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The Lord Lives!


The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! (Psalm 18:46) 

            What does it mean that the LORD lives? Why should that matter to anyone? The Hebrew word used doesn't give "lives" any special meaning. It means "lives" in the same sense that you, I, and my dog live. If you look in the dictionary, you'll find the definitions there don't help much. They talk about being alive, having vital (meaning life) functions, etc. Those are synonyms for "live," they might describe living, but they don't really define it. In the Old Testament, living was an important thing. "As surely as ________ lives" is used many times with the blank being filled in with words like I, you, the king, or the Lord. God's living is central to the Judeo-Christian faith.
            Perhaps a quick comparison will help. In I Kings 18, Elijah encourages the prophets of Baal to shout louder because maybe their god was asleep, or traveling. Their enthusiasm was to no avail, Baal never responded.  In Psalm 115, the psalmist says
But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell;
they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk;
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.  (Psalm 115:4-7)
          The characteristic that separates God from these idols is that God can interact with things, while the idols cannot. What is living can normally respond to stimuli. This does not mean that everything that is living must respond to every stimuli (and that response may not be what we want), but the capacity must be there.
            In today's passage, two responses are mentioned. The first is that God is a rock. He provides stability and safety. The second is that God is our Savior. He responds not only to things in His life, but in ours. He interacts with us. Again, that interaction may not meet with our approval, because He is God and we are not, but even a "no" is interaction. What today's passage tells us, however, is that God's interaction with people is not one of withholding, but of protecting, supporting and saving. These are not just things that He does. They are things that are part of who He is, and they are praiseworthy.

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