Jehoshaphat said, “LORD God of our fathers, truly You are the God in heaven and You rule over the kingdoms of
the nations; power and strength are Yours; none can oppose You.”
How often we forget these
things of which Jehoshaphat so eloquently reminds
us. This is basic first commandment stuff; “I am the Lord your God.
You shall have no other gods before me.” It seems simple enough in
theory, right? Perhaps, but maybe not.
Reading this verse, my attention keeps coming back to the phrase, “None can
oppose You.” All kinds of bells and sirens go
off in my head as I read these words. “Wait!” I say indignantly to
myself, “I certainly can oppose God, if I want to, and so can anyone
else.” But, why would we want to oppose God?
Isn’t God the one who speaks
creation into being? Isn’t God the one who loves humanity beyond
measure? Isn’t God the one who cares enough about us to come down from
the heaven to become human and suffer death in order to show humanity the way
of hope and salvation? Isn’t God the one with the power and strength to
take the ugliest, lowliest, most dysfunctional parts of us and transform them
into signs of the glory of God’s kingdom? Why would we choose to
oppose God, rejecting God’s love, humility, humanity, promises of hope and
salvation, or transformative and redemptive work in this world, all of which
God does for us?
This season of Lent, we
focus on the faith journey we traverse together as Christians: a journey of
faith and trust as followers of Christ. We are on the journey now, and it
continues for the rest of our lives as we struggle to proclaim in boldness and
in truth, “LORD God of our fathers, truly You are the
God in heaven and You rule over the kingdoms of the nations; power and strength
are Yours; none can oppose You.”
Almighty God, You are the
God in heaven and You rule over the kingdoms of the
nations. Help me always to remember that power and strength are Yours and that none, not even I, can oppose You.
Amen.
Emily Leitzke