If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength? ~Proverbs 24:10
If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? ~Jeremiah 12:5-6
The sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to go on the heights. ~Habakkuk 3:19
When I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God, whose Word I praise, in God I trust. I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? ~Psalm 56:3-4
What, then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things! Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Romans 8:31-39
Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause or blush to speak His name?
Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease
While others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?
Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace to help me on to God?
Sure I must fight if I should reign; increase my courage Lord!
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.
Thy saints in all this glorious war shall conquer though they die;
They see the triumph from afar with faith’s discerning eye.
When that illustrious day shall rise and all Thine armies shine
In robes of victory through the skies, the glory shall be Thine. ~Isaac Watts, 1721
I have said it before, but it bears repeating: God is training us to be soldiers! He needs soldiers and He needs us to be not only peace makers, but defenders of His truth. There isn’t much new here that can be said about us especially in western culture. We’ve gotten pretty used to the soft life. There’s no denying that we can be pretty good whiners when life gets tough. Unfortunately, if you’re a Christian, life is going to get tough.
Consider the warning of Jesus: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:18-19) Whether we like it or not, we are at war. As the Psalmist says: “Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war.” (Psalm 120:7)
“If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength?” “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” What we are being asked is, “If you can’t handle it now with God’s help, when life is relatively pretty good, how will you handle it when it gets worse, because, it’s going to get worse!
Kathy and I have read the book, “The Hiding Place,” several times. It was one of the books that we read to our children when they were young. If you don’t know, “The Hiding Place,” is an autobiographical account of one family that was willing to continually take the next step in obedience to God, and ended up in the dangerous ministry of serving in the Holland underground to save Jews during WWII. Kathy and I have often asked ourselves, “Would we remain that faithful?”
The author of the book is Corey Tenboom, who lives with her sister and father in an interesting three-story house. The first floor is devoted to the father’s clock and watch sale and repair business. The story begins so ordinary, a birthday party. Then, Corey details how life began to change dramatically over a short period of time. The testimony to faith and the strong dependence on God is so evident throughout the book. The story began with a race on foot, with man, but ended up in thickets along the Jordan with very little place to get a foot hold. It could happen for any of us. The question is, have we put into ourselves, through attention to the spiritual, what we will need to get us through whatever may lie ahead?
When the plot thickened, and life became more challenging, Corey and her sister and father just remained obedient. They had no guarantee of a good outcome and there were no regrets. In fact, after a while they were discovered by the German Nazis, arrested, and taken to the concentration camp. Corey’s Father and sister didn’t survive that prison, but Corey, who wrote the book after her release, now on the other side of all that suffering and hardship, had no regret for not staying safe. Risking it all to obey the call of Christ, even her own life, to save others, was worth it. Do I have that kind of faith?
“When I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God, whose Word I praise, in God I trust. I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” My first answer to that question, “what can mortal man do to me?” is, “A lot!” I don’t mind the being on the other side part, the basking in the victory, the high fives and shouts of joy and, “We did it! We made it!” That’s always fun. Even in church, everyone seems to turn out for the Easter service, but attendance at Ash Wednesday or Maundy Thursday, is pretty dismal. It seems that not many people want to reflect on all that Jesus suffered for us.
We know that the Lord is our strength and we know that He’s always with us, but if we had a choice, we’d rather not have those statements of belief put to the test. God wants us to be able to tough it out. That is why He has assured us that He will never leave us and that, no matter how bad it gets, in the seen or the unseen world, we are firmly in His arms and we will never be separated from Him. “We face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” Through Christ, we are more than conquerors! What could be more than conquering, winning, and experiencing victory? I don’t know, but we will find out after we have endured struggling through the thickets along the Jordan on this earth.
He is our strength. We are not alone. When He calls us, He has also promised to equip us as long as we rely on Him. He wants us to be soldiers in His armor, moving in His power for His victory. This war isn’t about us as much as it is about furthering the mission of bringing God glory. It's also not against flesh and blood. Mostly we fight on our knees in prayer. And we do what is right and loving, even if we suffer for it.
Prayer: Father, I want to be that faithful! I want to be a soldier of the cross, ready to face anything the forces of evil come up with and resist them with all my loving heart! In Jesus' name, amen.
Song: Am I a Soldier of the Cross
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