King of Glory

Who is like our God, mighty to save and merciful enough to do so? A great and mighty warrior is our King Jesus, the one and only true God. He is the King of kings and the Lord of all lords; Who can truly fathom His awesomeness? He outstretches His mighty arm to deliver His people, crushing the head of the enemy again and again and again. Unchanging in all of His ways, He is faithful to the end. He is a good Father who loves His children, who inclines His ear to those who call aloud to Him. He is a God of justice and righteousness, how fair and lovely He is. There is none that can stand up against Him, He is the beginning and the end. He has all power and authority, His glory fills the earth like the waters the seas. He is a jealous God, longing for the hearts of His people. He is an all-consuming fire, the ultimate sacrifice, the purest love, the absolute truth, the deepest of treasures and sweetest of fragrances. Just one glimpse from His beautiful face, just one touch from His tender hand, just one word from His powerful voice changes everything. He is the dream giver and destiny fulfiller. He is the fulfillment of all prophecies and the great champion; There is none like Jesus, Mighty Jesus. We will never fully comprehend and understand all of who He is. If we did, worship would not exist. There is such a depth to the Lord that we truly cannot fathom. He is Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim. What a great and mighty God we serve! He alone is worthy of all glory, honor, power and praise. Yet how often we forget and neglect this truth.

We may tragically negate this truth in our lives, but God cannot be fooled. He alone will receive the glory, and He will make sure He gets the glory. Journey with me to Judges 7 where we meet Gideon and his army about to encounter the Midians. Of course shortly before this the Lord tells Gideon that He is going to save Israel through Gideon. Gideon, unsure and unsettled, lays out the fleece and asks the impossible. Of course, God shows up and does His mighty and miraculous work. Gideon now has the boldness and courage to know that he is truly following the voice of the Lord. They then begin dwindling down the army of Gideon for it is much too big. Did you just catch that? They were going into battle and needed to minimize the number of troops going in. Why? So that all would see and know that it was Almighty God who won the battle! Of course in the end, Yahweh through Gideon and his 300 men defeated the enemy and they were oppressed no more!

I guess one could say it was "rigged" so that in human terms, there would be no way that they could win. But with God on their side, they had the victory. God is longing for a people that will cry out to Him and ascribe the glory that is due His name, to proclaim aloud the splendor of who He is. Perhaps this is why it says that if we fail to cry out, the rocks will. We get so caught up in ourselves and puffed up with pride that it robs the glory due His name. We try to cheat the Lord out of the picture, only dreaming half-hearted dreams and doing the things we are already comfortable with and/or good at. When the enemy comes and encamps upon our lives, we scurry and hide or just surrender, settling instead for his deceptive lies.

Oh, how I long to live a life in desperation for the power and presence of omnipotent God. To live in such a way that if God doesn't show up, I am in trouble. To step out and follow His leading, even if it is to somewhere I have never been. When will the church arise and dare to dream big dreams? When will we go and take back, with Godly courage, those things with which the enemy has taken from us? When is it we will go and crush his head, and stand up against his lies? If God be for us, who can be against us? If what we say and pray and sing about our great God is true, we live contradicting lives.

Only if and when we choose to live lives of such radical desperation for the presence of God, will He come in with His radiant splendor and majestic glory and deliver His people! When we begin to humble ourselves and reflect on who He is, we will be blown away by the awesomeness and hugeness of who He is. We can crowd Him out, we can steal the show. But a life lived without God is no life at all. God is not longing to be a part of our precious little puppet shows in which we assign Him a part and give Him His lines. He is yearning and burning to make Himself known, to be glorified and exalted!

To You alone King Jesus, be all glory and honor and praise! You are worthy of so much more than we could ever say about you or give to you. Our human language fails to even begin to adequately ascribe the greatness that is due Your name. We are nothing without You, such wretched, sinful little mortals. We constantly gratify the sinful desires of our flesh, putting You into a box for a rainy day. But oh great and glorious God, forgive us for such tragedies! Oh how we long for You, how we need You! Only a God like You can deliver Your people. Only a God like You can give victories and heal us and give us eternal life! Would you give us the courage of Gideon and teach us to trust You entirely? We desire for You to be exalted in all the earth King Jesus! Be exalted in our lives! We lift up Your name! King of glory, have Your glory!