Word of Encouragement (05/23/2023)
"There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. 27 The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, 'Destroy.' 28 So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone, in a land of grain and wine, whose heavens drop down dew. 29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread upon their backs."
In v. 29, we have another description of those, whose dwelling place is the eternal God—happy (or blessed, Ps. 1:1)! We have seen various reasons for their happy condition in preceding verses. Here, Moses adds a few more.
God’s people are happy people because they are uniquely blessed with salvation: “Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD...!” If what sets them apart from others (“Who is like you...!”) is that they are saved (“saved by the LORD”), then all others are not saved. God chose some out of the fallen humanity and delivered them by His grace. If their salvation makes them happy, what they are saved from must be horrible. And the more they see the misery of their fallen condition, the happier they will be for their salvation.
But the other way around can be true as well. The fallen condition may not seem so bad (at least for now because God preserves the world by common grace and allows even the reprobates [i.e., those who are destined for eternal destruction because they refuse to repent]) to experience varying measures of happiness in life. But even the best this world can offer (by God’s common grace) is to be viewed as all misery because of the surpassing glory and goodness of God’s salvation. Are you happy about your salvation? Will your happiness continue even when afflictions and hardships come your way because the magnitude of your joy of salvation far exceeds whatever weight of sorrow you happen to bear at any given time?
God’s people have their salvation because God is “the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph.” Do you see how God is both our Defender (“the shield of your help”) as well as our Offense (“the sword of your triumph”)? What security is ours! Who in heaven and earth can get to us and harm us if God should be the Shield? And what is strong and sharp enough to penetrate God’s defense? And who is strong enough to withstand and block the sword of God? If one word from God can fell Satan (“A Mighty Fortress is Our God”), who can handle God wielding His sword?
How wonderful it is that God is both our Defense and our Offense! God is not just busy defending His people against the enemy attacks as if that were all He could manage; God also fights for us. But God is not so busy going on the offensive that He neglects to defend us at the same time. He can keep us in the shadow of His wings while He destroys our enemies. Think about what happened on the night of Passover! God is the shield of our help: He will not fail to help us in times of danger. And God is the sword of our triumph: He knows no defeat; victory is always His!
Because God is our Champion, we share in His victory. For now, our victory is spiritual in character as it was exemplified in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this world, we will face persecution and tribulation. But the kingdom of Christ is triumphant as the gospel goes forth, delivering sinners from the tyrannical reign of Satan. Its triumph is also shown as Christians persevere in faith despite the persecution they suffer in this world. But this will not always be so. When Christ shall return in glory, we shall tread upon the backs of the unrepentant sinners and, with Christ, judge them. Should we not be happy that we are delivered unto eternal salvation in inviolable security and inevitable victory in Christ?