It is easy to offer advice to people going through trying
times, just say a few words and “bam” you feel that you’ve done your
part and hope that they feel encouraged. Such an approach to the suffering of others
reminds me of what the half-brother of Jesus said in (James 2:15-16):
“If a brother
or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them,
“Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things
which are needed for the body, what does it profit?”
Am I saying that we really can’t help others until “we’ve
walked a mile in their shoes?” No, but the reality is that our words of
empathy, understanding and compassion can lack a certain authenticity – it is
often as the words of the bereaved state to the one who says “I know how you
feel” – “no, you don’t.”
The Lord has been working on me regarding this subject lately
and He used a well-known quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Rainy
Day” to start it off:
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all, INTO EACH LIFE SOME RAIN MUST FALL,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
Rain, as you may know, is sometimes a blessing and sometimes
a curse. So as to not keep what I mean veiled behind the word, by rain I mean
to point to the challenging moments in our lives that change our life’s
trajectory either permanently or for a season and which, if allowed, cause us to
lose track of our identity and purpose.
With regard to the rain, we don’t get to chose when it comes,
whether it drops from the clouds or it takes the form of an unwelcome diagnosis
or announcement; it comes as it pleases with the permission of the Lord and the
best any of us (especially those who trust in the Lord) can do in advance of
the rainy day or the storms of life is to remain focused on Jesus Christ and
the promises found in His word.
Well, as I said, the Lord has been dealing with me on the subject of dealing with the rainy days of life by taking me through my own and reminding me that the rainy days of life DO NOT have the last word; He used the following Biblical passages to bring me back to the right perspective:
When you want to give in to hopelessness, “Be STRONG in the Lord, in the power of His might!” Ephesians 6:10 (emphasis mine)
LEARN “to be content in whatever state you are in…” (Philippians 4:11)
ACCEPT adversity from God: “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10)
BELIEVE that: “God shall supply all your NEED according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
When you think you’re alone REMEMBER that “…He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Because the Lord IS with you, keep the faith: “Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” (Matthew 8:23–26)
The word of God contains multitudes more encouragement for those experiencing an extended season of difficulty. I offer these because it is easy to get caught in the rain (so to speak) and to become so overwhelmed and inwardly focused that we may fail to worship God for who He is; praise Him for what He is doing and serve Him in the work He has for us.
The rut of hopelessness and despair only gets deeper if we fail to recall to mind the Lord’s word and heed it when the rainy days come.
How did you dress this morning before you headed out the
door to begin your day?
Chances are that no matter what you wore, you dressed for the
circumstances and conditions you expected to face. If for an interview, you
dressed well; if it was cold outside you probably wore a coat, if it was
raining you probably wore a raincoat and carried an umbrella – whatever the circumstances
or conditions you most likely dressed accordingly.
But wait! Did you dress for the guy that cut you off on your
way to work? Did you dress for the bully who shoved you in the hall at school?
Did you dress for the co-worker who is constantly harassing you? Did you know
that as a follower of Christ, you’re supposed to dress for circumstances and
conditions like those too?
Let me put it to you another way; a soldier puts on battle gear
before heading onto the battlefield not once he gets there. Why? Because it
will most likely be too late once his or her boots hit the ground and they will
most likely suffer harm for being ill-prepared for the battle they were
entering into.
Christian, do you know that every day, no matter the weather
outside you are entering onto a battlefield? Take a look at the words which
Paul shared to a group of believers in Ephesus:
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:10–13, NKJV)
Everyday, we enter onto a field of battle. Our enemy is not the
one who just passed you on the road driving like a lunatic, it is not Shakira
and J-Lo baring all to the world during the Super-Bowl, it is not the bully who
shoved you or the parent who mocked you or the co-worker harassing you – your enemy
and mine is the devil and ‘the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly
places.” His methods, his scheming – his “wiles” and his
minions are working to get you off track with God, to ruin your testimony and
to trip you up before the very ones you were put here to reach in Jesus’ name. Often
the devil wins the daily skirmishes between he and us because we did not dress accordingly
for the day ahead. We went out in our own strength rather then the strength of
the Lord “and the power of HIS might” (v.1).
Like our enemy, our weapons are spiritual – we don’t fight the devil with guns, knives and so forth; the best Kevlar won’t protect you from Satan’s fiery darts; “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God…” (2 Corinthians 10:4, NKJV). I know that I go on about this a lot but its because the vast majority of Christians that I have met do not dress accordingly for the daily battle that awaits them (see Genesis 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8).
So, what are we to wear for this battle? Paul lists six items:
A belt (v.14a): “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth…” To the audience he was speaking to, such a belt would enable a person to gather up the garment they wore so that they could move about without restriction. For the Christian, this is integrity and faithfulness that equates with blamelessness in my mind. It is hard to stand for God and against the devil with hypocrisy and personal condemnation (see 1 John 3:20-21) in our hearts but remembering the promise of God and applying those promises to ourselves girds our waist with truth.
A breastplate (v.14b): “…having put on the breastplate of righteousness…” the (GK) word used here cannot mean justification in the sense of our salvation because we are not born again and again and again – believers are justified (set apart and delivered from the wrath of God) by faith (Romans 5:1) in the shed blood of Jesus (Romans 5:9) once and for all. For you and I, donning this breastplate is more about the daily consecration or setting of ourselves apart for God through sanctification or a personal commitment to doing the will of God.
A pair of cleats (v.15): “…and having shod
your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;” Roman
soldiers wore cleated shoes or shoes with spikes on the bottom of them to give
them a firmer footing in battle much like runners do on a cinder-track. To understand
the point of the cleats Paul is referring to here take a look at (Philippians
4:6-7):
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
How many of us enter the day worried about this or that? Peace and worry DO NOT go together and in the above verse we find a way to plant our feet deeply in the gospel of peace. We cannot strive for souls or defeat the schemes of the devil against us if doubt or fear control us; to be sure footed for the day ahead we must stand in the peace we have with God (see Isaiah 26:3).
A shield (v.16): “…above all, taking the
shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked one.” The (GK)
word thurĕŏs translated as “shield” literally points to its size – it was a “door
shaped,” body length shield. The phrase, “Above all”
in this verse is not to imply that this shield was the most important aspect of
our preparation but rather the one part that goes in front of all the other
pieces. While it is true that it is impossible to please God apart from faith
(Hebrews 11:6); it is also true and apparent here that only by faith in Christ
who goes before us and in His words will we be able to quench (by the power of
God) the darts of temptation flung at us by the wicked one, Such a faith puts God
between you and whatever the devil may throw at you.
A helmet (v.17a): “And take the helmet of
salvation…” The last two
items a Roman soldier would receive in preparation for some conflict would be his
helmet and his sword. Just as wearing a helmet in baseball or football instills
a certain level of confidence regarding head injury in the player on the field,
the helmet of salvation instills a sense of confidence in the believer as he enters
into another day. Paul referred to this
helmet in (1 Thessalonians 5:8) as “the hope of salvation,” literally
the confident expectation of future glorification in and with the Lord (see Romans
8:30).
A Sword (v.17b): “…and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God…” Every other piece of equipment named
in Paul’s list is defensive and meant to be the means by which you are
protected and prepared for spiritual battle but the sword is an offensive
weapon. Defined as the word of God, we know that this weapon is super sharp (Hebrews
4:12) and because it is “a discerner of the thought and intents of the
heart” it cuts deep and gets to the heart of every matter. That it is “of
the Spirit” of God implies spiritual power over the direct assaults of
Satan but how is it to be carried? It is my belief that in order for the Spirit
to use the word through a person, that person MUST be immersed in the word. The
word of God is not merely to be carried beside us but is to be memorized and
stored within us; then and only then upon the assault of Satan in our lives can
the Spirit call to our memory and bring to utterance in and through us the
words which will silence him or cause him to flee.
Finally, constant “prayer” and “watchfulness…for all the saints” (v.18) is called for by the apostle. On the battlefield, soldiers have each other’s backs, so to speak; they watch out for one another and are ready to defend one another along with their position – they would be worthless to one another if they were not fully equipped and prepared. When we pray, we speak to Him who knows all things, asking Him to watch over, guide and equip us as Paul has described for the various battles we will face every day. Praying not only to be strengthened and empowered (see Ephesians 3: 16) by the Holy Spirit but also so that we would recognize both when the enemy is about to attack as well as when God would have us to speak, what he would have us to say and for boldness to declare it (see v.19-20).
My Christian friend, what circumstances and conditions are
you anticipating today? Be it rain, cold or scorching heat you will never be
adequately prepared for the day if you have not also planned and prepared for
the spiritual battle that is sure to come upon you today.
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