GOD is...
calm | "care-less" | elegant | faithful | happy | kindred | optimistic | passionate | valiant | vulnerable



God is Valiant

I've seen the Legend of Zorro twice lately.  Emphasis on "legend".  I liked it.  It was kind of inspiring ('cause the good guy won).

And then there's GOD.  History's generals have stood back and allowed their footsoldiers to do the dirty work.  Not God.  The Owner of the Sky pierced the core of hell, to die there. 

 

THAT'S awesome.

The Father gave his best.  He loved us to death, long before 'death' ever stole a life.  In eternity past, He determined Christ to be "the Lamb slain from the creation of the world".  (Rev. 13:8; NIV)

God is no fool, no masochist.  He HATES pain as much as you do.  (You've got a lot in common!)  So, why didn't He find a painless way to redeem our race?  Why did He send the Lamb to embrace physical agony and unimaginable spiritual anguish?  Why does He allow people to profane His name every waking minute of every day?

Any five-year old can tell us the answer: you can trust the person who died for you.  A crazy person started chasing me on the way home from school, and screaming that he was going to kill me.  Suddenly a total stranger stepped in, so the crazy person got him instead.  The police came and handcuffed the crazy guy, but the kind stranger died right there on the street.  My parents took me to the funeral and I cried so much because I knew the kind stranger must have been a really beautiful person.  I didn't even know his name, but he saved my life.  I'll never forget him.

If only that kind stranger could come back from the dead!  I'd be his friend.  Why not?  Every fiber of my being, every cell of my body knows he loves me.  I can readily give yourself to the person who died for me.

Such is the hope and logic of YHWH, the eternal Father, who even now is preparing a place for all His children, a home forever (Ex. 3:14; John 14:1-3).

He knew we'd understand the cross graphic.  He COULD have found an easy way, but He chose the most convincing way,  so that everyone could understand.  Then, with that understanding, all would choose Life rather than death.  This is God's hope.

After thirty three years of bondserving as the ultimate Son of Man, He marched to Golgotha, "the place of the skull".  Though tortuous, his gait was straight, facing multiple enemies of violence, betrayal, mockery, abandonment, and death.  "He set his face like a flint", according to prophetic Isaiah. He died alone. 

Some people were nearby, but they had no clue.  No clue why he sweat drops of blood the night before in Gethsemane.  No one knew (will we ever?) the immeasurable anguish that prompted this singular Warrior of time and space to cry "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

God always does the right thing.  He knows that the universe is held together by righteousness.  He knows the truth will always 'out' in the end.

Are you looking for a hero?  He's the only one worthy of your allegiance.  He is the quintessential one, the valiant, gutsy God.