Week 2 Tuesday

No Child’s Play

Today’s scripture selection: Joshua 6-10

Key verses: Joshua 10:14

     When I was a kid, like many young boys, I liked to play at war.  I went through the classic “Cowboys and Indians” phase; the “Batman verses the Joker” phase; the “Spaceman verses the dreaded alien from Mars” phase.  I remember being particularly enamored with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  This was no mere phase – this was full blown obsession.  So much so, that my clever older brother was able to convince me to serve him (a knight) for quite some time, while I was in my “training” as a squire.  I was a gullible little guy in those days.  Still, I was enamored with those images of knights clad in armor; their swords courageously drawn and their banners flying high at the end of their lances.  No dragon or foreign enemy could match the noble and brave hearts of King Arthur’s men – we were a very select bunch.

     When I, like the apostle Paul, became a man and “put away childish things,” I came to understand that war was not so glamorous.  I was growing up in a time of political assassinations and riots in the street.  And when my family gathered to watch Walter Cronkite at night – we watched the images of “body bags” and coffins being unloaded from planes home from some god-forsaken place called Vietnam.  Battles were, and always have been, bloody and horrible things.

     So now, I can’t easily read the stories of conquest in the Old Testament.  The warfare that I see on those pages disturbs me and I don’t like thinking about entire cities being wiped out in the name of conquest, even a holy one.  I’m much more comfortable with images of Jesus as the good shepherd leading me by quiet and still waters.

     But, here’s a thought.  I think the point of describing the conquest of the Promised Land in all that horrible detail is this: a holy God was engaged against spiritual evil that was cosmic in proportion.  While some would say these scriptures merely reflect one nation’s rationalization of brutal conquest, I see something else.  I see holiness conquering evil; the Almighty putting to flight any mere petty foe who dares to usurp His kingdom for dark and selfish purposes.  In a world that still gives me daily glimpses of just how dark and real evil can be, there is comfort to be found in the promise that God will ultimately defeat anything and everything that is unholy and wicked.  And that gives me pause to think about what is unholy in my own life that needs vanquishing once and for all.

To coin an old phrase, “War is hell.”  It’s not child’s play.  It’s real and dark – and spiritual warfare is the most real of all.  The good news is – God wins.     

 

Prayer: Almighty God, thank you for fighting the spiritual battles I cannot fight.  Lead me in the conquest of holiness, not in self-righteousness, but in simple allegiance to what is good and right.  Vanquish from my heart any darkness that would dare stand in your way and work in my life.   AMEN.