July 31, 2013
Psalm 24:7-8 — Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
This psalm has been on my mind for quite a while. We have sung a wonderful hymn in choir a couple of times over the past year. By some silly association these two verses keep coming into my mind as we approach the gates to the community in which we live. But after yesterday’s devotion it has come back in force with another twist.
The King of glory, mighty in battle, could, of course, sweep away any gates he chose to. No everlasting doors could resist his might. He is just not that sort of God! Instead He says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
How much we need to open the door! Both personally, and nationally, we need to open the door!
When I talked to Myra about this thought she add her own important perspective. “Yes,” she said, “it’s not enough to pray. We need to ask, to invite Jesus in.” How true that is. It’s not enough to ask Jesus for help, as though He were a powerful potential ally who can be asked for help when needed and dismissed when His work is done. We have to invite Him in to take over. Just as personal repentance and owning Jesus as Lord is the key to personal redemption, so is national repentance and owning of Jesus as Lord the key to national redemption.
There is a passage in Isaiah 26 that contrasts the faithful nation with the proud nation that has turned away from The Lord. The passage speaks to Israel, and we should be careful about adapting specific prophecies to our own use, but it seemed to me that the verses were apt to my theme. Isaiah 26:1-5 says:
In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength: For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
It seems to me that a choice is laid before us, personally and nationally. Will we be faithful, and follow the King of Glory into His city. Will we be proud, and turn away, and go our own way? Will this be, once more, “a nation under God”?