Rising from the Rubble
Rising from the Rubble
Psalm 24:9
Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
David’s special way of animating inanimate objects is probably his greatest skill as a Psalmist. For instance, in Psalm 98:8, he writes, “Let the rivers clap their hands; and let the hills sing for joy together,” inviting our wonder at the thought that all of nature is a cosmic choir to Heaven. I remember reading Psalm 98 a few years ago while sitting by a stream, and I had to just stop for a minute, close my eyes, listen to the steady flow of the creek, until the picture David described emerged in my mind. He was right! It really was the sound of clapping hands. It really was the rush of a triumphant host in fervent applause. Even Campbell Creek, with all its dead trees and overgrown banks, became an invitation into the jubilee of my eternal rest.
When I was a kid, my dad once lifted my eyes to the puffy, white clouds in the sky and told me that they looked like upturned faces with open mouths singing hymns to God. And I’ve never forgotten that. Even now, thirty odd years later, it’s difficult for me to look up at a cluster of cumulonimbus clouds and not think of saints lifting up their voices to praise Jesus. Well, here, in Psalm 24, David imagines the ruins of age-old gates, rusted and overgrown by generations of idleness, buried under the rubble of kingdoms long gone, buried in the heart of the earth, and he effectively calls out, “Arise! Get back up! You’re King is coming back!” So, I invite you to go deeper into this metaphor, friend. Close your eyes for a moment and just imagine it. Picture old gates rising again, their rust being torn away by a new wind of the Spirit. Fallen stones stacking one on top of the other again to form the fortress wall. Wooden timbers that have rotted and splintered are taking shape, becoming solid again at the word of Christ’s redeeming power, and towering as pillars—even taller than before.
Right now, Christ stands at the door of our hearts, ready to mend what sin has broken, ready to rebuild what we thought was dismantled. Will you let Him get to work?