Skip to main content

Besieged

Praise be to the LORD,  for he showed his wonderful love to me  when I was in a besieged city.  In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help (Psalm 31:21-22)

            I have never been in a city that is truly besieged. I know there are some cities around the world that are feeling besieged by groups like ISIS, by refugees, or by protestors. I have read a little about them. Generally, the cities begin the siege with the hope of being able to outlast their attackers. Food dwindles, garbage piles up, sewage overflows and fouls the water, disease spreads, prices soar, and eventually, residents have been known to eat their dead or even kill their own children in order to eat. Sometimes, those besieged cities have had the resources they needed to outlast those who are attacking them. Sometimes, something has happened that rids them of their enemies. Sometimes, they have been forced to surrender at last. 
            In America, we don't tend to think  these things are possible, and perhaps they aren't. I'm thankful for that. There have been times when I've felt spiritually, psychologically or intellectually besieged, surrounded by people who seem determined to force me to submit. The oppressors who besiege us in this non-physical manner may not even see themselves as aggressors, invaders or oppressors. They are sure that they are right. They are fighting for "justice" of some sort. Those who refuse to agree with them deserve to be ostracized, belittled, ridiculed and hated. When you are surrounded by "the world, the flesh and the devil," how do you continue to hope?
            The first suggestion is to follow the example of the psalmist: pray, even when you're panicking, pray.  Especially when you're panicking, pray. Understand that God has already heard your cry, and often has already answered through His Word. That's one reason why we need to be reading Scripture daily and memorizing passages. It's also why we need allies, who can come to our defense, or "airlift" in supplies like prayers or encouragement.


           

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more