Our own heart, and not other men’s opinions, form true honor.
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?— the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand supported me, and Your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip. I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed. I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet. For You equipped me with strength for the battle; You made those who rise against me sink under me. You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me I destroyed. They cried for help, but there was none to save; they cried to the Lord, but He did not answer them. I beat them fine as dust before the wind; I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
~ The Poet-Warrior King, David, in Psalm 18
Oh beloved, it is true. There are some whom He has called and equipped for the battle. He has built within some a fierceness and clear eye on reality that will brook no mediocrity in themselves. They have, through mountains of wretched failure, been beaten to Life by their Captain. And have now, only an eye but to see His honor spread through His creation.
This fool of a writer is one.
In the (thankfully) somewhat distant past, my own selfish ambitions to feel and do what i wanted to do, and to fight for my own vision of what i thought was right, did nothing but to bring about destruction to myself and to others around me. I thought, in my own foolishness, that I could assert what was right, but not live it on the inside. And the duplicity of my existence tore me asunder.
This put me into just the right space.
For in coming to be dashed upon the sharp rocks of my own failures, was actually to find a wonderful teacher. Finding my absolute poverty was a gift of extraordinary value, for i found myself at the prerequisite and preamble to the Gospel: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Then, having found the bedrock of my depravity, the Master Builder then saw He had integral material on which to build. And build He did. But now, the strength that He was building into me had nothing to do with me. It was Him at work – making me like Himself: Strong, real, lovingly ferocious, pursuing, purposeful and free.
Over the years, He has trained my eye on His beauty. Then, as i gained eyes to see, the enormity of His great heart of Love became apparent. And beloved, once we see His heart, there is no turning back. Nothing else matters. Nothing. Only Him. Then, in seeing Him for who He is, comes a joy-borne strength which is not anything a bond-servant can put into words.
i am His. But, HE is mine. Forever.
Once we begin to grasp this reality, time drops away. Plans are submitted to the wind of His Spirit. And our perspective becomes what it should be. Our focus is eternal. Everything matters forever. And everything that does not matter, becomes exceedingly uninteresting. We have tasted of the ages to come, when forever will be the very context of how the economy of The Kingdom and life therein, will work.
Can we see it? Most people can’t. And this is why a warrior crushed, rebuilt and polished to eternal strength does not fit in our plastic and highly temporary existences. Most people are still so full of selfish bilge that it clouds their eyes, and the stench of their flesh makes tasting and sensing His fragrance impossible.
So, have you been made a warrior? Your fight is not against the failures of others, but it is to assist the Almighty (under His orders and direction alone) in bringing those same others to defeat. And this, that He might make them into the same kind as we are now.
Beloved, destroy the fallen, that His gentleness might make them great. Tonight is your night. Time to believe in who He has made you to be. You are powerful beyond time and space. For the power at work within you is the same Power which raised Jesus Christ from the grave.
