Who Is On The Lord’s Side?

Way back in the book of Exodus

A question to a people was posed

“Who is on the Lord’s side?”

Was the Moses’ conducted poll.

In a matter of forty days

Things had really changed

And when he came down from the mount

He met a people most deranged.

All the way from wretched Egypt

He had led them through the Red Sea

Now just “the man” is all he is

In their present controversy.

He had been called up to the mount

To receive instructions from Almighty God

That would direct these chosen people

And protect them from Satan the fraud.

But on retuning he had found out

That they had made a golden calf

And the number that worshipped this idol

Was certainly more than half.

As a result he conducted a poll

To ascertain who was on the Lord’s side,

Consequently there was God’s judgment

And there was no place to hide.

No place to hide for the dissenters,

About three thousand were put to the sword,

For the priestly tribe of Levi

Did according to God’s word.

And so let us now fast forward

Thousands of years to the present

Cognizant of the reality

That we have a similar lament.

The difference, however, is critical

Since the sides have made a change

In the exodus it was the Lord’s side

But our anthem has had this rearranged.

  

“The Lord has been the people’s guide

For past three hundred years,

With Him still on the people’s side

We have no doubts or fears.”

The first stanza you would recall

Spoke to our fore fathers’ achievement,

The second stanza introduces God

But on the “people’s side” is the intent.

The emphasis is now changed

As it propositions the people’s side,

It is no longer we who must take focus

But God who must now decide.

That may not have been the intent

But it surely comes over that way,

God may have been the people’s guide

But it is the people that hold full sway.

With “the people on the Lord’s side”

Would have been a better demarcation,

Since God has no need to choose a side,

His is an eternal position.

He does not have to make amendments

He is the one that changes not,

We are the ones that are dependent

And without God we would simply rot.

It is not uncommon these days to hear

When seeking to win an argument,

“I know the Lord is on my side”

To put down the other person’s dissent.

So God must choose; so we declare

And He had better choose our side:

“Command ye me,” the Lord has said,

Isaiah 45:11 cannot be denied.

Taken out of context as in so many cases

We use God’s word for our own ends,

And so He is on the people’s side

It’s on the people that He depends.

We had better get our theology right

As we respond to Moses’ question,

“Who is on the Lord’s side?” Note!

And not the affirmation of our anthem.

For in the final analysis

Only them on Lord’s side will be saved,

It doesn’t matter your golden calf

Or how much you rant and rave.

Jesus makes it particularly clear

In Luke chapter 11 and verse 23

Concerning the matter pertaining to sides

“He that is not with me is against me.”

So who is on the Lord’s side?

Stand up today and be reckoned,

Bear in mind there is still His amnesty

And to one and all he beckons.

Stewart Russell © July 2017

The Second Stanza

“The Lord has been the people’s guide

For past three hundred years,

With Him still on the people’s side

We have no doubts or fears”.

How oft this verse do we hear?

When does it ring in our ear?

Appears to me more often than not

That the first verse is the entire lot.

For if you want to see some fun,

Check when the second verse is being sung

And you will note the mumbling lip

With memory gone there’s many a slip.

I challenge you this morning too,

Whether the second verse is known by you

Or you are stuck on the first as well?

It’s only by singing that we can tell.

But we proudly stand ramrod straight

As we esteem Barbados the greatest state

Seldom remembering the God who led,

Nothing much about Him is said.

Yes, “In plenty and in time of need

When this fair land was young

Our brave forefathers sow the seed

From which our pride is sprung”.

For while this might be true in part,

From whom did they get strength of heart?

To accomplish what they did achieve,

Really and truly, tell, what do you believe?

Do you really think they did it on their own,

In their own strength, yes, all alone?

No way could they have braced the trouble tide

If the gracious Lord were not by their side.

But now we have the hero’s hall of fame

And great men and women we acclaim,

Giving them credit for all that’s been done,

God’s out of the picture and so is His Son.

I say this morning let’s open our eyes

And look to the One who lives in the skies,

For in many hearts He still resides,

He makes the difference, there’s none besides.

But now we are higher up and better off,

In pride we strut with our heads held aloft

Giving the impression to one and all

We did it all alone, time to have a ball.

Like the famous fool whose crops yielded greater

Our souls are fed on every whim and caper,

We legalize this and we legislate that

As long as it meets our fancy and that’s a fact.

I know this is not the usual thanksgiving theme

But I want you to picture this current scene,

As we commemorate Independence forty-nine,

Let’s take stock, arrest this dive and look to the Divine.

God be praised for again we’ve been spared

Relatively speaking, for yet another year

But who can tell when our turn will come?

It could happen, you know, before the set of sun.

There’s much to thank God for I’m sure you’ll agree

As we celebrate another year in a land of the free,

Let’s lift our hearts to Him in praise

As the second verse of the anthem we raise.

“The Lord has been the people’s guide

For past three hundred years,

With Him still on the people’s side

We have no doubts or fears”.

Stewart Russell © 2010
Revised 2015