The God Who Raised the Dead to Life

Today on my way home from dropping my husband off at work, I was listening (as I usually do) to a local Christian radio station.  A worship song came on, and though I cannot even tell you the title of the song or the group who sings it (I must find out now because this song was simply brimming with exhortation and truth!) I can tell you one simple yet profound phrase from it that has stuck with me like a burr to my pant leg all day long today: The God Who raised the dead to life, calls you to rise. 

Selah.

Selah because selah means, "Pause, and think of that."  That's exactly what I did the moment I heard that phrase.  Why?  Was it a new truth to me?  No, it was not.  I know the God I serve.  He is great.  He is good.  He is full of love because He IS love.  He is merciful.  He is just. He is faithful . . . the list could go on and on.  But when I heard this phrase today, I nearly cried.

Do you know why I cried? Because the words struck me like an arrow to my heart. Yet it was the godly conviction that I felt, the same kind one senses when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin in our life, or of our deep and utter need for the mercy and grace of God to fall upon us as we repent and turn to Him.  It was that sort of feeling. Followed by an immediate and overwhelming flood of gratefulness to God.

This is what I was thinking the moment that phrase hit me and am bubbling over with even now: The God Who raised the dead to life calls me to rise.  How could I ever, even for a moment, forget the boundless power of the God Who calls me to rise?  How could I allow myself to be held captive to the fear that He has rescued me from?  How could I ever doubt that my needs have been met already through Him Who knows my every need, down to the smallest and most trivial? He made the dead to live again, He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the leper spotless and without blemish . . . and yet, in my day-to-day, with what I see as huge, mountainous obstacles always getting between me and my dreams and my desires, I forget just how great is the God I serve.  How much power is in the name of Jesus.  How I should never put anything past Him and His wise plan for me, and the ability to see me through EVERYTHING that comes my way.  How could I ever forget, even for a moment?  He is calling me to RISE!  Rise out of these ashes with which I have let myself become besmudged; out of this sackcloth, the heavy clothes of mourning and sadness and burdens.  Rise because He is stronger and greater than ALL that I face and I must find the powerful faith in these truths that have been, are and always will be: He that is in me is greater than anything in this world!  I serve the God who made the dead to rise!  

What are you facing today that would seem smaller than the tiniest speck of sand if you were to choose to look at in the light of God's power?  What would seem so much smaller, so much easier to overcome or to get past if you were to look at in the right perspective?  The God Who raised the dead to life, calls you to rise!

Matthew 17:19-20:

 ¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

 ²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” ^[21]

2 Chronicles 14:11:

¹¹ Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. LORD, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.” 

Isaiah 54:10: 

¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken
   and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
   nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
   says the LORD, who has compassion on you. 

John 10:28-30:

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all^[a]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”