The fight for our planet, physical and spiritual, a fight of cosmic proportions, is not a vague matter of the future; it has already started. The forces of evil have begun their decisive offensive. You can feel their pressure, yet your screens and publications are full of prescribed smiles and raised glasses. What is the joy about?
~Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you. O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for You. Be our Arm every morning, our Salvation in the time of trouble. At the tumultuous noise peoples flee; when You lift Yourself up, nations are scattered, and Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon. The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure. Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases. Covenants are broken; cities are despised; there is no regard for man. The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. “Now I will arise,” says the LORD, “now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted. You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you. And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.” Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge My might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?” He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. Your eyes will behold the King in His beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar. Your heart will muse on the terror: “Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?” You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand. Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the LORD in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass. For the LORD is our Judge; the LORD is our Lawgiver; the LORD is our King; He will save us.
~ from Isaiah 33
Oh beloved, it is true.
There is an evil one. And, in terms of scale, he is a cosmically powerful foe. And we, if we think we could stand for a second against this one who could stand in the throne room of G_d, we are sorely mistaken.
However, there is a time to fight, and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We have been re-made to win.
We are those who intercede for those in need – and become the conduits of the very One in whose presence the liar attended once – but no longer.
We are those who are the very Ambassadors of This Same L_RD of Hosts. We speak in His Authority, and proclaim the Good News that Jesus has already won.
We are those who ascend by going lower. We now live in the profound concern for the wellbeing of others. And in giving our lives away – we find His Life at work within us.
Can we see it?
We are indeed in a vicious battle, so it is vital for us to know when we are supposed to engage. But, when we are supposed to engage, we shall. And – we shall watch The Captain of The Hosts of Heaven crush His opponents.
So, are you feeling under the pressure and onslaught of the evil one? It WILL happen. But, this is usually just before your King sets you to march forward into battle. And when He does, He will most surely win in you, and through you.
Tonight is your night. Prepare to fight.
The greater the evil, the greater the opportunity to fashion out of it everlasting good.
~Hannah Hurnard (1905-1990)
