The Thrill of Victory ...

Exodus 15:2 “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him-- my father's God, and I will exalt him!”

How easy it is for us to cheer when our team is winning. I remember going to football games as a teenager and cheering on our team to victory. We would cheer our loudest when the team was ahead, but when the team fell behind, so did our cheers. It seemed that the farther behind we fell in score, the more desperate and disillusioned our “cheers” became – almost turning into cries for help or laments. What amazed me was that the other team could cheer even louder when we were losing.

In the Exodus story, Moses and Miriam lead the nation of Israel in singing the song of triumph of the “winning side” as the Israelites are brought to safety and are delivered from the hand of the oppressor. Interestingly, after this wonderful dance and song of victory of the Lord’s deliverance of Israel, only a few days later, they would be hot, hungry, thirsty and blaming the same God who had saved them by leading them out of the oppressive life they had known. It’s easy for us to look at them and think, “Won’t they ever learn?” It’s harder, however, to think that we do the same things. For instance, we pray for rain, and then when rain comes, we complain that it’s raining at an inconvenient time for us. We pray for warm weather, and then when the warmth of sunshine covers us, we complain that it’s too hot. Our victories in prayer are muffled by the sounds of our moans and complaints.

The Apostle Paul once wrote something that says “So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content” (I Timothy 6:8). We must learn to find something in our current situation to be thankful for, or we will go through life wishing away all our days as days of discontent. When we take our eyes off of our situation and put our focus on God’s gift of Grace, then we can exclaim with the Psalmist: “O Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 118:1). This, my friends, is real victory.

For what today in your current situation can you give thanks to God?