## The Unlikely Altar: When Opposition Becomes Your Platform
*(A Reflection on Divine Elevation from the Heart of Akasia)*
The relentless Highveld sun beats down on my corrugated iron roof in Akasia, Pretoria, as Eskom’s load-shedding schedule mocks my plans again. In this rhythm of darkness and generator hum, I recall the funeral of Mama Dlamini last Tuesday. We buried her near Soshanguve as municipal workers’ chants against unfair wages echoed nearby. Her grandson Thabo whispered: *"Pastor, why do enemies shout louder than God’s promises?"* Suddenly, David’s ancient cry in Psalm 110:1 became my anvil: **"The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool’"** .
### I. The Divine Paradox: Your Detractors Are Your Heralds
South Africans understand this theatre of contradiction. Our nation’s history reveals a startling pattern: the very voices mocking divine purpose unknowingly announce its fulfillment. Consider the Afrikaner nationalists who, while wielding Reformed theology to justify apartheid, simultaneously preserved the Scriptures that would dismantle their ideology . Their *"swart gevaar"* (black danger) rhetoric became the footstool upon which God elevated our united cry for justice.
**Truth encounter**: *Every pothole on the N1, every corruption scandal headlining *News24*, every racial slur – these are not evidences of God’s absence but raw materials for His ascension liturgy.* When Mordecai’s foes built gallows (Esther 7:10), they unknowingly constructed the platform for his promotion. Your adversaries are drafting your victory speech with their opposition.
### II. The Anatomy of the Footstool: Three Kingdom Realities
**1. The Right Hand’s Authority**
Yahweh’s command—*"Sit at My right hand"*—isn’t passive relaxation. In African cosmology, the right hand signifies strength, honor, and ancestral authority. Jesus Himself invoked this Psalm to shatter reductionist messianic expectations: *"If David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be his son?"* (Matthew 22:45) . Here’s the scandal: the Crucified is enthroned *above* every load-shedding crisis, political malfeasance, and tribal division.
**2. The ‘Until’ of Unfolding Victory**
God’s *"until"* is active, not idle. The Zulu proverb *"Indlela ibuzwa kwabaphambili"* (The path is asked of those ahead) meets its fulfillment here: Christ’s session guarantees the subjugation of all enemies. As Enduring Word notes, *"Sit... until I make"* implies divine energy working while the King waits . Your stagnation is not defeat—it’s incubation.
**3. The Footstool’s Function**
Ancient Near Eastern kings literally placed feet on conquered foes’ necks (Joshua 10:24). Yet Christ transforms this imagery: His footstool isn’t for humiliation but restoration. The ANC’s *"Khawuleza"* (hurry up) service delivery protests reveal our thirst for justice—but only the enthroned Messiah can reconcile township dwellers and suburbanites as *"one dew of youth"* (Psalm 110:3) .
### III. The South African Altar: Where Resistance Reveals Reign
Last month, as cholera-contaminated water flooded Hammanskraal homes, a group of believers began singing *"Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika"* while digging trenches. Their shovels struck not sewage pipes but the bedrock of Psalm 110: *"The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion"* (v.2). This is no escapist spirituality—it’s *footstool faith* that:
- **Reframes potholes** as platforms for municipal accountability
- **Redeems load-shedding** as sacred space for neighborly solidarity
- **Resists liberation theology’s** reduction of Christ to political revolutionary while confronting systemic sin
*Apologetic clarity*: Some African theologians claim Psalm 110 promotes oppressive hierarchy. Nonsense! Christ’s priesthood *"after Melchizedek’s order"* (v.4) dismantles tribalistic power structures. Melchizedek—the Canaanite king-priest—foreshadows Jesus’ transnational reign where Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaner kneel equally .
### IV. Rising from the Kneeler: A Prophetic Action Plan
**1. Worship Warfare in the Waiting**
*"Your people will offer themselves freely"* (v.3 ESV). Amidst Eskom’s darkness, light candles and declare: *"This gloom is God’s grooming room."* Your voluntary praise during involuntary blackouts activates the *"rod of strength"* (v.2).
**2. Confront Cultural Captivity**
Beware the *"Kairos Document’s"* temptation to weaponize Scripture for ideological ends . True liberation begins when we let Yahweh—not the EFF or DA—define justice.
**3. Embrace the Already-Not Yet Tension**
Like the Karoo veld awaiting rain, we live between the *"sit"* (completed enthronement) and *"until"* (ongoing subjugation). Protest unjust water policies *while* digging wells with hands of hope.
**Final Declaration**: *As I write this, the scent of morogo greens cooking over paraffin stoves drifts through my window. Tomorrow’s headlines may scream coalition collapses or rand depreciation. But hear this Akasia testimony: the same Jesus who split history at Bethlehem is seated today in Mamelodi shacks, Sandton boardrooms, and Parliament’s chaos. Your enemies’ noise is the drumroll of your coronation. Stop rehearsing their taunts—start raising your rod. They will bow; He will be glorified.*
> **Prayer**: *Lord of Load-Shedding and Legislature, I trade my anxiety for Your ascension narrative. Turn every gauteng pothole into a footstool of Your glory. Silence my inner Thabo with the thunder of Your session. Make my resistance the revealer of Your reign. Amen.*
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