Rise and Rise Again, Until Lambs Become Lions
I was recently watching the 2010 Movie "Robin Hood", and was struck by the quote that has become the title of this post: "Rise and Rise Again, Until Lambs Become Lions."
In the days that followed it echoed in my mind.
In the days that followed it echoed in my mind.
To Rise,
You must be down. And to be honest, down is where we frequently find ourselves, where I frequently find myself. Fallen down, beaten down, weighed down, broken down, thrown down, sitting down, down.
Each day we walk through a world that adds to the weight on our backs, the shame on our hearts, and the questions on our mind. Our fallen nature is everywhere.
We are the addicted who told God we would never look at porn again and have failed again. We are the teen throwing up and starving themselves to finally be beautiful again. We are the mother, who is covered in shame for the abortion she can't take back.
We are the slave, beaten, raped, and abused to please the powerful.
We are the empty looking for fulfillment in sex, money, and drugs.
We are are the orphan crying for a mother and father, for love.
We are the murderer, the thief, the prostitute. Who are we?
We are the Lambs.
And Rise Again?
So we fall, and fall again. We reach the end of our rope, the last of our strength, and the final drops of our joy. Rise again?
I often get to a point where I am tired of getting up. My best efforts to rise again seem exhausting at best, and at their worst, worthless. Isaiah confirms my fears.
"But we are all as an unclean thing,
Our righteousness is like filthy rags..."
- Isaiah 64:6a
Surprisingly I find that I am extremely comfortable with that. I understand filthy and unclean. My guilt is familiar, shame my friend, and grace and freedom frightening and strange. In this inadequate state I refuse to rise again. But my soul screams that I don't belong here. Rise again?
And Again,
I remember that we are the Lambs, and that we have a Shepherd. He did not promise us it would be easy, in fact he told us this world would hate us. But in the middle of this war against our souls he makes a promise:
"...I am with you always,
to the very end of the Age."
-Matthew 28:20b
As the battle of each new day rages on it tries to take away all that we have and replace it with shame, guilt, pain and fear. But the promise rings out like the trumpet above the roar of battle: Our Shepherd is with us. All he asks is that we give him our life. We can stay down... or grab his hand rise again.
Until Lambs Become Lions.
The glory of that promise seems to quickly dim as we look around. Pain, disease and death continue. The powerful prey on the weak, the innocent are killed, the abused cry themselves to sleep. Too quickly we stumble and fall once more. In the words of Winston Churchill as his nation faced injustice, evil, and fear, I ask you to "Never, Never, Never Give Up."
The days that it feels dark are many, but even the darkness is only the absence of the Light. Our search for something better than this mess is perhaps the greatest evidence that there is something better.
One day our Shepherd will wipe our tears from our eyes and Lambs will become Lions, more than conquerors through Christ. But Today is not that day. So let us rise with Christ. We will fall, shame will knock us to the ground, but like Robin Hood in this clip (Until Lambs Become Lions) we must commit to rise and rise again.
So Rise.
Rise and cast your shame at the cross. Rise to fight for those still without their Shepherd. This summer I began to realize that I was tired of being down. So I commit. I commit to, by his grace alone, rise again each time I fall. I pray that we could all be Christians who rise again. That we could join together to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. That we would bring the Lambs to the Shepherd.
Rise Again,
Addict, enslaved by sin, our chains have been broken for us.
Rise again, You, who see no beauty in the mirror, we have beauty worth dying for.
Rise again, Mother, showering in guilt, Jesus paid it ALL.
Rise again, Slave, abused and powerless, we will fight for you.
Rise again, Empty one, always unsatisfied, he knows your every need.
Rise again, Orphan, afraid and alone, we will come for you.
Rise again...
