LET GOD ARISE

“Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee from before His face! As smoke vanishes so let them vanish; as wax melts before the fire!” (Ps. 67:1-2a)

What is the point of such hostile proclamations against God’s “enemies,” which we chant so often throughout the Paschal season? They are to remind us that: 1. not everyone is our friend, and we need not be *nice* nor *tolerant* to those voices that want our death, rather than our life. They are, for example, the voices in our own heads, that from time to time seek to discourage us, pointing out our irrelevance, pointlessness, and the weakness and insufficiency of all that is good and beautiful about us; and 2. It is not our power, but the power of God that “melts” these enemies, as wax melts before fire. So, let me take heart today, and arm myself with the sign of the cross and with faith in the One who is indeed risen, although sometimes He seems to lie dormant in me, when my heart gets cold like some kind of tomb. “Let God arise” in our hearts today, as we re-embrace faith in Him, as well as the faith He has in us. Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!