Psalm 144:1-2
B.
“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my
hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my
fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take
refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”
Life is war, and by identifying
with Christ, we have been enlisted into battle on His account and for His
purpose. The bible lay this
distinction of war upon life as a description of the type of ferocity by which we
should lay of hold of the kingdom of God—the
kingdom of God suffers violence and the violence take it by force. This ‘force’ is a word that speaks of a
man acting as though his life depended upon it, and the kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit. Though
we act with deference toward others with regard to insult, injury, and all the
things in this world that are perishing, our calling is to stand firm for righteousness, and by implication, stand against
what is evil, with violence—forcefulness—as if our life depended upon it. We should not mistake deference for
peace. Peace is not a passive
fruit. It is not the removal
conflict, but the strength of our defenses for what we value. A command to turn the other cheek is
not a command to be passive. It is
a principle that keeps us from returning evil with the same evil that is given,
and thus, perpetuate a cycle of destruction. But, to tolerate evil is to perpetuate evil. Peace may not violently attack the
enemy, but it certainly will violently protect what is good. To not rebuke the oppressor, or to indulge the sinful influence of wicked
men, is to be overcome with evil when we are called to overcome evil with what is good.
Do
not be dismissive or dismayed at the metaphor of scripture to communicate life
to be war. Satan—and we should not
slight the reference of our enemy—wants to deceive you into thinking that this
life is not as important as we should consider it to be; that we should relax
and not struggle so hard or so much; that the blessings of God are in the
comforts of our lives and it is for these things that we should labor. Through such thoughts, men are pacified
to the true nature of the struggle that lay before them, and so, are diminished
in their ability to perceive the existence of an invaluable goodness in truth,
which if they were able to see, would give their lives for without a second
thought; and it is in giving our lives for each other that we fight the
oppressive evil that only seeks to steal,
kill, and destroy. Though the battle is the Lord’s, the horse is
still prepared for the day of battle,
and our lives should be organized by preparing our own resources to give in a
time of need. We are enlisted to fight this war, because it is on our account
that this war is waged, and therefore, it is not only appropriate for honor
that we wage it for each other, but demanded of us that we lay our own stake in
the purpose to achieve it’s outcome, which is fought for by fighting for each
other. Should we fall to apathy,
as I fear many will and find that it is a much more profound sin than we
suppose, we will be overtaken by the enemy and marginalized in an existence
that does not suffer passivity.
For, passivity leaves the gates unguarded and the weak unprotected.
Finally, and perhaps due of greater
punishment then the neglect of what is good, if we attend to fighting this
battle by our own strength and counsel—not submitting before God as our wisdom,
strength, and holiness—then we find that we are not only overtaken by the
enemy, but we fight on his behalf, undermining the good that we proclaim
through the use of God’s weapons drawn contrary to God’s purpose. Jesus says, ‘Whoever is not with me is against me’. If we are not found to be fighting according to God’s
design then we become unwitting agents of evil and we fight to our own
destruction since, if it is God’s victory, we fall by God’s sword. We must remember we are only acting out
what God has ordained. Since it is
only God’s work that has established our lives for His preordained service, our
own work can only be established if it is found to rest in the power of the One
who established it. And so, we stand in the Lord and in the power of His
might.
It is right to be fearful of so
great a calling as the war that God’s word describes, but if the sword of the
Spirit declares war upon the world, it is only because the Spirit begins a
revolution in our hearts. If the
Spirit is to cause our hearts to endure in what is good, then to fight for us,
He must fight against the world, and we, by the Spirit, take up arms with the
Spirit—for each other and for God.
The bible was meant to inspire fear in our hearts, and we were meant to
tremble at God’s word. But, it is
not a fear that leads to terror.
For terror has to do with
punishment. It is a fear that
should compel us to God’s throne.
It is in receiving God’s instructions, we are made aware of our need for
God’s power, and He has determined Himself to provide one along with the
other. Hope in God. Follow Him without question, for His commands are not burdensome. Goodness was never meant to serve our
lives, but our lives for what is good.
If these commands are vague, it is only so that we, instead of being
inventors of what is evil, may be creators of what is good in our designs to
serve each other and to fight for each other by the power of God.
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