The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"A Little Lower"
"God administers and allows weakness in our lives to reveal our need for Him and His ability to overcome the devilish aggression of evil with the godly humility of good."
A created angelic being originated sin in God's creation by attempting to be more than he is.
"I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14).
Conversely, in order to redeem creation from the effects of Lucifer's fall and subsequent poisoning of humanity with his delusion, the Creator became less than He was.
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9).
What kind of God enrobes Himself with weakness, and condescends to the humility of being "made a little lower" than the one who rebelled against Him? We find the answer in the pages of Scripture, which so wondrously reveal the Person of our Savior. The Bible proclaims a beauty of character in the Lord Jesus seen in His sublime humility, while also assuring of His supreme confidence in the power of God to overcome devilish strength by divine weakness. The Apostle Paul declared that "the weakness of God is stronger than men" (I Corinthians 1:25). The same is true of fallen angels who fail to realize that any power in them - misused as it is - originates in their Maker. God knows this about Himself and His enemies, and thus wielded meekness as the primary weapon whereby the Lord Jesus "was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God" (II Corinthians 13:4).
Our Heavenly Father works accordingly in the lives of those who trust Him. "For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you" (II Corinthians 13:4). God administers and allows weakness in our lives to reveal His ability to overcome the devilish aggression of evil with the godly humility of good. Consider Paul and Nero. Who won their long ago pitched battle between righteousness and sin? Initially, it appeared for all the world that Nero conquered by executing the Apostle. Soon thereafter, however, the truth became resoundingly evident that Paul won. Or rather, Paul's Christ revealed His strength in the weakness of His servant. Nero serves as little more than a footnote of history. Paul? He dwells in the Heavenlies with His Lord. Millions read his words every day. And somewhere just now, a battered saint remembers and affirms the Pauline promise, thereby accessing the power of God revealed in weakness: "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Romans 8:37). Yes, weakness won the battle between Paul and Nero. As it does in this day, wherein the crucified and risen Lord Jesus walks in His people "weak in Him," but nevertheless "living with Him by the power of God."
Of the many reasons God allows the prints of nails and a spear to remain on the risen body of the Lord Jesus, one speaks powerfully to our present consideration. Our Savior won the battle of the ages with His hands and feel impaled to a cross. The piercing spear confirmed His death. Weakness of the most abject and utter variety sounds and resounds from Calvary. Far more, of course, the redeeming power of God manifested in that weakness reveals the glory of His Person and His way. What kind of God would work in such a seemingly strange and uncertain way in His Son, and in our lives? One whose weakness is stronger than men and stronger than devils, and One who reveals in the Lord Jesus, in Paul, and in us the beauty of His glorious character and the power of His wondrous way. "A little lower than the angels" indeed, bearing witness all the more to His eternal divinity as "the Most High God" (Genesis 14:18).
"My strength is made perfect in weakness."
(II Corinthians 12:9)
Weekly Memory Verse
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
(Psalm 23:6)
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