“Come awake! Come awake!”
Winning. Saying that I love it would be an understatement. It’s something that has been a blessing and a curse in many areas of my life. College volleyball- blessing. Casual, “light-hearted” games of UNO- curse. See, I have a hard time drawing a line between loving to win and ungraciously hating to lose. But the worst kind of losing- being beaten at your own game. Like when I teach Jordan how to play tennis and he beats me in straight sets. The worst kind of losing…just ask him, as he had to deal with my pouting.
And hey, just ask Satan. Just ask Death…they understand because God constantly defeats them at their own game but with tactics of love, grace, forgiveness, and LIFE.
The below video is a little less than 10 minutes but please play it while you read. (Trust me, you’ll want to listen more than once.) Some of you may recognize the song but there is a twist in the middle that will give you chills. The good kind. The kind that remind you that that there is no feeling like being on the winning side- God’s side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3L5SJyPpZk
“Trampling over death by death”
God sent Jesus into the world to live among his people, to lead by example, to show the way, and then to defeat sin and sadness and shame and all the things that are in this world to break us down. God’s weapon of choice to defeat death (in every sense of the word)? Death. Death of the only perfect, and the least deserving, man to ever walk this earth. The beautiful irony…
I love the picture of this competition, of this battle. God says to Death, I’m going to defeat you. And man, does He have the arsenal and action to back it up. He says, I’m going to defeat you but what’s more, I’m going to beat you at your own game. I will save my people, giving them the opportunity to have everlasting life, by sending my son to die for them.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
“Oh, Death! Where is your sting? Oh, Hell! Where is your victory?”
What’s incredible is that the very things the world finds defeating are life-giving under the power of Christ. The things designed to break us down, scare us, toil at us, and scar us are transformed once placed in His hands.
I’ve talked about my friend Rachel before. Rachel turned 19 in the ICU this winter as she was in a serious car accident in January that has kept her in some form of hospital since. Rach is a beautiful soul- a stunning on the outside and she is on the inside. People gravitate to her enthusiasm and thirst for life. She radiates positive energy, encouragement, and confidence and puts others needs ahead of her own. Yet, she has been silent and unable to interact with anyone for almost 4 months because of this accident.
Satan, Death, and doubt tap the fingers of both hands together, like the evil villains in movies, at situations like this. They are anxious and excited to prey on our fear and questioning. They beg us to question. “Why? Why this girl? Why a girl who brought so much good to every path she crossed?” And most of all, “Why, God? Where are you? What have you done?”
All corners of this nation are praying for Rachel; even people who have never met Rach pray relentlessly for her. People who haven’t talked to God ever or in a long time have fallen in love with Him and seen the power of prayer at work because of this girl. As many lives as she touched before the accident, I can only imagine that we will never see the end of the ripple effect of the impact her spirit and faith have had on this country and this world through this.
She has been prayed over for almost 4 months now…
My arms have chills and the corners of my eyes have tears as I have the opportunity to share that Rachel has been declared a miracle. Not just in our eyes but in the eyes of the nurses, doctors, and even the president of her current facility. Never have they seen a recovery such as Rachel’s. She is awake, alert, talking, and laughing the most beautiful laugh.
“The glory of God has defeated the night!”
The victory in Rach’s unfinished story isn’t that she is awake, it’s that despite a situation that could have brought endless pain, sadness, and paralyzing fear, it’s brought more people together and more importantly, more people to Christ. It’s taught us to see every detail as progress and every situation an opportunity to give God glory for the chance to cling to Him and have an unexplainable peace despite chaos.
It was very humbling to think that my acceptance of “it’s going to be a long road” was really just belittling what our God can do.
Tell me, what is too big for our God? Nothing is too big. Not even death nor it’s kiss.
“Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave. Oh, Death! Where is your sting? And Oh, Hell! Where is your victory? And Oh, Church! Come stand in the light! The glory of God has defeated the night!… Our God is not dead, He’s alive, He’s alive!”
Hug for you,
Lisa
