history belongs to the intercessors

In my daily reading of three psalms, I find myself this morning meditating on Psalms 80, 50, and 20. I was struck by the theme that ran like a golden thread throughout: History belongs to the intercessors. Check out this reference to Jesus in Psalm 80:17-19 - "Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand (Jesus), the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved." This thought process of the psalmist struck me as surprising. Usually we think that if we pray, we will see revival. But the psalmist says, "Revive us, and we will call on your name." And what does the Father's blessing on the risen, exalted Jesus have to do with our not turning away from God? And then I understood that history belongs to the intercessors. In Ezekiel 22:30 God states, "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none." When God sends revival, the collective of God's people will call on His name. But he does not send revival without someone like this psalmist first calling on his name. He is already calling on the name of the Lord, so why ask for revival so that we call on his name? Because the psalmist (Asaph in this case), recognizes that he is one of a company of very few intercessors. God lets us know in Ezekiel 22:30 that just one man standing in the gap is enough to invoke the blessings of God. Asaph in this psalm is that man. So why the prayer about blessing the man at God's right hand, the son of man God raised up for Himself? Because, the psalmist was peering into the future and was given revelation about the ultimate intercessor - the man Christ Jesus. His substitutionary death in our place was the ultimate expression of what intercession is all about. He stood in the gap for us. And for the last two thousand years he has been at the Father's right hand making intercession on our behalf. This is the Jesus who lives in each one of his followers. This is the Jesus who is the head of the body of Christ. When the Father's hand rests on Jesus, it is for our blessing. It invokes our righteousness, for our righteousness is not our own - it is that of Jesus, being Himself inside us, imparting what we did not have on our own.

As I jumped back to psalm 50, the last verse struck me most: "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." There is a power unleashed when we choose gratitude. It prepares the way for God's saving work. The word in Greek for save is "sozo." It is used at various times in various ways - it speaks of our forgiveness, but also of our healing and our deliverance. All of this comes about when we simply thank God. But how many of us know that there are times when it truly feels like a sacrifice to do so? This weekend I visited Bethel Church in Redding, California where we witnessed 120 people on Sunday night get healed of a myriad of ailments. The crowd roared with each testimony like Jesus had just made another touchdown. But I found myself unable to roar as enthusiastically, because my personal healing breakthrough had not come. And then my dear friend Eli gently rebuked me for getting depressed about a healing ministry. How ridiculous that I have been contending for God to show up with "healing in his wings" (Malachi 4:2), to pour out signs and wonders on our campus, and when I see the real thing, I gaze at my own navel and decide to throw a pity party! Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel, has a thing he does to keep himself always encouraged: focus on what God has done, and what God is doing, not on what He hasn't done. So this psalm reminds me that part of intercession is thanksgiving. Asaph again understands that our thanksgiving in the place of prayer, alters history. It "prepares the way" for God's salvation. So I can focus on what God has done, what He is doing, and with gratitude and confident faith I can thank God for what he will do (as opposed to what He hasn't done - subtle but important difference) because the inspired word of God reminds us that thanksgiving prepares the way.

Finally, my journey through the psalter led me to Psalm 20. The whole psalm is a celebration of the power of intercession. Rather than comment on it, I'll just let is speak to you as is. May these words encourage all who have come to this blog or this room with a reminder that history truly is the hands of the intercessors:

"May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. O Lord, save the king! Answer us when we call!"