************************************************************
I love the songs of Easter. You know the ones like Keith Green's “Easter Song." The hallelujah He is risen songs that have you seeing the angels shouting from the top of their hearts across the heavens that He is risen! You can see the party. They’re just going nuts. His plan is in motion, He was telling the truth, He is the Lord, He is in charge, He has won and He has done it for us. The curse of sin is dead; He has risen! Hallelujah. I love it because I know in my heart what they’re talking about. I get it so much and it humbles me and breaks me down to my most “face down can’t believe you love me that much” posture. I can’t help but jump with the angels. Praise you Lord my God. You have my heart, you have my life. Help me to trust you Lord.
But I was thinking the other day on a flight to Duluth where I was absorbed in my Easter music cranked to full volume in my headphones and trying to keep my love tears from freaking out the lady next to me, that these songs are from the angel’s point of view, maybe even my point of view. The “after we see the bigger picture” point of view, but that was not the Apostles' point of view. That hit me hard. I always thought of Easter as a rejoicing time for everyone. But it hit me that these people were freaked out. Tragedy after tragedy has snowballed out of control in a matter of hours, days and this must have been the topper. Satan has struck hard and it looks like he’s won. THEY’VE STOLEN HIM! Can you imagine? What do we do? We’re not ready! The panic must have been huge. As they were assembled in the upper room where they waited it must have took tremendous faith to just wait. Wait for Jesus to come.
And He did. He did come and He did show them the bigger picture. He did give them the peace they needed, the strength they needed, the vision of His will that gave the direction they needed to ultimately do what He needed them to do, not what they needed to do.
How many times do you find yourself in a panic over your life or lost in your direction? You know friends and family that have faced the most challenging issues of life and death. You’ve known friends and peers that have thrown everything they held dear away for a drink, a drug, a fling. Satan has struck hard and it looks like he’s won. The panic is sometimes huge. But your Lord knows you and He knows all of us. And He is in charge of it all. He does allow us this life of free will and He does allow us to experience what others or we have put into play. And we do live in a fallen world where sometimes Satan does strike hard. But make no mistake about it. His victory IS our victory. You do not live for this world you live for His. And like the Apostles you’re reminded sometimes to wait. Wait for Him. He’s already in charge of your situation and He has you where you are. He will come and show you the bigger picture, He will give you the peace you need to get through, He will grant you the strength you need and the vision to see His will. He will give you the direction you need to do the actions He needs you to be doing in that time, not just for you but for those around you, that you may be the visible hands and feet of our Lord to those around you.
We have something that the Apostles didn’t have… hindsight. Hallelujah, He is risen. What a position, oh what a time to be. What an awareness to dwell on; we get to have the gift of hindsight.
Hear the bells ringing they’re singing that Jesus Christ is no longer dead.
I love the songs of Easter.
[Editor's Note: If you were curious about Keith Green's song (as I was), I have added a video of the song.]
No comments:
Post a Comment