2002-11-05
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
As I survey my own life and what God has taught me over the past year, it is clearer than ever that we are in a fierce spiritual battle with Satan and his evil followers. We who have studied the history of the Jewish people know that in 612 BC, the Assyrian capital of Nineveh fell. There was particular reason to celebrate this event in Israel, because the Jews had been captives of the Assyrians since 722 BC when they took the northern part, then called Israel. Israel spent 160 years in the Assyrian Captivity. The southern Jewish kingdom, Judah, was taken captive and held by the Babylonians and later the Medo-Persians for 70 years beginning in 586 BC. The minor prophet, Nahum of Elkosh [often identified with Capernaum] wrote his little book sometime between 663 and 654 BC. It is a poem, a message of consolation celebrating the fall of Nineveh, the government seat of Israel’s cruel, arrogant, and oppressive enemies. This event is seen as God’s judgment against Assyria. It made the prophecy of IS 14: 24-25 come true. NH 2: 1-2, “Nineveh, you are under attack! The power that will shatter you has come. Man the defenses! Guard the road! Prepare for battle! (The Lord is about to restore the glory of Israel, as it was before her enemies plundered her).” The Jews knew going into this battle that it would be fierce, and we should know that our battle with Satan is also fierce. That’s not a reason to be afraid, because the most powerful Force of all, One more powerful than Satan himself, is our awesome God Who calls us to be on His side. Prayer banishes fear and worry. IS 41:13, “For I am the Lord your God, Who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.’”
While it’s true that when we are on God’s side obeying His commands, we must wait until He tells us the time is right. For some of us, this may be the hardest part of the battle. We want our satisfaction, our victory in Christ’s name right now tied up in a neat package-maybe yesterday! Our impatience can sometimes get in God’s way. We must remember that He, and not man, is in charge. There are four citations that let us know why we should never give up and wait for God’s time to take action. PS 10:17, “You listen to the longings of those who suffer. You offer them hope; and You pay attention to their cries for help.” PS 46:1, “God is our Refuge and our Strength, always ready to help in time of trouble.” PS 107: 20, “He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the grave.” PS 102: 28, “Every generation of those who serve You will live in Your presence.” We can’t hope to know the details of why God waits until a certain time of His choosing to order us to go forth into a battle, but we can rest assured that if we comply with His timing, things will work out for the good guys in the long run. As for persistence, it’s a measure of the strength of one’s faith. The more persistent, the more faithful, as long as we are persisting in line with God’s teaching.
Scriptural hindsight from places like JER 25: 11 give us prophecies of how long God planned to punish the Jews for their disobedience to Him. Had the Jews or their captors interfered with God’s timing, the purpose of His plan might not have been achieved. God alone knew that Israel in the north needed 160 years and Judah in the south needed 70 years of captivity, before the people would be ready to come together as one nation again. MT 24: 21-22 tells us that God has limited the time of the Tribulation, making it just long enough to accomplish His purpose without annihilating everyone. Looking ahead, we can see the same construct when Christ in MT 24: 36 explained to His disciples that no one, except for God Himself, knows when Christ will come to gather His people signaling the onset of the end times. We are not to know that exact time, but are told to be faithful with our spiritual houses in order, ready at any moment. REV 12: 12 tells us that even the devil knows his time to do evil is limited by God. God knows exactly when we should go into battle and how long the battle should be. We need to place our trust in Him.
The story of King Jehoshaphat’s approach to battle in 2 CH 20: 1-23 that I wrote about yesterday is a beautiful example of praying to God for His help, listening for God’s answers, waiting until God commands us to take action, worshipping God to show our reverence and love for Him, and praising Him after the victory happens. Read, David’s words of wisdom on this subject in PS 27: 5, 8, “In times of trouble He will shelter me; He will keep me safe in His temple and make me secure on a high rock…When You said, ‘Come worship Me,’ I answered, ‘I will come, Lord.’” We have been invited to do battle with Satan, equipped with God’s full armor, are given explicit directions for how and when to enter the fierce battle, and are granted the power, if we obey rightly, to bring Satan and his cohorts to defeat. Why invite us to battle? Because our God, Who loves us more than we can measure, knows that by our obeying Him we become increasingly sanctified-more prepared for the Day when He will call us to our permanent home with Him. Is fighting this battle worth it? You bet it is!
PRAYER: O Lord, while You have led us to think about historical events today, You also call us to examine our own lives for our willingness to come to the battle against Satan with the confidence that strong faith gives us and to wait for Your perfect timing to take action. We are impatient sinners who too often assume we know better than You and too frequently refuse to wait for Your perfect timing. An unmarried person who wants to eventually find the right mate, one of whom You approve, must wait and live a wholesome life for the right person to come along. A parent must wait for a child to achieve enough maturity to respond to efforts to solve a problem or make forward progress. A business person must often endure a boss he or she doesn’t like to eventually get a promotion. Two people who have trouble getting along must look to You for guidance on how to work out their differences. And, sometimes wonderful lasting friendships can be made. People suffering financial stress from unemployment must mount job searches and wait for Your perfect time for the right job offer to be made. Satan loves to bring all kinds of trouble to our lives. You use these troubles to teach us lessons we need. Sometimes a person who suffers from an addiction must hit rock bottom before actions can be taken that will lead to lasting recovery. Whatever the trouble that Satan brings to our lives, we must eventually realize we need to turn to You for direction, comfort, correction, and encouragement. In You, Dearest Abba, is the greatest love and help we can have. PS 62: 5, “Only God gives inward peace, and I depend on Him.” PS 4: 8, “I will lie down in peace and sleep for though I am alone, O Lord, You will keep me safe.” You are a loving and merciful God Who loves each of His children. PS 145: 9, “The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works.” We humbly confess our sins and offer at Your altar our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, thanks, and praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
There is more which the Spirit leads me to discuss about the fierce battle in tomorrow’s message. As we turn to our temporal lives this week, we must remember that God is with us. We do not fight spiritual warfare alone. RO 8: 32-33, “In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, Who did not even keep back His own Son, but offered Him for us all! He gave us His Son-will He not also freely give us all things?” We are loved by our Lord Who is with us every minute throughout the battle, rooting for us to excel and to hang on tenaciously to the faith He has given us. Such love envelopes us with protection, provision, and even eternal life itself. For what more could we ask? Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn