“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Ephesians 6:10 through 13
It’s hard…
In this world of sin and wickedness, transgression and iniquity, it is hard sometimes to see the presence of God around us or to see His justice abiding with us. We hear about hostages who are taken, ripped from their homes and their families, from those whom they love so dearly. We read about the young girl gone missing, carried off by those who would use her body, use her flesh for nothing more than their pleasure, then casting her aside, dead, hollow inside, her years now spent, as if nothing more than a piece of used garbage. We see the stories of the captives murdered, their lives drained from their bodies, their crumpled forms now crumbled to the ground, littering the spiritual landscape of our souls.
We hear the stories, men and women, children taken, their lives destroyed, their innocence ripped from them, and we are left with this sick feeling, this gnawing feeling at the bottom of our stomach, wondering how a God of righteousness can allow for this to happen, how a God of mercy can let this persist.
It’s hard… it’s so very hard to see Him in all of this and we’re just left to wonder why and what for?
Yet here we must realize we live in a world governed by evil, where those who abide in spiritual wickedness and rule over darkness dwell, ready to cast all into the chaos of their creating. The know not the Lord nor do they live according to his righteousness, justice is nothing more than a word that is but the butt of a joke that they tell and they seek for themselves their own way, their own ambition, their own sense of self righteousness in a world they set ablaze in their own iniquity.
They let evil surround them and guide them, turning their eyes from the Lord and from their fellow man.
It is not therefore not just a physical struggle but a moral and spiritual struggle of the soul that is cast upon this world. A struggle that has dwelt amidst us since the first moment man sought to make man his slave. It is a struggle that has abided with us as Israel travelled into Egypt and found themselves under the slave master's whip, as the exiled children of God found themselves in the land of Nebuchadnezzar and throughout all ages, in all places and times.
We are engaged in not just a physical battle against those who would work their wicked ways throughout this world, but a spiritual one that seeks goodness and love for our fellow man that they may abide in freedom and liberty, far from the oppression and the tyranny that would hold their lives cheap.
This is why we are told in the word of the Lord that we are to put on the whole armor of God that we may stand against those who would inflict themselves on weak and the pained, the suffering and the sorrowful, those that would take prisoners and captives to advance their own unrighteousness. We are told to that we may abide in hope and faith for the moment and time of God’s justice and judgment that we may work his will on this earth and uplift and edify, seeking to strengthen our fellow man in the peace and the comfort of the Lord. We are told to that we may wage a spiritual battle in the name of the Lord that goodness and mercy, compassion and grace may follow our steps and that we ma, in all things be used as vessels of hope in a sinful world.
Lose not trust in the Lord but look to Him, even as hardship seems to afflict itself upon your soul, knowing that amidst these challenges that only the Lord God, the Father Almighty, can triumph over such wickedness and that He shall according to His will and time. Know that His justice is not far off and it will move through this world, working in it in all things through all things.
Remember always we have the Lord God of Israel with us… the Lord God of Israel who delivered His children from the hand of Pharaoh and who kept them throughout the Babylonian Captivity. We have the Lord God Almighty who sent unto this world His only begotten Son to ransom us from the power of sin, death and the Devil, that we shall no longer be beholden to the grave. The same God who sent Christ Jesus to lead captivity captive and who has abided with us throughout every day, every age, every generation, regardless of the struggle that was before us.
He is the same God yesterday, today and forever…
Trust therefore in Him and put on His whole armor of God that you may be able to stand up against the wicked forces in this world in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, working the will of our God throughout all the evil days for the love of Your fellow man.
Trust in therefore in him and know that, through it all He shall be there, never failing or forsaking His children, regardless of the trial and the struggle, or the hurt and the pain that seems to come so easily. He will be there in all things, through all things for the love and the compassion of His children.
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