The Triple Effect

“Praise the LORD.  Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands…Even in darkness light dawns for the upright…Surely he will never be shaken… He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trust in the LORD.  His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes” Psalm 112:1-8.

This is our sweetest example of spiritual cause and effect that we could ever hope for.  Like me, don’t you just sometimes make your spiritual walk more difficult than it really has to be?  Jesus made it look so easy but we are shown in Scripture that He followed this psalm.  Jesus was a man who continuously praised His Father, always revered Him and spent the majority of His time delighting in the fellowship they shared.  The effect that came out of those spiritual disciplines was endurance, perseverance and complete trust in God. 

Our darkness will never come close to the darkness He endured…our circumstances will never stand up against the cross.  He was persecuted and sought after multiple times but He never sat in his self-pity waiting for the other shoe to drop.  He had no fear of the impending situations but His security and trust lay in the Lord.  And in the end as He gave up His spirit and closed His eyes on earth the next sight He experienced was His Father’s presence…the ultimate triumph over sin in this temporary home.  ‘Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” 2 Co 5:6.

We have access to every part of God that Jesus had.  If we live our lives in praise, reverence and fellowship with our Father we will reap the same things that Christ received.  We will live in peace and confidence in God instead of fear of our future.  We will not allow our circumstances to permanently shake us, but will be able to gain our footing quickly after that phone call.  We have a choice of either anticipating bad news or anticipating a great God. 

The only way to live in triumph is to die to self.  We can have complete confidence that we will share in the Christ's blessings when we follow the walk of praise, reverence and delight in our Father.