In the last few days so much stuff has happened in and around our squad. These are the things I know about and I’m sure there is more: car engine exploding, car accident and visit to the ER, friends in bad car accident, losing job, grandparents hurt or badly ill, relationship issues, about to lose health insurance, spiritually dry seasons, and other personal struggles (re)surfacing.
As two more of our squad mates posted some of these events last night, I couldn’t help but get pissed at the enemy. My first thought was: “What do you think you’re doing?” … It would be silly and naive to think that when we signed up for the race everything following that moment would be peaches and cream, however, you never really know what that journey is going to look like.
For a long time I had a misunderstanding of the Lord as our protector. Its something we all have to struggle with – the age old question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” … “How can God be good if he allows bad things to happen?”. I believed that God as my protector would be like a chilled out super hero…if something bad were about to happen, he would causally save the day like it was no big deal – ‘Just doin’ my job’ *cheesy wink*.
Or I thought that the chaos and evil were being used as a test/trial…if you can picture a cheesy game show host the scenario in my head looks something like that – ‘Alright folks! Today we are going to have some fun! Right now Julie is being put to the test and we are going to find out just how strong her faith really is! Stay tuned to find out what happens next!’ *cheesy wink*.
So what do we do with spiritual attack/warfare (whatever you want to call it)? Ive been the one to grind my teeth, play victim, accept it as stuff that just happens, wonder where God was in the middle of it. Ive been the one defeated, tired, hopelessly waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel…”Whenever you’re done testing me God” or “You can jump in at any time now and help me out”.
With where I am right now in my relationship with Papa I’ve found this to be true: spiritual attack is less about believing we will be saved from it and a whole lot more about our reaction in the mist of it. This thing called life isn’t a test or a trial run. If the finished work is true and the enemy indeed cannot touch us – isn’t it appropriate to laugh when he tries? The enemies inability to touch you doesnt mean that stuff won’t go south, it means that our eyes are so locked on Papa that we don’t care and that we stop living in reaction to the world around us.
There is a constant war going on- but The King has already won and it was NOT a competition. Our lives are influenced by the spiritual realm but its up to us to decide which side we allow to dominate. Its not about tallying up how many good vs. bad things happen to us- its about understanding the reality that Papa is a.m.a.z.i.ng. regardless of the events in our lives. If you are waiting for God to save the day then you’ve missed it – go back a few hundred years to when He hung on the cross and then decide if your day needs further saving. *Spoiler Alert: It doesnt.
What do you think would happen if every time the enemy went to touch us Papa got oceans of glory because we remained? What if the response to a dying family member was this : Thank you Jesus cause you are awesome!! … and we meant it. He does heal, He has saved us …so why not just enjoy lavishing love on him?
