For Us Or Against Us

Our world is tearing itself apart and we need help. Thankfully there is help to be had.

There are riots happening globally with anger and frustration fuelling the rage of people trying desperately to make a way forward.

At least I like to think that the motivation is to make a way forward but I am thoughtful that we won’t achieve this goal unless we adopt a new way of thinking and living.

Martin Luther King Jr. was approaching this when he said that that darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that, and truth be told, the light we need is the light of Jesus.  But to live in His light is not to simply add Him to our regular way of doing things.  No.  Living in the light of Jesus means learning to live in an entirely foreign way to what we are seeing take place globally.

As well meaning as it seems that one Race oppose another Race to overcome injustice, it betrays what the Light of heaven desires.  And that is not to say that that means that God doesn’t want people to stand for justice.  It just means that His way of doing justice requires that we adopt a whole new set of rules.

So what might that look like?

In the book of Joshua we read that God had brought His people to the city of Jericho to accomplish His plan of settling His people in a land inhabited by people who opposed God.  It would have been easy for Joshua, the leader of God’s people, to assume that God was going to be on their side as the fighting ensued.

That would make logical sense right?  If God led you to fight against another people group then obviously He is on your side!

But let’s see what actually happens...

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence...” (Joshua 5:13-14)

Joshua quickly learned that God was not on his side, God was on a side entirely His own!

God was not approaching this battle from the perspective of one people pitted against another people.  He was accomplishing His own mandate for His own purposes. And Joshua’s response is telling as this revelation unfolded.

It says that he knelt in reverent fear.  He didn’t redouble his efforts to overcome another people group that stood in opposition to him.  He paused and acknowledged Sovereign God.

Only light can cast out darkness, and Jesus is that Light that our world so desperately needs.

It’s time that we stop encouraging any race from fighting against another race.  And it’s time that we stop assuming that God is on our side.  God does not see “sides” like we do, He sees His good and righteous mandate of freedom and liberation for all human beings made in His image accomplished through His Son Jesus Christ.

God does not need us to fight His battles for Him.  What He desires is that we would pause, take a knee, not in solidarity with a particular color of people, but in reverent fear and respect for the King of Kings.

This is how we fight our battles.

On....our.....knees....

When we do this, the walls that divide us don’t stand a chance.

B