“Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.” (Ps 129:2 AV)
That‘s the spirit! Never say ‘die’. The LORD has a theme going on here. Yesterday, the LORD promised to keep our feet from slipping. Today, we see the Psalmist's resolve played out over a lifetime. He may have lost some battles, but he has not lost the war! He won’t let himself lose the war! The writer knows how weak and frail he is. He knows the adversary is mightier than he. He knows the adversary is relentless and will not cease to attack as long as he has breath in his lungs. He knows the war is life-long. At times, it is tolerable and can be overcome with little effort. However, most of the time, the battle is more than he can bear. What he will not do is to allow the enemy to win the war. He will take a blow or two. He will suffer loss. But he will not allow the enemy the satisfaction of beating him. Not in the least. He has God on his side! Sometimes, he doesn’t lean on the LORD as he should. Sometimes the desires of the flesh get the better of him. He brushes himself off. He polishes the armor. He picks up the sword of the word of God. And, he recommits to the war. He may get knocked down. He may even suffer serious injury. But he will stand in the power of God’s might as long as he walks this earth!
The measure of our resolve is measured by what it takes to keep us down. Because of where my son and his family live, they keep a German shepherd as a guard dog. This dog protects the family from all sorts of threats. Human threats are the most serious. They also have natural threats from wildlife that would normally bring serious hurt to anyone confronted by it. He sent me a clip of his faithful dog fighting off one such threat. He was fighting off a rather large lizard. Normally, lizards are not all that serious. Very few are poisonous. But lizards tend to carry very serious bacteria in their mouths. If bitten by one, illness and death can follow. Not from a venom, but from the deadly bacteria that live in its mouth. My grandchildren would not know this. Not unless they have been trained. Even so, they are still very little and may not understand that it is better to leave wildlife undisturbed rather than to interact with it. Anyway, this dog was trying to chase this lizard out of the backyard. It was a herculean task because the lizard could not find any break in the fence through which it could escape. The exchange between these two animals went on for quite some time. The dog would pin the lizard against the fence and it would lash out at the dog. At one moment in the clip, you could see the lizard panting for air. It got really tired. That is when my son called off the dog and allowed the lizard to casually saunter off to safety. That lizard took a bit or two. It was injured. But it was never going to turn tail and run. It would face that dog until one of them was dead.
We need that same resolve! When it comes to the challenges and battles of life, turning tail and running may cause more harm than good. Flight is not always the best option. Perhaps it is for a first encounter. If the threat persists, a fight is the right response. The thing is, God is our strength. He is our mighty tower. We do not have to fight these fights alone. We can go to Him when the adversary is clearly too large for us to handle. We can run to His shadow. We can call upon our Champion to stand before the adversary! We can claim the blood of Christ as our defense. There is no reason to cower before the enemy. There is no reason to give up hope. There is no reason to tap out. God is on our side and no matter what, we will win the war no matter how many battles we might lose along the way.
Amen!
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