. That is the work of Jesus.

These two things together mean that we are welcome in God’s presence. Not that God is not to be approached in reverence, but God has a heart tender to us, and he sees us cleaned by Christ’s sacrifice. We can come to him with thanks, with concern, with our weakness and even with our uncertainty. And knowing how far Jesus went gives us the proper experience to really trust him. We can know that God will be faithful; he will live by his word, by his promise.

The interesting thing to come out of this short passage is what follows. Since we can feel welcome in intimate relationship with God, we are now urged to spend time with other believer! We are encouraged to love them, to do good things for them. We are encouraged to be the encouragers. We are told to make time for each other regularly. Intimacy with God leads to community. That is amazing, if you ask me.

Some people who claim the name of Christ seem to think in terms of a private relationship between them and God. As if God demands some personal moral and religious behavior but faith has no social dimension. We can actually avoid growing spiritually if we just avoid others! But that isn’t the point. God wanted our intimacy with him to result in intimacy with others. He knew that would happen. Christianity is meant to be lived as part of a team, part of a body.

So take advantage of every opportunity to develop those attachments to the body. Minister to others with your hands. Use your mind and voice to bring joy and comfort. Use wisdom to point out sin, and use humility to guard against a false sense of righteousness. Get in a life group, bible study or family group. Eat meals together and share birthdays and anniversaries. Share kids going to school and learning to discipline with grace and hope. Meet each other’s needs, and give each other an umbrella of grace, allowing them to fail and offering forgiveness and the chance for restoration.

Be a family, since you are now joined to the Father.

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

The beginning of Hebrews 9 summarizes the plans of the tabernacle and duties of the priests and high priests during Old Testament days.There were two rooms, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The first was open to all priests in order for them to conduct their business as intercessor for their people. The inner room, separated by a curtain, was only entered by high priests once a year for the purpose of offering a sacrifice in hopes of forgiveness for his personal sins and the sins of the people. No priest entered this room housing the Ark of the Covenant without a blood sacrifice.These rituals offered the Jewish people a chance to demonstrate obedience, to repent, and to attempt to mend their relationship with God despite their sinful nature. This old covenant with God, however, was replaced for us by His Son, Jesus, as explained in the New Testament. His coming set Jews, and all who believe, free from the restrictive laws of the old covenant.

Verses 11-14 and 23-28 particularly explain Christ’s role in the new covenant. Since God commands blood sacrifice for redemption, Christ became the ultimate high priest because he offered the ultimate blood sacrifice—his own. This act of love rids us of the bondage of ritual, and most importantly, the bondage of eternal death. As verse nine says, “he has died as a ransom.”

I love to watch police and court drama on television, and commonly on such shows, a perpetrator will kidnap a young person in hopes that their rich relatives will trade them back for a large amount of money, a ransom. Though I don’t often think of myself as a kidnapped victim, The book of Hebrews reveals that I am. I have been trapped by sin, by Satan, and by the world. My entrapment means separation from my God. However, Christ volunteered to be the ransom my kidnappers demand. My acceptance of this gift is my only chance of salvation.

Oh how I am thankful of God’s plan, how he knew I would need a rescue. Christ, as the “mediator of the new covenant” gives me the “promised eternal inheritance,” but He also gives me peace and hope. What a gracious Lord!

Those are all twisted and false ways of looking at rules. And maybe they sound too much like generalizations? Let’s think more specifically.

I despise our dress code at work. I find it unnecessary, a burden that results in no increased efficiency, no increased job satisfaction, no better service… Rather than wearing slacks, I think I could do my job quite well in jeans. Small thing, but it can actually really get under my skin some days. Petty? We all have some rule that is a pet peeve. We find it unbearable or useless. We ignore it when we think no one is looking. Or we criticize it and those responsible for upholding it. What work policy or regulation annoys you?

Or how about driving? I think the general rule is to drive over the speed limit, not under it.  I’ve been in debates on this topic, and found that the general argument is that it is discourteous (I’m not making this up!) to drive below or at the speed limit when everyone else is driving above it. The one obeying the speed limit is often even accused as the one responsible when an accident occurs! In reality, many – even Christians – believe they have the right and privilege to decide when they are required to obey the law or when it is an inconvenient and meaningless legislation.

Again, we have a twisted way of looking at rules.

But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my law in their minds so they will understand them, and I will write them on their hearts so that they will obey them. I will be their God and they will be my people.

Hebrews 8:10

Jesus has brought this new covenant to reality. As believers, God’s law is written within us. It isn’t that the old law was bad, evil, unnecessary, or unhelpful. It was good and it was righteous. But our view of it was sick and disgusting, twisted and evil. We considered it an unnecessary burden. We saw it as imposed by an unreasonable law-giver. We thought we were qualified to judge it:

“God just wants us to be safe, he didn’t mean…”

“God wants me to be successful; I’m sure this is alright…”

God never saw law as overbearing or manipulative. It was never a burden. It was good; it was pure. It lined up with his will and character. Man took laws that honored God through tithes and offerings and pitted them against laws that honored parents. Man took laws meant to protect holiness and twisted them into tools to suppress or berate those who were different. Man took laws meant to highlight God’s blessing of and care for his people and turned them into a heartless hatred of the nations. Israel exemplified the fact that we misuse the law, bending it to shape our own purpose, rather than letting it form and shape us.

That is why the new covenant was necessary. It is a change from within. When his perfect law is in our hearts, in our minds, we take on his will and character. Jesus plan was always to subvert our pride by replacing the system – making us something new and replacing the way we think. Slow process. Costly. But better. It is not an end to conflict – now there is a continual war between our sinful nature and the spirit at work within us. But now there is hope that we can overcome this body of sin.

God took an oath that Christ would always be a priest, but he never did this for any other priest. Only to Jesus did he say,

“The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: You are a priest forever.”

Because of God’s oath, it is Jesus who guarantees the effectiveness of this better covenant.

Hebrews 7:20-22

Hebrews 7 is the beginning stage of a discussion of Jesus’ work and ministry as a priest. Before being able to go into the depths of this activity, the writer of Hebrews wanted to point out that there was greater hope in Jesus’ ministry than in anything that had come before. Jesus is totally unique as a priest. He is not from the right family to be a priest under the Mosaic covenant – so God’s oath allows us to understand the law’s inadequacy – as we read in verse 19, “For the law made nothing perfect, and now a better hope has taken its place. And that is how we draw near to God.”

He is unique because he ministers alone, rather than in a group. He will never die, so he is able to sacrifice once – thus allowing for a perfect salvation. Other priests had to sacrifice first for their own sins and then those of the people. Jesus’ priesthood was quite different – the whole sacrifice was to be applied to the people’s sin.

Jesus offered something new, something that the old priesthood and legal system could not. But to the audience of this book, there was a real fear of return, of falling away. It was tempting to return to the protected status of the Jewish religion. It was tempting to return to the ease of traditional teaching, of security in being a Jew – one of God’s people. We must read the book of Hebrews with the eyes of someone who is struggling to decide whether to take the easy road, or the not-so-easy road. To settle for the familiar, or follow God into a foreign land. This sort of reader wants to know that their faith is placed in something better, something that will last. And so the description of Jesus’ ministry is clearly described as eternal and perfect.

That same struggle awaits us each day. What is it that you struggle with? What would be the “easy” or ” comfortable” way, and how is God offering a better way – one richer in purpose, but more costly in personal terms? The book of Hebrews repeatedly reminds us that Jesus is worth the risks. He offers salvation, life, peace, hope, rest. Jesus’ message, the gospel, the truth held in the Church’s message, is far superior to what came before. It should not be given up without considering what is at stake.

What we are talking about is life and death. Are we prepared to put our lives on the altar and treat each moment as God’s, or are we unwilling to pay the cost, ready to settle for something less than Jesus? We have God on record – Jesus is the way. He is forever a priest. He is set apart and unique. We make a wise choice when we choose Christ over what the world offers with its clever deception.

For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham.  Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:  “I will certainly bless you richly, and I will multiply your descendants into countless millions.”  Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.  When people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it.  And without any question that oath is binding.  God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.  So God has given us both his promise and his oath.  These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.  Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.

Hebrews 6:13-18, NLT

Yesterday, along with virtually the rest of the entire world, I watched the 44th President of the United States take the oath of office .  With his hand on the Lincoln Bible, Barack Obama pledged to faithfully uphold the office of President and sealed that oath with the words, “So help me God.”  Those are weightier words than I can convey in this writing.

Just as the verses state above, “when people take an oath they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it.”  Whatever his personal beliefs may be, Barack Obama vowed before the population of this planet to fulfill his calling as President, “so help him, God.”  Despite the great drift from its spiritual beginnings that our country has undergone and is still undergoing, we are still a nation that was founded in God and rooted in the Bible.  And though the ten commandments and corporate prayer have been removed from our public schools, God’s name is still very much a part of the fabric of our nation.  His name is found on our currency, in our pledge of allegiance, and even in the rhetoric of our oaths.  And when God’s name is invoked, as the Scripture says, “without question that oath is binding.”

Following the oath of office, President Obama gave his inaugural address.  It was his first opportunity as President to speak to the globe and further reveal his goals, his plans, his heart, and his character in the face of the extremely daunting issues that lie before him.  Strong convictions were declared and promises were made as he spoke into the microphone and into the expectant ears of the masses looking to him for answers, for hope, and for redemption from the crisis our nation and our world are facing.  It was a momentous occasion; it was a sobering occasion.

As I listened to the 18 minute and ten second speech, I watched the faces in the crowd, the yearning in the eyes of those gathered on the National Mall in D.C., that were straining to catch a glimpse of the hope they’re seeking from President Obama.  I wonder if they realize that the most important words He said yesterday were, “so help me, God.”

These are times unlike any my generation has ever known, and really unlike any the world has ever seen before.  I truly believe that change is not only coming, but that change is already upon us.   However, our hope in these trying times as believers need not be shaken.  Our confidence lies not in the resident of the White House, but rather in He who sits on the throne of heaven.  ”So God has given us both his promise and his oath.  These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.  Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.”  (vs. 18)  The confidence we have in Christ is an anchor for our souls that can be counted on to hold firm even in the midst of turbulent waters.

Our “Commander in Chief,” Jesus Christ, is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we don’t need to be afraid of what the future may hold for either America or the world.  The Kingdom of God will last forever, and we as citizens of that Kingdom have been promised to spend eternity with God.  This earth will one day pass away, and I believe is already in the process of doing so, but the Kingdom of God endures forever.  Take heart and be courageous because no matter what happens in Washington, D.C. or in London or Moscow or Baghdad, our Leader has taken an oath to love us and deliver us unto Himself, and no transition of power here on earth can ever alter the fulfillment of that oath.  In reality, the events unfolding before us are actually bringing the fulfillment of God’s promises to fruition, in His perfect timing.

The key to our obedience and God healing our land lies in fleeing to God as the source of our refuge, (vs. 18) and humbling ourselves as a nation and praying to God for wisdom and guidance, turning from our wicked ways, and seeking God’s face.  (2 Chronicles 7:14) That’s what “so help me, God” looks like in action.  It is imperative that those words be lived as well as spoken, not just by our President, but by everyone of us.

As historical and poignant as it was to watch the swearing in of President Obama yesterday, and as weighty as the oath he took is, my confidence lies not in what happened on the steps of the Capitol yesterday, but in what happened at the cross and the tomb so long ago, and in the oath and promises my Savior made to return and take me home to be with Him forever!  I hope that’s where your confidence lies too.