Be Strong and Take Heart
The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?...
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
- Psalm 27:1-2, 14
This year has reminded us of how fragile and tenuous life can be. In the face of all this, the beginning of Psalm 27—with its confident proclamation of the safety afforded in the protection of the Lord—provides us great comfort. With the Lord as our light and salvation, the stronghold of our life, is there anyone or anything we should fear? And yet, many of us might want to ask the Psalmist, “Where do you get this courage?!” After all, there are many things and people who can do us or our family real harm, even if our eternal place is secure.
So how might we share in the Psalmist’s confidence? Our lives are lived in a time of waiting. Waiting between the salvation and reconciliation already achieved in Christ Jesus, and the not yet of the present world where sin and suffering still exists. We know that the Lord will come again and will fully restore creation, and that we will experience the consummation of God’s kingdom, but we look around and still see sin and death. And so we wait.
The best example I have heard that explains this in-between time, between the first Advent of Christ and his second coming, points to World War 2, and the difference between D-Day and V-Day. When the Allied troops landed and established a beachhead in Normandy on D-Day, the outcome of the war was no longer in doubt. The war was won, but it would be a matter of time before all of the battles were over. The Axis powers would still claim more victims before V-Day, but the decisive battle was finished. In the same way, when Jesus came as God’s messiah and deliverer, it was D-Day—the beachhead of God’s kingdom was established. It broke in upon us and the future became present. Still, though, we await the final consummation. The day of Jesus’ return will be V-Day. Our Christian life is lived in this tension between the already and the not yet, between the kingdom come, and the kingdom coming.
Because of Christ, the war is won, but some battles remain. We see glimpses of the victory, but we will not see it in its fullness until Christ returns. Take the Psalmist’s exhortation to heart: Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
~Pastor Matt