Reflection: Darkness defeated

“God, if only You would kill the wicked…

LORD, don’t I hate those who hate You, and detest those who rebel against You?

I hate them with extreme hatred; I consider them my enemies.”

Author’s paraphrase of Psalm 139:19-22

Facts, feelings and fears. They’re all legitimate prayers. Factually we could pray:

“God, pure and fair, capable and in control, banish evil and punish the guilty.”

But feel the battle, folks. Set to a marching beat. S. Baring-Gould had a go at putting it to music. Unlike the psalmist, however, Baring-Gould and you and I have a very different perspective of the war we wage against evil. We march: “With the cross of Jesus going on before! [And] Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe.” (‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, hymn by S. Baring-Gould).

David could only imagine a here-and-now when the omniscient, omnipresent God would rid the world of evil. We, who know the rescue story of Jesus Christ, know there is a yet-to-come. Sin’s curse has been broken and God waits patiently and mercifully to save his people. There is a Last Day and a final battle when all will be put right.

Prayer:

So this is our anthem: “At the name of Jesus, Satan’s host doth flee; On then, Christian soldiers, On to victory!”  (‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ hymn by S. Baring-Gould).

 And this our prayer: Living Son of God, in your loving patience deliver many, who, having been deceived by the Evil One, walk in darkness.

We long for the day when once and for all you conquer darkness. Hate taunted and lynched you. Evil insults and mocks you. So, deliver us from evil because we too hate it. We hate its sneaky ways.

[For more in song: Martin Luther wrote another of the few hymns that looks our enemy, the Prince of Darkness, in the face and calls the battle what it is: listen to ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God’ sung by a virtual choir  here ]