PRÉCIS ON A STAR WARS PRINCIPLE: ‘YOU ARE OUR ONLY HOPE, OBI-WAN KENOBE’

SCRIPTURE. “We wait [expectantly] for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.” – PSALM 33:20, AMP

KEY TERM: “WAIT.” ‘Chakah’ [חָכָה]: “From a root word suggesting the idea of ‘piercing,’ properly ‘to adhere to,’ hence to await, long for, tarry; literally, to remain, hold or stay; to look for, or expect; also, to be in store for; to attend; to be ready for; as, a glorious reward awaits the good; [in this context, to anxiously await and look for the God of Rescue].”

QUOTATION. “Waiting exposes our Idols and throws a wrench into our Coping Mechanisms. It brings us to the end of what we can control and forces us to cry out to God. God doesn’t waste our waiting. He uses it to conform us to the image of His Son.” ― BETSY CHILDS HOWARD, Seasons of Waiting: Walking by Faith When Dreams Are Delayed, 2016; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Our soul waiteth for the Lord. – This, and what follows, are the words of the Church, expressing her expectation, faith, and joy, by reason of what is suggested in the preceding verses. She signifies her expectation of good by waiting for the Lord; either for His Coming in the flesh, and salvation by Him; for which the Patriarchs, Prophets, and all the Old Testament saints, waited, Genesis 49:18; and so the Targum paraphrases it, ‘Our soul waiteth for the redemption of the Lord;’ or for His Spiritual Coming, His Appearance to them, and gracious Presence with them, He having been for some time absent; and it is right and good so to do, and in the issue proves advantageous, Isaiah 8:17; and this being ‘Soul Waiting,’ itdenotes the heartiness, sincerity, and earnestness of it;

‘He is our help and our shield.’ – the Lord is the help of his people in time of trouble, when none else is or can be; and He is a present one, and helps right early, and at the best season: And he is their shield, who encompasses them about with His love and favour, and keeps them by His power in the greatest safety; all which encourages their waiting upon Him, and expectation of good things from Him.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK. I well remember attending the first of the Star Wars (1977) movie series at a theater in Stockton, California (in my darkest of days), with my then dear friend, Rex Miller. In one of the opening iconic scenes, PRINCESS LEIA desperately addresses the bravest leader of the vaunted Jedi knightly warrior class, OBI-WAN KENOBI.

“General Kenobi. Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father’s request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I’m afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 Unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. ‘Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.’”

So it is in the midst of the present world’s Desperate Condition as we face certain chaos and destruction unless Divine Help arrives, I sometimes whisper this phrase to our King with the full understanding that I am praying to the True God of Scripture, an analogic cry for help in times of trouble.

“You are our only hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi!”

THE POINT. After over 50 years of professional observation of the American Order and world politics, I am convinced that we have reached a Point of No Return. That is to say, I no longer believe that political solutions will buy us more time. That our present unprecedented Historic Crisis requires nothing less than Divine Intervention to save The Day.

In addition, however, given the rancid, fallen spiritual condition of the United States and her equally compromised Church, I cannot in good conscience pray for the rescue of the Nation or her Church. Rather, I now pray fervently every morning and sometimes throughout the day for the ‘Salvation of individual souls,’ beloved.

The Rescue of “my neighbor,” if you will.

This in perfect accord with the Second Greatest Commandment from The Christ, and His subsequent refinement of such Command in the Great Commission. Let’s conclude with His Words, therefore, as sacred reminder of what it is we are to do for the rest of our challenging days.

JESUS AND JOHN SAID:

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ … Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age …

[For] His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” – MATTHEW 22:37-39; 28:19-20; MATTHEW 3:12; NKJV 

The Hour is late, the fields lean to harvest. It could not be clearer, beloved, at least for this old man. Selah.