When the Dog Eats Your Cape

I need a hero.  There is nothing I need more.  It may surprise you in a day when us, mortals, are suppose to be superheroes and wear capes even when we sleep that mine went missing.  I think I had a soft, pretty cape when I was much younger, more invincible and had less worries.  The sadder and wiser me thinks the dog ate my cape.  Wherever I place the blame, I can relate so well to 2 Corinthians 4:8-10.

"We are hard pressed on every side...perplexed... persecuted...struck down."

Those of you who know that verse realize that I left out the best part.  Here enters my hero.

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."

My Glorious Hero allows himself to be crushed when I am hard pressed.  He substituted himself for me.   My Glorious Hero captures my tears in a bottle when I am perplexed.  He numbers them each like the drops in the ocean.  Flee, despair; I matter that much to him.   

Psalm 56:8
"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book."

My Glorious Hero shows me his pierced hands and feet and whispers his presence in the midst of persecution.  My Glorious Hero knows what it is like to be struck down, and he knows what it is like to be destroyed.    And on the cross in his dying breath when he said, "It is finished", he meant it.  Jesus made those he called eternal. I can never be destroyed.

Jesus gives himself in overflowing measures.  He is always sufficient for the need.   Every time people, things, institutions and should-be securities disappoint us, we must turn our eyes away from circumstances and fix our eyes back on our Great God.  

From Isaiah 6, we know this Glorious Hero's cape fills the temple.  May our hearts and minds, the new covenant temples, be so filled with the cape of his Presence that there is no room left for doubts and discouragement.  When everything comes unravelled, may I hold tighter to the indestructible cape of Jesus who brings hope and peace to all he covers.