Remember Who Fights Our Battles

As my homeschooling journey is starting to draw to a close, I’m trying to decide how I am going to use this blog.  A Net in Time has always stood for where I am in that particular moment in time.  All the blogging pundits say if I want to make my blog marketable I need to specialize my blog.   And honestly, I can see the value in that. But if I go to a blog that normally chats about a particular topic that I like and they randomly delve into something else I have a choice… I can read that post and learn more about the blogger mostly, or I can say “meh, I’d rather not.”.   

So until I really figure out what I want to do, I’m just going to write here.   I still get a lot of traction on my OLD homeschooling blog so I might just transfer all my homeschooling stuff over to that blog (despite the annoyance that might be) and just leave this as my “Let’s see where I’m at in this moment in time” blog… I dunno.  I’m still figuring that out.  Bear with me eh? 

Getting on with things though….

Anyways, I’m wanting to be more accountable in my devotional life and writing things out benefits me. I figure if it benefits me, it just might benefit you as well.  Today’s passage comes from Isaiah 50:7-9 in ESV.

⁷ But the Lord God helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
⁸     He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
    Let him come near to me.
⁹ Behold, the Lord God helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.

Remember who fights our battles…

I read an article not that long ago where the illustration a person gave a Christian college student faced with a professor who disdained Christian values. She was told as part of the class if she espoused her faith values and presented them she would not do well in the class.  This was a class she needed to take so the understandable question was… what should she do?   The writer’s response was… being disliked for holding to our faith should be expected. This world is not our home.  We live in a battleground and if we don’t know it as believers, we should. We should actually rejoice (even though that seems hard to think eh) in the fact that we face trials.  For two reasons… one, it shows our faith in action.   And two, it shows God at work.  Perhaps not in ways expected, but still, it’s God at work. 

This passage in Isaiah reminds me of that.   Isaiah is clear.  The LORD GOD helps. And because he helps, even if it might seem like we are disgraced, we actually are not. Therefore we can stand firm. 

Consider that God stands with us.  He is the one who contends for us (in other words, he fights our battles for us).   And we know through the sacrifice of Jesus, that the battle has already been won. 

We can say these words with Isaiah “Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?“

I suppose we also need to remember.  If we stay under that challenge, can we be a witness… one perhaps not expected? 

Loving the Imagery

I love the imagery used here, don’t you?

Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.

I don’t know if you have ever seen a moth eaten garment.  They become quite thread-bare and full of holes.  Often times it seems like a wind will gust them away. 

We need to think of our opponents like this. To see their very frailty.  Especially when you consider who they are battling!  They aren’t fighting you.  They are fighting God himself, creator of the universe, the designer of all that is around us. It is a losing battle being fought, don’t you know?

Doesn’t mean it is easy.  

IT IS NOT. 

It’s not easy to go into a class and know that despite your best work you might not do well. The hardness that is real as a young person faces a teacher who disparages their faith at every opportunity.  Or to face colleagues who don’t get it, or judge you unfairly. Employers who might insist you need to work Sundays.  To be passed over, judged, or dismissed because of your faith. Political correctness taking a toll.  Governmental leaders who seem to listen to everyone except those of faith. How do you hold up to it?  

We must get on by remembering who is fighting those battles.

Seriously. It’s our greatest strength.   God himself.  Minding your back, minding mine, holding the load for us, so that all we have to do is stand.  That’s it.  We need to stand firm and let God manage the rest.   Keep it in your mind, Remember Who Fights Our Battles!