An Exalted Horn

How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep! The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever; but you, O LORD, are on high forever. For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. (Psalm 92:5-11 ESV). In a few weeks Mary and I are moving back to Texas. We will be in Aledo, which is a few miles west of Ft. Worth. The Ft. Worth Stockyards One of the highlights of any visit to the Stockyards is the longhorn cattle drive down the streets. If you have never been “up close and personal” with a Longhorn, you really can’t imagine the size and span of their horns. Some reach as much as nine feet from tip to tip! They can be formidable weapons to those who seem to get in the way of these animals. Just being struck with one could do serious damage. As I read today’s text I was drawn to two different sources. One is the image of the longhorn, while the other comes from The Road Less Travelled, by Scott Peck. Life’s journey is sprinkled throughout with suffering and challenge. Christians are not exempt, as we know from Jesus himself and from our own experience. A lot of people have puzzled over the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But we might just as easily ask, “Why do good things happen to some people who trust God and not to others who trust him just as much?” The psalmist declares that he enjoyed such special favor from God, and he seems to attribute it to personal righteousness. “The righteous flourish like the palm tree… they flourish in the courts of our God” (vv. 12-13). But other psalms remind us that the wicked sometimes flourish, at least for a while (cf. Psalm 73), and the righteous sometimes suffer, at least for a while (cf. Psalm 22). Since our tendency is to look at our immediate circumstances and see nothing beyond them. God, whose thoughts are “very deep,” sees from the advantage of eternity and through the lens of the ultimate provision he has made for us in Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (cf. Colossians 2:3). So, temporary circumstances can be misleading. We cannot peer into the mysterious depths of the eternal counsel of God, but we ought to understand this wonderful image of our “horns” being exalted. Like these mighty animals, our greatest defensive weapon will be lifted up so that no one and nothing can overcome us. That is the promise of ultimate, eternal victory in Christ! No enemy can triumph over us!