Isaiah 54:17 “no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”
I’ve read this scripture many times, especially over the past few months. People have sent me this scripture to help encourage us. But on Monday while I was praying that Christian wouldn’t have to go to jail to stand for what he believes, I really started to wonder just what it means. Most people take it literally – that no physical harm can come to us because we are God’s children. But then when I read in John 16:33 it says “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” So, if Jesus says in this world we will have trouble and tribulation I take it that we may have physical harm, we will have hatred spewed against us and we will have times of deep pain. BUT there is no weapon that may be formed against us that can take eternity with Him away. We may suffer for a little while, but the reward is so much greater than any suffering we may face here. We can take great comfort when those weapons are being used against us that they won’t succeed in taking us out of the Father’s hands.
“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;” Ephesians 6:17
The weapons satan uses against us – his flaming darts – are many. Doubt, temptations, anger…like I said many. So I believe (my opinion!) that when we take up His shield, standing on His Word, we are able to withstand any weapon formed against us. This week we were able to withstand and avoid the temptations of self-righteousness in getting justice we think we deserve; anger that would take focus off of the One Christ that we are trying to be like; impatience; and worry. You do know worry is a sin, right? 🙂 We let this situation strengthen us and bring us closer to God rather than handle things in our own fleshly way. The many prayers for us also were answered with His protection around us. If we hadn’t decided to choose to act in a way pleasing to God, satan and his weapons could have won. God gives us free will, and everyday we have to choose whether we will serve Him or we will go our own way. We aren’t always successful in behaving as God would have us to, we are not perfect of ourselves, but these past few months have shown us for sure that when we choose to focus on God and not the problem, not the people causing the problems – there is a greater success than we can see with our eyes. And in greater ways than our minds can comprehend.
That’s my bible study to you today! The experiences we have in this life present you with a choice – get bitter or get better! I pray that through every situation God will help me to get better at serving Him!
His Grace For The Journey 