August 19

The Terrible Expectation of Faithfulness

 
King David was the truest kind of competent warrior. He knew the life of a soldier very well. And he also knew for Whom and for what he was fighting – for the King of kings and for His glory. Therefore, David also knew that his enemies were also the enemies of the Creator and that the final score was always settled in favor of the Omnipotent One. He speaks clearly of this in Psalm 54:5, “He will recompense the evil to my foes; destroy them in Your faithfulness.”

Today, on nearly every battlefield on Earth, the story is the same – both sides claim that it is they who fight for God, and it is for God’s glory that they wage battle. Unfortunately, while it is God’s sovereign plan that they fight one another, it is not always one, or either of them, that actually wages war on behalf of the Lord of lords. And thus it is that for one side to call upon God to destroy the other is almost always human folly and misunderstanding of Who God really is in the affairs of men. And yet David’s verse in this psalm was ultimately focused not on whose side God was on, but that God is faithful in His ultimate justice – on His terms and on His terms alone!

If you are an eternal child of the Lord Master, it is not important that you win every battle of your life. David certainly did not. But it is vitally important to know that Jesus came to enjoin the battle long before you, and He won it all in your place! Justice for you has been fully satisfied before God. You will never have to fear His destruction, and you will never be at enmity with Him, ever. And yet, full justice demands that those who do not accept the sacrifice and blood of Jesus will one day stand before their Maker and will feel the full weight of His wrath and destruction for all eternity. Justice demands it; just as justice satisfied extends eternal love in permanent, never-ending grace focused entirely on His eternal child.