Like dew from the womb of the morning

A place of rest and power

Sit at My right hand
Psalm 110:1-5

The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.'
The Lord will send the sceptre of your power out of Zion,
saying, ‘Rule over your enemies round about you.
‘Princely state has been yours
from the day of your birth,
in the beauty of holiness have I begotten you,
like dew from the womb of the morning.’
The Lord has sworn and he will not recant:
‘You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.’

“Sit at my right hand, until I make...your footstool.”

This devotional reading from Monday still echoes in me. “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” But why? Isn’t this a Messianic passage, properly interpreted in the full revelation of the Christ, Jesus? Indeed, it is. And yet its words still ring: Sit at My right hand…!

Is there a derivative meaning here, for children of Messiah? I think so. As I pondered the inner meaning of this verse, several themes began to develop – Scriptural themes of high truth, further relation to God, the Holy One.

“Sit at My right hand…” implies a posture of rest; one might call it a command of rest…and not just any kind of rest, but a rest of faith. It is rest at the “right hand,” i.e. the place of divine authority and will, stillness in divine power and favor. Consider what it means to rest in divine favor and will [cf. Psalm 37, “delight in the LORD!”].

This kind of rest contains active and passive conditions.

The resting child is passive concerning the conventional defense of self, its desires and aims: the divine power is what defends, i.e. “until I make your enemies your footstool.” However, this posture is alien to the modern mindset. Promotion of “number one” is considered a God-given right in our culture. Number one is its own justification in the natural human mind. And yet the divine rest strikes this impulse head-on!

This brings to mind the words of Isaiah, where he talks about the doomed mechanism of “lighting one’s own fires.” The Light of lights must be our referent for action, not our own lesser lights – such is the avenue of divine favor.

However, though this rest is passive toward self-justification, we must never forget that it means action toward the defense of others. The appeal is toward the sovereign authority of God, and yet the action is obedience. True rest in regards of our own needs/desires means that we spring to active obedience when faced with the needs of others.

The resting child seeks divine justice, and sees this call in the eyes of other, needy children.

We act in tandem with God for the defense of others, all the while resting in divine favor regarding our own needs. We just might be the means whereby God answers the prayers of other children, those waiting at His right hand in desperate prayer!

Therefore, when you perceive a need in another, do your best to meet it, to act in the name of Christ. It may be as simple as a word spoken, a small gift given, a prayer, a card, a note, a gesture, a token of love: whatever it means to be obedient to the divine voice for others, that is what we give.

And this is rest at the right hand of Abba!

Honestly, what keeps us from obedience? Is it not the sapping focus on our own needs and limitations? Such improper focus is cured in divine rest at the right hand – we are freed from self-defense to the life-giving defense of others.

Thus does the kingdom come, like dew from the womb of the morning!

Children of the Lord King, Jesus Christ, can learn of Abba, and learn of rest, in this kingly verse: Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool!

Alleluia!

• What if we rested like this in relation to the needs of Hopegivers orphanage?
• What if we rested like this in relation to the justice needs in communities close to home?
• What if we rested like this in relation to the inner needs of our friends and families?
• What if we rested like this in relation to the personal needs that keep us from soaring?

Like this, how many enemies would be trodden under foot, in miracle time?

Selah.