Arise O God and Plead Your Own Cause

This is almost an excerpt from the sermon that I preached on Sunday, but I think it bears repeating, and I am trusting that some who are not able to hear my preach each week are reading this blog.  Psalm 74:22 says, "Arise, O God, and plead your own cause. .  ."  (NASB)  I believe that this is so fitting for us to remember.  Sometimes I think that as Christians we forget just how powerful that God is.  Like the psalmist, we see the apparent inaction of God and we immediately rush to His aid as if we could actually assist Him in any meaningful way.  We see the agenda of those around us winning and we rush to legislate and complain and cry out.  Many times, in the midst of our attempts to defend God we fail in our love for the world around us and actually do more harm than good.  This is not to say that we should not stand for truth, we should.  This is not to say that we should not speak truth in love - we should.  This is to say that when the name of God is maligned it is not our role to defend God.  He simply does not need it.  A rapper named Propaganda once said that defending God is like defending a lion - it does not need your help, just let it out of its cage. 

This frees us a great deal.  We do not have to prove God exists.  We do not have to defend God and make him logically palatable to the lost and dying world around us.  Instead our role should be to call for God to arise and plead His own cause.  God can do better work than I can.  So why not let God do the work and watch the work that He chooses to do.  I think that when we approach life in this way we benefit.  After all, when I begin to look for the work of God instead of looking for how much of the work of God looks like what I want to accomplish, it changes my priorities.  It also is encouraging because it allows me to see a broader scope of what God is doing.  God is active and His Word is active.  And His Spirit is active.  And through their power God is moving in hearts and lives even in the midst of my church.  And when I stop telling God what He should do and trust that He knows how to plead His own cause, I can actually see much of what He is already doing!  I just have to open my eyes!