Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. Psalm 106:47

We live in a world that is all about winning: having the highest scores on a test, possessing clothes better than our neighbor, cheering for our team at the Super Bowl. If a kid tells you they had a soccer game on Saturday, your next questions is probably, “Did you win?” Were you on the honor roll at school? Who won the chess game? Did you get as much money as you possibly could from your tax refund? Win. Victory. Triumph.

Webster’s dictionary describes triumph as “the state of being victorious; victory; conquest; joy or exaltation for success; a card that takes all others (now referred to as ‘trump’)”. It furthers elaborates by adding, “among the ancient Romans, a pompous ceremony performed in honor of a victorious general, who was allowed to enter the city crowned, originally with laurel but in later times with gold, bearing a truncheon in one hand and a branch of laurel in the other, riding in a chariot drawn by two white horses, and followed by the kings, princes and generals whom had had vanquished, loaded with chains and insulted by mimics and buffoons”. Now that’s a triumph – the winner is lauded, the looser treated like a buffoon.

But as Christians, is it right to parade about in triumph while making our enemies look like fools? Most of us would say no. So, it is wrong to triumph period? Of course not. In the psalms, the Psalmist is never afraid of celebrating victories of his enemies. And every time we take the Lord’s Supper, we celebrate the triumph Christ has for us over death. The questions is, then, what should we triumph in?

I came upon Psalm 106:47 during Thanksgiving and have thought about it now and then since. Triumph looks like different things to different people during different times of their lives. I find the triumph I want today isn’t the same as I wanted a year ago. A year ago, I wanted to survive a wedding. Today, that seems like a small matter when I think of this little soul who will be in our care in three short months and how we’re going to provide for him or her. I often wallow in the details of food, and clothing, and paying the bills so the electricity and water stay on. Not to mention, how will we pay for school books, and pencils, and times with friends later? I would consider it a great triumph if this little one grows up looking back on his or her life with mostly happiness and contentment in what we could provide. But many days that seems impossible.

I’m not saying that food, and clothing, and shelter are not important. But they are earthly. Jesus told His disciples not to worry about things. He sent them out to minister with nothing more than a walking stick! No extra coat. No money. No picnic lunch. For as He reminded them, God clothes the lilies. He feeds the sparrows. Why do we spend so much time thinking our Heavenly Father won’t do the same for us – the beings created in His own image and saved by the sacrifice of His only Son? As usual, our focus is off.

Psalm 106 is a replay of Israel’s history. The exodus from Egypt and triumph at the Red Sea. Israel forgets and complains. He provides food in the desert. Israel builds a calf to worship. Moses pleads on their behalf, Phinehas rises up to stay the plague, God provides them with water and a prosperous land. Yet Israel continues to gripe, disobey and serve the idols of their defeated enemies. A story with a very familiar ring in our own lives, isn’t it?

And, yet, the Psalmist continues to plead with God to save Israel. To bring Israel to a place where it isn’t about victory over their enemies or food in the wilderness. The ultimate goal is to “triumph in Thy praise”. To parade about the streets in gold crowns and raised laurel branches, declaring the great acts of God in our lives. To declare that God – and God alone – is great, merciful, victorious, and has given us everything we could possibly need.

That is the true life of triumph. The victorious life. The life of winning. Why should I focus on anything less?