All Saints Parish Church, Antrim
My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked opponents.
Psalm 92:11 NLT
Within our Christian context it is perhaps difficult to acknowledge our enemies. For we are constrained by Christ to love our enemies. Here in the UK we are also taught to conceal our real feelings. Social interactions can easily be built upon insincerity. After a while we lose our ability to distinguish between what’s genuine and what’s false.
Most often we personify the word ‘enemy’. I find that I react to another person and contest what they say and who they are. They annoy me and I respond. Yet my primary enemies, as far as my walk of faith is concerned, are not other people but the internal tormentors that seek to breach the walls of my confidence in God. This provides the traffic noise that continually rumbles through my thought life. It serves one purpose: to distract me from my first love for God and divert my energies.
In reality, all such tormentors have already known defeat through the redemptive work of Christ. Yet, awaiting the Lord’s return, or my own death, they contest every ounce of confidence I’ve chosen to place in God. They wilfully exploit every disappointment and anxiety. In such moments I lose sight of God and am lost within the storms of my vivid imaginings. Yet God was able to see beyond the horrors of Jesus’ crucifixion to the victory of redemption. So I must train my eyes to see beyond my immediate terrors and consider the complete and utter victory which is my true state. I need not succumb to their terrors but quietly affirm God’s complete victory and reaffirm my total trust in God’s provision. Not that I can avoid the many of the consequences of life’s reverses, but I can find hope in the darkest of skies and perceive the first glimmers of the dawn. I choose to await the daybreak that drives all the shadows of the night away.
Your real enemies are the thoughts that seek to undermine your confidence in God. Seek to see beyond the immediacy of your current reality.
QUESTION
Are you able to keep your eyes trained on God?
PRAYER
I will look beyond my immediate circumstances, and draw on you, Lord.
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