155. Power exalted
Psalm 89:17
For thou art the glory of their strength:
And in thy favor our horn shall be exalted.
God will exalt our horn = He will give us more power; horn = power. This is really something to say, for every human being since Adam wants more power, authority and strength for the purpose of Control. Control is what we all are after: “to be like God, knowing good and evil.” The temptation to take control, to be in control, to have the ability to direct life to the way we want it to go, to bend the will of others (and of God) to our own will, to shape life around me so it is comfortable and convenient for me, to be able to just snap fingers and say something and it is done the way I want it done. “Ain’t gonna happen.”
So why would God grant more power to us sinful, selfish human beings when He had to take it away from us in the first place? We used the power God gave us for our own self instead of for the good of others; love turned inward back upon self. The answer is that God redeemed and changed His people with His love so that they would become givers instead of takers, producers instead of users, self-giving instead of self-centered.
God gave us more spiritual power to exercise God’s authority on his behalf against the Enemies (Sin, Death, Satan) and for the benefit and blessing of people. God loves his people so much He wants to use them as instruments to change the world and affect the universe. So He gives us the power of prayer with authority to change things and the power of the Gospel to change lives. Thus we may use that increased power to overcome the power of Sin, Death and the Devil in the lives of people through prayer and love and the preaching of the Gospel.
God is taking a risk, of course, because we still live in the Old Adam and can easily misuse, abuse or simply neglect an “exalted horn.” But God trusts His Gospel to daily change us from old Adam to new man, from death to life, from evil to good, from self focused to service oriented. So He promised to exalt our horn: to increase our power to do good works and affect lives for benefit and blessing.