The Heart's Cry: Psalm 20

Psalm 20

Many times through the First Testament God is referenced as 'The God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob." I think this occurs for two reasons. First, it immediately recalls who God has already been to the people. Secondly, it reminds us that God is not some far off god but is a rather a God that exists in close relationship to humanity, and not just humanity in general but specific humans along the way.

Who God has already been: God is a God of action, stepping into the fray of the daily struggles of God's people and lifting them out and up. I believe that God is a God ahead of us, pulling us forward into a new day. I believe that expressly because that is how God has been both in my life and in the life of history. We progress, we evolve, we expand. What was once commonplace is now unthinkable, and what was once unthinkable is now commonplace. This is only possible through the gifting of God, allowing both our skills and our knowledge to grow. Soren Kierkegaard once said, "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." The same is true for God, we can only understand the myriad of ways that God works in our lives by looking back.

A God who exists in close relationship: God does all of that because God enters into relationship with both the individual and the community that desires such. God called Abraham to go because God understood that Abraham would go, much like God calls people to go now. God calls us to be pastors, missionaries, teachers, whether we do that in a church, a foreign country, or in our 'mundane' daily lives, the call remains the same no matter the profession, no matter the situation, no matter the employer. In the case of Isaac God both calls for and then provides the sacrifice, as God does each day for us, God requires and God provides that which God requires. Finally, in the case of Jacob, God wrestles and then renames, we all have that point where we either fish or cut bait and God waits for us to recognize and react in that moment. Should we continue the fight we become a new creation, no longer do we live, but Christ lives in us.