1 Corinthians 11:3
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
God made the world in covenant. Headship and hierarchy are infused into the way the world is and should be. It is not a bug to be worked out or a consequence of the Fall, but a design feature and divine fingerprint of its Creator.
A consequence of the Fall is that enmity was placed by God between the seed of Eve and the seed of the serpent. Those in league with Lucifer have never cared for hierarchy because it guarantees that they can't have the wheel. Satan fell because playing second fiddle offended him. His plan was to reign away from God rather than serve in His presence. But what Satan soon discovered is that there is no world where you get to rule your own roost. All the roosts are already trade-marked. Hell is not Satan's booby prize, it is his prison and those who attempt to remake the world in their own image follow his demonic footsteps in demolishing their only hope for peace and comfort. The only place any reign is in submission to the Patriarch of patriarchs.
Revelation 5:10
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.
Just in case there was any confusion as to what the world's plan was, the UN just came right out and said it,
In other words, "The world and the way God designed it doesn't sit right with us and so it must be rebuilt... That's why we must burn it to the ground and feel completely justified in doing so. For our great love of the world, we light it on fire. We're here to help. You're welcome."
The pledge of allegiance of the United States of America as it appears on the book declares, "One nation, under God." The UN, however, desires, "All nations out from under God," and the DNC tipped their hand in that direction a few weeks back when they removed the words "under God" from their allegiance. Now I don't need to find my shocked face to find out that the UN and the DNC don't declare themselves subject of the King, but it does come off as a new level of boldness to wear it so baldly. It's admittedly a more honest approach, but it's still a bad look. But you can't circle the wagons in a corner forever. At some point, you need to come clean and rally around what really excites you.
This is merely a Psalm 2 sneak preview. The trailer is short, but to the point. I hear they went all out. But I've also heard, spoiler alert, that there is VERY unexpected ending.
Psalm 2:1-6
Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder,
and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
the Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion
Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Christians must not pretend to be happy all the time, far be it from us to make a virtue out of hypocrisy (the original Greek meaning of the word hypocrite being "actor"), but we must do our best to arrive at the wedding feast wearing festive attire instead of sackcloth. If we don't, the happy couple may begin to believe that we're unhappy about what's going on there.
Bottom line: if you're not going to be happy, at least take the fake smile off of your face. Either wear the smile and mean it or remove it and be real. Dollars to donuts, grinning and bearing it is better, however, than never trying to make your heart wear that hat.
Psalm 118:24
This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
I've never been to a rodeo, but I've seen them on television. What I've observed is that there are short flurries of great activity in between long stretches of watching and waiting. The cowboy on the bull waits in the stall, adjusting the rope around his glove, checking the grip of his heels, adjusting his hat, checking the rope around his gloves again, smacking it down, tightening it more, muscles tense, senses heightened... waiting. The crowd is waiting as well. And while they are all waiting for the same thing -- the gate to burst open and the ride to begin -- they all wait differently. Those in the crowd eat their nachos, check their phones, talk to their neighbor, sip a drink, etc... They are waiting too, but their waiting is altogether different from the one on the bull in the stall.
We have the impression that waiting is a period of time where you aren't doing anything. We understand waiting as the period of rest between now and doing whatever it is you are going to do. Waiting, in other words, is not seen as an active thing, but a passive one. It is the word we use to describe the time between outbursts of activity.
But in the Bible, waiting is an active thing. It is preparation, it is obedience, it is faith and all of these are actions requiring focus and commitment. Waiting in the Bible is more like the cowboy on the bull than the attender in the audience. Both are waiting for something to happen, but the cowboy's waiting is working towards something, whereas the audience's waiting is watching for something to happen somewhere else to someone else. When the gate swings open, the audience member merely watches what plays out and either applauds or boos. The cowboy, however, is preparing to engage in active duty. But the waiting was part of the riding. To ride a bull is to wait behind a stall. In other words, in that kind of waiting, there is work being done.
In Acts 1:12 we see the disciples responding to Jesus' command to go by huddling up and waiting. They are not merely, like an audience member, eating popcorn waiting for the show to begin, making sure their phones are on silent as to avoid interrupting the action. No, the disciples are preparing for future action. They are actively waiting. They are faithfully staying put which requires just as much energy as meandering around, if not more.
That work in the waiting look like praying to God, pouring into community and preparing for future action. The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. The time to prepare for the future is now. Until you know what's next, do what's last. Whatever you heard God say last, do that until you receive the next action step. There is never NOT an action step. You are always living in light of the last action step God commanded and preparing for the next one He will provide.
Waiting is work that looks ahead by looking back.
"Sex was an extremely powerful tool for fulfilling the good task that God gave to man and woman. Sin changed the game. Sex retained its power, but now it had the ability not only to create lives, but also to destroy lives." - Douglas Wilson, A Justice Primer
Sex has always been employed as a creative act. It creates oneness and out of that oneness it produces fruit. Sin, however, entered in and employed its creative power for evil ends. Now, as Wilson points out, it not only can create lives, it can destroy them. It does not only have the potential to produce new life, it has the ability to reduce old ones. It not only unifies, it divides. It still brings people together, only now the meeting's agenda is often conspiracy instead of covenant.
