The Reality of an Unseen Battle

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].” (Eph 6:11-12 AV)

We forget that our warfare is real and often unseen.  The things that are seen tend to get far more attention.  The spiritual realm around us is often ignored.  When someone makes it a major concern, we tend to think it an exaggeration.  But the spiritual warfare around us is far more real than we realize.  Paul suggests that if we do not acknowledge this war nor defend against it, this war will have the better of us.  A study on the armor of God is warranted.  But unless the warfare on that which is not seen is ignored, the armor of God is meaningless.  Life gets so busy that we forget there are demons and devils that wish to do the child of God harm.  We cannot see them.  So, we think they are less than real.  But they are not.  They are no less real than the air we breathe.

There is a saying that describes an early warning against something deadly.  It is called a canary in the coal mine.  In other words, if there is a sound coming from the engine of your car but no lights are warning of pending faults, the sound would be a canary in the coal mine.  Or, perhaps a scan shows a small spot, but all the blood work and other labs show no problem.  That spot might be a canary in the coal mine.  If prices continue to climb and our wages stay the same, the rising grocery bill is a canary in the coal mine.  The phrase comes from the practice of using caged canaries in coal mines to warn of dangerous levels of gases rising before it affected the miners.  “Proposed by John Scott Haldane in 1895, canaries were used because their rapid breathing rate and small size made them more sensitive to carbon monoxide and methane than humans…Miners carried the birds into shafts; if the canary became distressed or died, it signaled the presence of invisible, odorless toxins, giving workers time to evacuate…The practice began in the early 1900s and continued until 1996 in Britain, when electronic sensors officially replaced the birds.” (AI generated information) The point is, there are hazards all around us of which we are unaware until it is too late.

This doesn’t mean we are without indicators.  A sour disposition.  A hopeless mind.  A relentless struggle with persistent sin.  A heart of frightful doubt that debilitates and paralyzes.  These could all be indicators of a spiritual war.  The indicators are subtle at first.  Gone unchecked, they can become spiritually disastrous.  Spiritual warfare should never be taken lightly.  That is why the beloved Apostle gave us the means to overcome.  The armor of God is our defense.  It begins with a relentless commitment to the word of God and prayer.  It all starts there.  Although our entry today is not the cure, but rather, being made aware that the battle exists in the first place.  The canaries nor the miners could see the methane or carbon dioxide.  They could not smell them.  To light a match would explode the mine.  Working with flames for light, this was important.  The canary was a life-or-death tool.  But there would be no canary unless the mining company acknowledged the existence of deadly gas.  It started with admitting that a potential danger existed.  That is where we are today.  We have to admit there is a battle that rages all around us, and we are the chattel.  We are the object of this battle.  As the forces of evil and righteousness battle it out for our souls, we are in the middle.  We have to open our eyes to the reality of that which we cannot see so that it cannot end in disaster.

Joy From Our Words

“A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word [spoken] in due season, how good [is it]!” (Pr 15:23 AV)

One has to wonder how much misery we live in because we do not know how to tame the tongue.  There are two ideas here.  Solomon, the wise king, shares that joy comes through our verbal responses and the quality of our response is measured by appropriate timing.  It is that first idea upon which I need to ruminate.  If there is joy lacking in my life, it could be a lack of verbal skills that is the cause.  If joy does not rule my life, maybe it is time to look at how I verbalize my thoughts.  Or better yet, if I should verbalize them at all.  The issue we have as preachers is that we muse more than most.  This is how we learn.  We ruminate over our observations.  We meditate upon the word of God.  We watch, we learn, we investigate, and we conclude.  Wisdom comes in knowing what to say, when to say it, or if it needs to be said at all.  Humility is needed to understand that we may not be right.  Even though we have turned it over again and again, it might be that we will never have all the information needed, nor does it mean that even if we did, we simply do not have it right.  There might be more than one possibility.  Joy is the result of a wise tongue.  At least in the example above.

There are a lot of life changes that occur as one ages.  They happen faster than at any other time of life.  Learning and adjusting is difficult at best.  Given the time constraints, it is almost impossible.  The marriage relationship changes.  Parents age and pass away.  Children grow up, get married, have children, and move away.  Health issues arise that will never be completely resolved.  Financial pressures, retirement (if possible) looms, and a sense of purposelessness sets in.  Survival is about the only thing that motivates the aging adult.  Along life’s path, I have met two types of aging people.  There are those who can find joy no matter their circumstances, and there are those who are constantly complaining and can never have a happy day.  It is the rare person who can find the balance between the two.  One wonders why that is.

Perhaps it lies in how we choose to respond.  Solomon says that joy is a result of a wise tongue.  An answer is nothing more than a verbal response to a question or situation.  Solomon is not suggesting that reality cannot play a part.  We have hard days.  No one is suggesting that in the battle of your mind you have to be naïve toward the unfortunate.  No one is saying that if the sky falls, you have to hold your arms out and wish for it to crush you.  There needs to be some thought.  There needs to be some consideration.  One has to understand his or her circumstances to the best of one’s ability.  We need to know the choices that we face.  We need to know what might be or what might not be.  We cannot go through life with blinders on just because we want to be happy.  That is not what Solomon is suggesting.  Rather, our response to all that we see or know is the source of our joy.  We can either verbalize the obvious and bring ourselves and others down, or we can know the obvious and choose to react with joy.  In spite of it all, we can respond with a positive outlook because we have heaven as our home and the Father as our unchanging relationship.  We can choose to either become a victim of life or a victor over it.  The choice is ours.  Response is everything.

Soundly Defeating Envy

“A sound heart [is] the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.” (Pr 14:30 AV)

Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines envy as, “To feel uneasiness, mortification or discontent, at the sight of superior excellence, reputation or happiness enjoyed by another; to repine at another's prosperity; to fret or grieve one's self at the real or supposed superiority of another, and to hate him on that account.”  Envy is the resentment over what others have which is lacking in the life of the envious.  Envy does not stop at lust.  Envy goes further.  Envy becomes personal.  Envy strikes at the blessed because the envious deem it unfair, unjust, or simply bad luck that the blessed prosper.  Envy is also delusional.  All it can see is the surface.  It cannot see what is beneath it.  What seems like a blessing may not be as it seems.  Envy is also distorted.  It cannot see what one has.  Only what one does not have.  The cure is a soundness of heart.  The definition of ‘sound’ here means healthy.  A healthy heart is the joy of the flesh and not attaining what the envious desires.  The problem with envy is that it is never satisfied.  Even if it attains what another has, the eyes shift onto something else.  The cure for envy is faith and contentment.  Believing God has granted the best for the soul and being content regardless of what others have is the life of the flesh.

Have you ever seen two toddlers play with the same set of toys?  Eventually, one wants what the other has.  What is fascinating is when one rejects a toy because they are bored and then sees the other gleefully playing with it, he wants it back.  What he cannot see is the attitude toward the toy and not the toy itself.  He cannot see that his rival is content with it.  It wouldn’t matter what toy the second had.  He would be content with it.  This doesn’t compute with the envious toddler.  I was sitting with my grandchildren as they were playing with various sets of toys.  One set was a foodservice set.  It had many plastic, toy restaurant-themed objects.  The first child had moved on to something else.  After about fifteen minutes another child was using one of those foodservice toys completely differently.  The first child would have none of that.  It didn’t matter that she was done playing with it.  Rather, she was more concerned that her sibling found a unique way in which to apply that toy, and she was not happy.

Envy is not a comfortable state of mind.  Envy is not peaceful.  Envy will tear a soul to pieces.  It often ends in choices of self-destruction.  Envy strives to attain what it should not have.  It doesn’t matter if damage ensues along the way.  What the envious wants, it has to have.  An over-charged bank account.  Misplaced priorities resulting in a broken home.  A sour disposition in life that eats away at the soul.  They are all a result of unconfessed envy.  The saint needs to be on guard for this.  He or she needs to realize that God loves them and knows what is best for them.  It doesn’t matter what others have.  It doesn’t matter that we think we lack.  The truth is that we have exactly what God knows is best for us.  Nothing less.  Nothing more.  Believing and trusting are the answer.

Looking For The Promises

“But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.” (Jer 30:9 AV)

The specifics of this verse are understood in different ways.  Some take David to be literally David.  Some teach that as Christ rules the entire world during His 1,000-year reign, David will rule Israel once again.  Others take David to be the house of David as represented by Jesus Christ.  Either way works.  What is important for this morning’s consideration is the whole promise of the resurrection.  In particular, the resurrection of the house of David.  The promise of the resurrection of the king of Israel is important here.  It implies that the king of Israel must die.  Otherwise, there would be no resurrection.  The sign of the resurrection is perhaps the most important of all signs given to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the fulfillment of the promise made to David.  The resurrection from the dead is the ultimate of all miracles.  If Jesus can raise from the dead, then He must be God.  This was Paul’s argument.  He made that argument soundly!  That we serve a risen Savior is the greatest of all miracles that mankind has, or ever will, witness!

Sometimes, when I read of a prophecy concerning Jesus Christ, I wonder how the Jewish nation missed it.  However, we have the luxury of hindsight.  It would have taken a tremendous amount of faith to believe all the signs that were given to them.  Sometimes we are a bit too hard on those who rejected Christ, thinking we might have done differently.  Perhaps not.  We have the completed Bible.  We have secular historians who verify the events of the life of Jesus.  They did not.  The resurrection was one event that is not faithfully recorded in independent and secular sources.  And for good reason.  If they were to document the resurrection as a verifiable event, they would have had to witness it.  To support the report of many who testified of it would be to invite the end of the Roman empire.  This happened anyway.  From their perspective, there was great risk by recording the resurrection as fact if they were not amiable to the gospel.

The promise above is a promise not to be understated.  The Old Testament is filled with promises and prophecies much like the one above.  It is not a direct statement regarding the resurrection of the Messiah, but rather, strongly implied.  The promise is applied by extrapolation.  If the House of David is to rise, that must include the Messiah.  Reason would have ended where the prophecy directed.  So, what does that mean for the N.T. saint?  We know the end from the beginning.  We can see the promise above and see when it was fulfilled.  What hope does that have for us?  Namely this.  There are still promises yet to be fulfilled.  Many of them apply to the saints and the church.  What we can do is pray and ask the Holy Spirit to open our spiritual eyes to the things yet to come.  We have promises that we can hang our hats on.  We have hope of things not yet seen.  We know what we know, and what we don’t know as yet cannot be comprehended until we see it.  Therefore, what is not known can be a comfort to us.  We have the same promise of resurrection.  Let us be reminded of a truth spoken of in both the Old and New Testaments.  “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1Co 2:9 AV)

Tending to the Lighthouse

“The righteous [is] more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.” (Pr 12:26 AV)

This proverb reveals how difficult it is to live right when surrounded by the wicked.  This is exactly what Solomon is teaching.  The righteous are more righteous than those among whom he dwells.  Yet the way of those who surround him can tempt him to evil.  The righteous are a light to the world.  They live and stand as a beacon to God’s righteousness.  There is a constant assault on their resolve to live according to God’s law.  The point is that being righteous among the wicked isn’t enough.  There must be a defense against the wicked and a striving for righteousness.  Standing alone doesn’t cut it.  According to Soloman, merely being righteous will not withstand the temptations from the wicked.  One must do more.

We were watching a video on unique houses for sale.  One was a lighthouse that was two-and-a half miles off the coast of North Carolina.  It was completely renovated.  I think it was somewhere around 1500 square feet of living space.  The only way to get to it would be by boat.  Once moored to the house, the occupant has to climb a ladder to get to the deck of the living space.  It sure would be a fun place to live.  However, the thought that came to my mind is the effort required to maintain a lighthouse that far off from shore.  Everything has to be brought by boat.  Every brick, every sack of concrete, every tube of sealant; everything.  If one had to make an emergency repair, there would have to be a stock of spare parts, or there would be a problem.  If there weren’t constant inspection and repair, the house would succumb to the constant battering of the sea.  There has to be attention, hard work, and a constant eye for what could cause harm for this lighthouse to remain standing.

The same is true for the believer.  We are an extreme minority.  Although none of us can claim complete holiness, we are more like Christ than the day He saved us.  We are walking in the righteousness of Christ the best we can.  What we cannot do is rely solely on our standing before God to guarantee practical holiness.  We have the righteousness of Christ.  Yet we are surrounded by the wicked every day.  There must be examination through the word of God.  There must be prayer for the conviction and instruction of the Holy Spirit.  There must be study, memorization, and application.  Staying in the righteousness of Christ while on our pilgrimage of this life is not a given.  We cannot simply state that since we are a child of God, then sin has no more dominion over us.  That is certainly not what Paul teaches in Romans chapter seven.  The storm surge of evil hits us every day.  How well we prepared against it will tell the story of whether we stand or fall.

Turning Down the Bed

“The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.” (Ps 41:3 AV)

Many commentators mention that this psalm is most likely written by David during a time of physical illness.  There is none mentioned in scripture.  There is no mention of a battle wound either.  The only time we see David on a sickbed is when he is very old and in need of a nurse.  I have to admit, it kind of reads that way.  However, if we remain in context, the languishing is caused by the presence of overwhelming enemies.  In verse four, David seeks a healing of the soul.  Not the body.  He confesses his own sin and then seeks health for his soul.  Regardless of physical, spiritual, or emotional illness, it is God that will make the bed of sickness.  But what does that mean?

To ‘make’ all his bed means to overturn.  We have a phrase.  When fixing a bed for someone, we would call it turning down the bed or turning down the sheets.  The one preparing the bed for another would often make the bed perfectly and whole and then turn down the sheets from one corner to the center.  In doing a bit of research, turning down the bed is an unnecessary task done today.  In days gone by, the servants of a wealthy household would turn down the sheets for their employers.  The custom still exists today.  In some exclusive hotels, the service is offered.  But the turning down of a bed had a more practical application.  In days before central heating, it was not uncommon to supplement heat in a bed by the use of an bed pan or coal pan.  They would take an all-metal pan with a metal lid, place embers from the fireplace within, and slide the pan under the mattress.  Turning down the bed meant a source of heat was placed under the bed.  That way, the owner of the bed would know that a source of heat was placed under the bed if the sheets were turned down so a pan could be slid underneath.  Thus, turning down the bed, or making the bed, meant placing a source of comfort for the one who would sleep there.

What David is showing is that in times of deep distress, God adds comfort so that we might recover.  In particular, when nighttime becomes a time of languishing, God will make up the bed and add comfort for our rest.  Nighttime is not an easy time.  The mind races.  The heart is anxious.  Activity for the day is all done.  There is nothing more that can occupy our thoughts.  So the nighttime is a perfect time to languish.  When someone is in the hospital recovering from illness or surgery, it is the nighttime in which they most frequently struggle.  It is nighttime when moaning and crying out are loudest.  In the daytime, when the light comes through the windows, the mind can be occupied by the sights and sounds of the room.  But once the lights go out, all the patient has to occupy himself with is the pain or discomfort he feels.  This is why God must make up the bed.  He must be our comfort in the stillness of the twilight hours.  When the crickets are louder than conversation, or the shadows distort reality, it is the warmth of God’s presence, manifested by a turned-down bed that medicates the heart.

Remade

“Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make [it].” (Jer 18:3-4 AV)

I know this passage refers to the reconciliation of Israel to Jehovah God at the start of the millennial reign of Christ.  But it is a good picture of what happens to the believer upon receiving Christ as Savior.  We do have to be careful here in that we don’t over-apply the details.  God made everything and called it good.  It was because of man’s sin that the clay is marred.  From Cain and Abel to every person created, we were made in the image of God and in the image of Adam.  We have a nature to sin which we inherited from Adam.  This does not suggest God is accountable for our wickedness.  Or, putting it another way, that we are marred.  We are sinners by nature and by choice.  The LORD may have made us with the capacity to choose sin, but we are the ones who choose it.  Because of our human nature, we are flawed.  We are a lump of clay on the Potter’s wheel that is flawed by default.  Yet the Potter who created a flawed lump of clay can reform it unto perfection.  In short, what we once were we no longer are.  The Potter makes what is bad into something that is good.

Watching a potter is fascinating.  Many years ago, I would watch pottery classes from afar.  During the summer, our city had day camps for children.  I attended one as a student, but then as a worker.  It was held at a large recreation center.  The center had an ice rink, tennis courts, and extensive fields.  At the top of the property was a repurposed playhouse.  That was what we called a building that was used as a small theater for live plays.  On the bottom floor, there were several studios.  There was one for painting.  Another for yarn work.  Then there was the pottery studio.  It was on the backside of the building and on the first floor.  So, a few summer afternoons would find me sitting under a locust tree and watching the potters work their clay projects.  I was fascinated by how they manually turned their table.  It was more than interesting how they spun the clay and shaped it with their fingers and added water to keep the clay pliable.  Every once is a while the potter didn’t like the results so he or she would reduce the project to a lump and begin anew.  It was intriguing how the potter could take a clay project that had succumbed to kinetic energy and became disfigured and reshape it into a masterpiece.  The potter may have had to restart a few times, but in the end it was a piece worthy of display.

God doesn’t have to restart us more than once.  When Jesus is our Savior and the Holy Spirit resides within, the project is well on its way to perfection.  The old lump is transformed.  The old project no longer exists.  The touch of the Master Potter reshapes the clay into something beyond comprehension.  The Bible promises us that we will be like Christ.  We will be transformed into His holy image.  We may not possess the physical attributes of our Savior, but we will possess His moral attributes.  We will be a mirror image of our Savior, perfect and without sin!  When the lump is thrown back on the table and spun once again, what comes forth will not resemble what once was.  Praise the LORD that you and I are not the same lump, nor will we be ever again!