UNFURLING THE BANNER
Suggested Reading: John 14: 15 – 31
Scripture Emphasis: Psalm 60: 4
Psalm 60:24 “But for those who fear You, You have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.”
The historical background of Psalm 60 is soul-stirring, considering the epic tragedy unfolding on the world stage.
This Psalm is a lament towards God by the Judeans following the disastrous defeat of the Judean state in 587 BC at the hands of the Chaldeans. Many of the local population blamed God for the Chaldean’s victory.
“You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;
you have been angry—now restore us!
You have shaken the land and torn it open;
mend its fractures, for it is quaking
You have shown your people desperate times;
you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
to be unfurled against the bow.” ( Psalm 60:1-4)
But not all the suppliants are so accusing. On the contrary, at the height of the present storm, some recall the faithfulness of God in times past, apart from the current desperate scene.
Who can honestly confess to forgetting Abraham, Father of their Faith? Was it not God’s intervention that saved Abraham’s son, Isaac, from certain death when Abraham suffered a crisis of Faith?
( Genesis 22:1-19 )
Or, in God’s strength, Moses wrought great exploits, signs and wonders in Egypt that confounded and humiliated Pharaoh and all the sorcerers, magicians and wise men in Egypt. And later, lifting high the rod, symbolizing the Presence of God, Moses inspired the Israelites with renewed courage and undaunted Faith to conquer the Red Sea and witness the defeat of their pursuing enemy.
( Exodus 14: 1-31 )
Life generally produces the invariable result that keeps Faith from being reflective only to become experiential. It is one thing to reflect upon divine providence; it is something more to depend upon God for the next bite of bread or the next cup of water.
Upon looking closer, women and men, sometimes whipped by fierce winds and battered by unrelenting storms, taking them to the brink of surrender, experience the unfurled banner, announcing, despite all else, God’s immanent Presence. Such was the young English poet Rupert Chawner Brooke. He was best known for his war sonnets written during the First world war. Brooke’s poem titled Safety follows.
There it is! The Unfurling of the banner announces, amidst the stark evidence of hatred and destruction, the abiding Presence of the Eternal One!
And we who are committed to our Lord and Saviour, will we remain silent in the face of the present World crises? During this Lenten Season, will we not engage in every possible action to unfurl against every destructive force that Blood-Red Banner first raised on Golgotha? Yet be assured, that flag can remain taunt, so that all may see it, only when living souls, yours and mine, are willing to be filled with His Breath from Heaven. ” That flag, can only be unfurled , When Thou shalt breathe from Heaven!”
A Prayer To Follow This Meditation
Father, Your tears are wet upon faces in our broken world;
Your heart weighs heavy at the cruel evidence of ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’
Amidst the thunderous roar of destructive missiles and hovering bombers, there can be heard, still, the tender expressions of our Father’s love assuring ultimate victory.
And alongside the soldiers, prepared to die for family, Faith, and the land You entrusted to them as their birthright, there stands The Prince Of Peace!
Father, have mercy on us all! Call the raging war inside human minds to cease! Revive our memories that warped egos have long been the root cause of this world’s misery. We praise You for Your truth granted to us in the poet’s words: “The mind in its place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, and a Hell of Heaven.” ( John Milton, in Paradise Lost)
For our own sake and the sake of Your world,
Intercept human foolishness with Your wisdom and
half-heartedness with Your conquering love.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray, Amen.
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