A New Victory

A New Victory

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Isaiah 55:12

IN WORD Imagine creation celebrating the path God has put before you. Imagine mountains singing and trees clapping. Imagine streams babbling your name and birds praising their Creator when they see you. Imagine having the kind of journey that makes the universe quiver with joy.

That’s the picture God gives of Israel’s return from captivity and of the redeemed coming out of sin’s bondage. It’s a portrait of the Kingdom, as all creation rejoices at the fulfillment of God’s Word. His victory sends shouts of joy around the world, and the heavens ring with glorious singing. When God delivers, it’s a party.

For Christians who trudge through life with heavy burdens, this picture doesn’t make sense. That’s good; the incongruity between our lives and God’s picture should bother us. Our pessimism and apathy are often symptoms of a lifestyle and attitudes completely contrary to the Kingdom God promised, and those symptoms should be extremely alarming. Despite the captivities and burdens of this world, we have a God who is a conquering Warrior and a mighty King. At some level of our thinking, life should be a dance. But for many of us, it’s a dirge.

That’s because we live according to something other than God’s promises. We let the visual circumstances around us speak louder than the Kingdom He describes. We walk in defeat because we don’t have enough faith to walk in victory or in joy. We don’t believe the picture God has given us.

IN DEED If you want to experience victory in your life, believe what God has said. Nowhere in the Bible does He give His people victories without prior faith. The prerequisite to seeing God’s power is believing that He has it—and that He’ll use it on your behalf. Walk in faith. Look past the falsehood of your circumstances and see what God sees: mountains that sing for you and trees that clap their hands.

God wants us to be victors, not victims . . . to overcome, not to be overwhelmed.

—WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD