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THEME: FOUNDATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
By Rt. Rev Emmanuel Egbunu
Topic 4. Fighting Spiritual Battles God’s Way
Readings: Psalm 31; Isaiah 45:14-end; Acts 12:1-17a.
In our meditation today, we will focus on the readings for Evening Prayer of the third Sunday in Lent as shown above.
Spiritual warfare has never been alien to the experiences of the people of God. The physical battles that were fought in the Old Testament were the Lord’s battles fought by the people of God at God’s command. The outcome of the battles was always directly related to the existing spiritual condition of the people. God gave victory to those who feared Him, and brought defeat on those who disregarded, disobeyed, or rebelled against Him. When God’s covenant people – the Israelites sinned, it was God who gave them into the hands of the enemy nations (See Isaiah 10:12-19; Daniel 1:2). General Joshua, and King David, the warrior leaders of the nation of Israel, understood this principle early in their tenures. When Ai defeated Israel shortly after the celebrated victory over Jericho, Achan’s sin was the reason. When the ark was captured during the Priesthood of Eli with his promiscuous sons in charge, the reasons were clear. When King Saul was out of tune with God, it was God who handed him to the Philistines.
God loves to see His people turn to Him in every situation of aggression, danger, harassment or intimidation and to trust Him to fight on their behalf. When He spoke to Moses at the burning bush, He said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey-- the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them (Exodus 3:7-9).
The Lord invites His people to reach out to Him in their times of distress: “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me" (Psalm 50:15), and He actually condemns those who do otherwise: Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD (Isaiah 31:1).
Our Psalm for today, Psalm 31 is one of those Psalms that teaches us what to do in times of spiritual warfare. One cannot possibly miss the desperation in the tone of the Psalmist here as he takes refuge in the Lord. He prays, In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness (v1). A man who seeks refuge, and feels threatened with shame, praying to be delivered is a man who knows he is in danger. He pleads to be rescued, asking the Lord to be his fortress. He appears to be on the brink of hopelessness as he even contemplates the possibility of death in verses 4-5: Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.
Anyone who has faced hostility that degenerates into ambush and setting of traps (could include conspiracy to eliminate or at least humiliate) knows how accurately these words describe the feelings of spiritual warfare. And who could say it better than David who experienced such fears first hand! The words of the Psalmist also capture the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ as He faced the agonies of betrayal, denial, rejection, injustice, and violence to the point of crucifixion (see also Psalm 22). The words of verse 5 were actually His last words on the cross.
A number of times, Christians are called to walk the same road. Apostle Peter exhorts us in 1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He further writes in 1 Peter 4:12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. His experiences in Acts reveal varying degrees of spiritual warfare: at first it was the hostility of the Jewish religious leaders as they preached about the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus whom they insisted was the promised Messiah, the Christ of God. They were flogged, imprisoned, threatened, and many times humiliated. Their response was to pray: Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:29-30).
In our age of secularism and postmodernity with their complex ideas, often the spiritual warfare takes the form of castigation, victimization and slander for speaking the truth revealed in the Bible in a way that may be against popular opinion. We must press on.
Further on in Acts 12 (which is also one of the appointed passages for this week), Peter had been imprisoned and lined up for public trial and, possibly, execution, to impress the Jews. An important perspective about fighting spiritual battles in God’s way comes in verse 5: So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. It pleased the sovereign God to intervene in a miraculous way to disappoint the expectation of Herod and the Jews.
In spiritual warfare, the devil’s intention is for us to doubt the love of God. He did that with Adam and Eve; and he tried it with Job. In this Psalm, David affirms, “I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy, but have set my feet in a spacious place.” Similarly, while on the cross, the Lord Jesus could still use the words, “My God, my God” and “Father” with great trust and intimacy.
When Paul went through the terrible storm in the voyage to Rome, and much had been lost, he said, “Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me” (Acts 27:23-25). Towards the close of his life, though he said everyone deserted him at his first trial, he also said, “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth” (2 Timothy 4:16-17).
There is a beautiful contrast painted by the Psalmist in verses 13-14: For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." Even though there was trouble on every side, as in Jeremiah’s experience, David chose not to focus on the troubles, but on God. Choosing to focus on God, when there is conspiracy by men, takes much spiritual discipline. Let us see the example of Jesus in this regard. Once when he arrived at the home of Jairus, a disarming scenario confronted Him: While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?" Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe."
Isaiah offers hope when he proclaims God’s words: “I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain’” (Isaiah 45:19b). In the midst of turmoil and faithlessness, God speaks through Isaiah to His people again and again, “Listen to me” (See Isaiah 46:3,12; 48:12; 49:1; 51:1,4; 55:2). In spiritual warfare, the word of the Lord is our armour. When He says we should love the enemy and pray for those who despitefully use us, our welfare and safety lie in obeying the word of the Lord rather than our logic. Joshua was given a battle formula that sounded ridiculous (Joshua 1:8), but that was the only guarantee of success.
The Psalmist also teaches us the importance of praise in spiritual warfare. In verses 21-24, we see both his example and his counsel: Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city. In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” Praise silences the enemy (See Psalm 8:2).
Let us join in Martin Luther’s great hymn of faith:
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe—
His craft and pow’r are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not His equal.
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right man on our side,
The man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He—
Lord Sabaoth His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
Collect for Lent III
Almighty God,
Whose most dear son went not up to joy
but first suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.