Victory

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.”  1 Chronicles 29:11

Victory – Words are like umbrellas at the beach.  All umbrellas cast shadows but some cast much bigger shadows than others.  We are familiar with the large shadow cast by our word “love”.  It covers all the ground from “I love football” to “I love God”.  That’s quite a shadow.  The Greeks had to use several different words to cover the same ground.  Now, in this verse, we find a Hebrew word that covers a lot more ground than the single translation “victory”.  We only grasp the depth of David’s blessing when we see just how much shadow this word casts.

Neshah is derived from a root word that contains two different but related ideas.  The first is the idea of endurance.  This part of the shadow covers the ground that allows us to extol God’s eternal character.  God is forever and ever.  There is no end to His reign and His kingdom.  But the second part of this word shadow covers a different thought.  It is translated “victory” or “glory” or “strength”.  You can see how the two are related.  God’s permanence (His eternity) means that He is the victor of all.  God is always that last one standing.  So, neshah covers both the enduring of God and the pre-eminence of God.  An Israelite would know this combination.  But we have to dig it out.

Now think about the structure of this blessing.  Have you noticed that David is doubling up on his words of praise?  First there is “great” and “power”, not we come to “glory” (beauty) and eternity (strength).  And you won’t be surprised at all when I tell you that sometimes neshah is also translated “glory” – the glory of being the everlasting best.  David’s poetic blessing gives us the same concept in several different words.

Did you ever imagine that the mere fact that God is forever means that He is always victorious?  No one and nothing can outlast Him.  He will always prevail simply because He will always be.  Heaven and earth may pass away, but God will never pass away.  No wonder David is so confident.  He is the child of the God of eternity. 

What a great word for us in those times when we stare into the face of dead ends.  We serve the neshah God.  God never faces a dead end.  He will always overcome.  So, stop thinking in terms of the temporary.  Hook your life to the neshah God.  It’s the only way to eternal victory.