Ps 48-49 He saw, He loved, He came, He conquered death

In the forward of the book “ReChurch” written by Stephen Mansfield, George Barna notes that the church today is facing an epidemic called “ecclesia exitus,” the Latin term for church dropout. “The symptoms are many, but the outcome is unambiguous: pain, disappoint, and spiritual anomie.”  Our hurts have metastasized into bitterness and although the prescription for healing is within the Word of God and God Himself, many are unwilling to take the antidote to healing and thus the root of bitterness (Heb 12:15) festers and brings upon the Body of Christ the untold suffering that was not meant to be. Rather than coming to the Living Water to drink and be nourished, our roots dry up and our branches wither above.

In Ps 48 and 49 there are those who are fleeing not the church but God Himself who sits enthroned upon Mt. Zion, the fortress of Jerusalem where He is defender of the weak, the defender of those who are His own. These who are fleeing do so because they unlike Caesar who said “I came, I saw, I conquered,” are saying “I came, I saw, I fled.” Those who know not the I AM have seen the power of His fortress, sitting high on Mt. Zion, impenetrable by His forces of righteousness and know that His power can vanquish them in a breath. His power and His grandeur are beyond description and so they flee into the desert and the wilderness of life rather than surrendering to His love, care and righteousness.

Contrast that with we who “came, saw, and took the step.” We have no fear because we chose to submit to He who was, is and forever will be. Therefore, we can enter, observe and note the grandeur of the towers, the strength of the walls. We stand in awe of who He is, we stand in awe of the fortress He has constructed to protect us from the “roaring lion that is seeking whom to devour.” We who have yielded to the Almighty are not only protected by the fortress of His love, but the fortress of His righteousness. Therefore we can say with Paul 8:38 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is my prayer that you know Him and can say, “He saw, He loved, He came, He conquered death” and also “I saw, I came, I bowed the knee, and know the one in whom my faith is set and I am convinced that he is able to protect what has been entrusted to me until that day.”