When
I was a teenager in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, fifteen or sixteen years old, I
was excited to receive a copy of a book called This Present Darkness, by
Frank E. Peretti. This Christian novel was a great fad at the time,
having sold a couple million copies. I would venture that it did much to
ignite the Christian fiction rage that lasted many years. It is about a
Christian pastor, Hank Busche, who faithfully prays that God would bring
revival to a college town that is mired in corruption and New Age cult
practices. He endures a great deal of opposition from those in power, who
go so far as to have him falsely accused of rape. He is thrown in jail,
along with a local newspaper editor who is hunting down the same trail of
corruption from a journalistic angle. Peretti shows that a great
spiritual battle between angelic and demonic forces over-arches the trials of
these two men--a battle for the eternal souls of the town's residents.
Although I still own the book (I'm a pack rat when it comes to
books), I have not read the novel since 1986. I have forgotten much of
it. Still, thinking back on it thirty years later, I have an odd feeling
of doubt whether I would agree with one-hundred percent of the theological
ideas in the book. I can say this, however: the book presented the idea
that important battles are being waged in the heavenlies when we Christians
face our daily struggles. I am very much on-board with that truth, as the
Bible itself teaches it. The book quotes Ephesians 6:12 at the very
beginning: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against
the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
My
mind is drawn, now, to the story in 2 Kings 6, when the prophet Elisha was
being hunted by the king of Aram. The prophet kept informing the king of
Israel about the intended movements of their enemies, the Arameans, having been
told of them by the LORD. The Aramean king learned it was because the
prophet Elisha was passing along the intelligence from God, and Israel's
enemies knew they could make no headway while the prophet lived. The king sent
out spies, discovered the prophet's whereabouts, and dispatched an entire army
and cavalry to deal with him. Talk about overkill! As the armed
force approached, Elisha's servant was the first to spot them. He knew
why they had come, and he freaked out. Panicked, he scrambled to Elisha and
said, "Oh, no, my lord! What shall we do?" Verses 16-17 show us
an Elisha who was far from panicked--if anything, he was nonchalant.
16 “Don't be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Elisha understood that the battles he saw before him were but
visible shadows of the true war taking place in the heavenlies--a war that was
quite one-sided in God's favor. Living on his faith that the battle is
the LORD's, he led the blinded Arameans into Israel's clutches, and went home
in safety with his servant.
We can read the stories of the prophets with admiration, wistfully
thinking that such a thing would never apply to us. We, after all, are
not being dispatched to confront evil despots, bravely telling them off on
God's behalf. We're just normal people trying to get by. Our
struggles and griefs are commonplace--there is nothing heroic about them. So
the stories of miraculous, divine deliverance don't cover us as we strive to
make ends meet and love our families.
...And
just as we conclude this, we show that we are kindred spirits with Elisha's
servant. It didn't occur to him that there was more going on than met his
eye. He thought his number was up, that he was far too unimportant for
God to move on his behalf. Though Elisha was the big, important prophet,
however, it didn't dawn on the servant that he was just as loved and precious
to the LORD as Elisha was. Furthermore, the LORD was revealing and
glorifying Himself to the servant as much as to the master. His soul, his
relationship with God, and his preparation for being a royal son in the Kingdom
of God was just as important as the great events being unfolded
between Elisha, Israel and Aram. The servant was inferior to Elisha only
in the sense that his thinking was too small. In the LORD's eyes, no
one's life story is of lesser importance. He intends to bestow victory
upon each of His children alike, and to magnify His own name in the process.
As
I write these words, my heart is with several of my brothers and sisters in
Christ who have recently faced big battles and endured great losses.
They've been stunned, hurt, and bewildered by these unforeseen griefs.
These dear ones are important to me (as are you), and so I have been
saddened and mystified as I have stood with them. Why have some of these things
happened to such lovely people? These people are family--they have
influenced us all with lives of faith, loving and giving. Why them? In one
sense, my answer is the same as yours: I just don't know. We are mortal,
and our viewpoint is all too limited. Pain has the effect of limiting our
vision yet further. We can't see the wider purposes afoot. We are
hard put to see God moving. We feel alone. We only see that we
hurt, and we don't see why it is happening.
Let me tell you what I do know.
-
I know that while pain makes a person feel isolated, that is
just a feeling. Don't trust it. We have a Redeemer who
experienced the full weight of human trials, and therefore who understands
and identifies with us in our hurt. He stands by our side, and
offers us the strength that He used to triumph over His own ordeals.
- I
know that you are a child of God, equally cherished as any of the
"celebrity" Christians who are more visible and seem to be
making the "heroic" efforts of faith. God does not see
things to the same scale as we do. Remember first/last, last/first?
- I
know that your trial, your pain, is just as important to the Lord as
anyone else's, because He wants you to enjoy his eternal kingdom as much
as every other person. Because of this, I know that placed in God's
hands, your trial can result in your victory and God's glory, just the
trial of Elisha and His servant.
-
I know that as real as your struggle seems right now, it is
but a shadow of the true war being waged in the heavenly realm. The
Adversary, the devil, wants to destroy your joy, your faith, and your
sense of closeness to God. Satan wants you to be a hollowed-out,
pain-wracked, shell of who God created you to become. Remember, your
struggle is not with flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms.
-
I also know that the outcome of your battle is already
decided. The decisive victory against Satan has already been won, as
Christ tore away the bars of sin and death. In Jesus, you have
already won. The battle taking place in your own life is simply God
coming into full possession of a battlefield that He has already won.
Never
forget that.
