Friday, February 8, 2013

Who has seen the wind?


Unto Thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my Defense, and the God of my mercy.  Psalm 59:17

David has very few kind words about his enemies, they belch out with their mouths and they make a noise like a dog, and he tells God that Thou shalt laugh at them.

And I do not want to pat weakly to one side his problems, because he truly battled real live flesh-and-blood men with swords in their lips, but I do not. 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.

When we lived at the ranch in Mexico, Food for the Hungry sent down a sort of hapless man named Steve who was supposed to try and manage Alan and his freewheeling ways, and it was a pretty awkward fit   But on some levels, upon reflection, he was a sincere sort of guy who actually didn’t complain too much when Alan housed him in a half-underground bunker at the front of the school with a burlap cot and perhaps a crate or two for his belongings.  And his roommates, whether they be college volunteers or Mexican well-diggers marveled every morning.  Because Steve, before he ducked out the door, would put on the full armor of God, invisible but very real.  The would stand by his bed, repeating these words of courage as he methodically went through the motions of fastening a belt about his waist.

Stand firm therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the Evil One; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

And really and truly these are indeed my weapons as I go out today, not to battle the early-morning Speedway traffic or surly PC computers moaning about doing graphic design, but as I battle the demons of fear, or unbelief or selfishness and catch the flaming lies of the Evil One, I do well to gird my loins with truth and be ready with the gospel of peace.   

And I totally realize that those old principalities and spiritual wickedness might seem pretty mundane compared to David’s belchers lying in wait for his soul, but I do not battle alone, and am so very much aware of the broad sweep of the Spirit reaching across the Tucson valley, across the country to lakeside Chicago and the newsrooms of New York City, and east over the oceans to the tents of Sudan, south to vibrant Guatemala City west to a five-star hotel in Shanghai, and north to an orchestra pit in Stockholm.  Every day I wield the Word of God in prayer and supplication.  And He is faithful.

But I will sing of Thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been our defense and refuge in the day of our trouble.

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