I began to draw near to the believers among the poor, simple, and ignorant, the pilgrims, monks, and peasants. The more I contemplated the lives of these simple folk, the more deeply was I convinced of the reality of their faith, which I perceived to be a necessity for them, for it alone gave life a meaning and made it worth living. The more I learned of these men of faith, the more I liked them and the easier I felt it so to live…. Still I did not find him whom I sought…. I realized that the conception of God was not God himself. I felt that I had only truly lived when I believed in God. God is life. Live to seek God, and life will not be without him. The light that then shone never left me…. I came to know that God is all we need.
~Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
~ paul, The Least of the Apostles, in Ephesians 6
Oh beloved, it is true. We are in a desperate battle.
Oh, it is the retreating action of a defeated foe – but this is often the most deadly of military operations. As an enemy know that it has no way to launch an offensive based on principle and actual might, this same enemy will plant booby traps, and diversionary explosives to cover its escape and slow the pursuit of the victorious forces.
And this is what we are in today.
The schemes of the evil one are subtle. It seems like almost anything we look at that holds any sort of anything interesting, is actually a trap to keep us from focusing on the two only really important things: 1) Him. And 2) the fact that everything else is designed to keep our eyes off of Him.
We implement technology to free our time, and instead become slaves to the gadgets we hoped would set us free.
We look to the news in our concern and perceived need to be informed. And, in doing so, we begin to unduly focus on the problems rather than The Solution.
We undertake spiritual disciplines to clear the decks in our lives, and instead become enslaved to the law we were trying to escape.
We read books on planning and self-improvement, forgetting that the new creation we are is not about what is in it for us – but what glory He can receive.
We pursue relationships with people, but find ourselves sucking life out of them instead of getting our life from Him and pouring into other people.
We look at the evil in the world around us, and we begin to think that this is perhaps the end. We do this, forgetting that we are in but the seed stage of the kingdom.
We look at our friends and lovers and co-workers and see only their flaws. Again, the problem being the focus on the aspects of the person that simply do not matter in light of what He is already doing in their lives.
We are baited and switched on every turn. Marketing, and simple daily needs amplify our desires so that they grow to such enormity as to block out our view of the Son.
We are divided in our attentions. We are divided in our loyalties. We are divided in our thinking. We continually have this voice shooting and scooting as it moves in trying to get us to think about everything – all at once.
Can we see it?
We are being constantly tempted to insert meaning into stuff that has none. And conversely, we are being told that the one Source of meaning is irrelevant.
Enter the manifold wisdom of G_d!
We, as humans, in but four dimensions and limited to but 70-some years, simply cannot get to high enough ground on our own to even survey the field of battle. And this is why it is so vital to seek our help from Him. For He is the only One who can see the whole picture clearly.
Yielding and surrender to G_d are not mystical ideas for ascetics. No, trusting and obeying Him alone are eminently practical and sound strategies for survival on a battlefield where we are starving for information. And especially starving, because any information we obtain from the physical world is almost guaranteed to spiritual mis-information.
And this is very good news.
Because of the practical nature of yielding to a G_d who really does know what is going on, and really does know how to handle the problems going on around us, He is also able to give us actual information and power to break down the lies and and problems in our lives.
As we see in Joshua 10, and other places, G_d actually places our defeated enemies under our feet. We no longer have to even put up with their distractions. We can, by His grace, crush their necks that they might quit squealing their lies – and we can get about the business of getting our eyes on Jesus.
Beloved, this is simply true. Would that we might, tonight, start believing that we might be able to see.
