Weaponized

SCRIPTURE: No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:17 ESV

THOUGHT: We live in fearful times, at least that’s my read. The weapons are invisible, mere ideas, twisted and contorted into spears and bullets and bombs by people with quite normal-looking exteriors. Institutions with beautiful architecture, created to protect people and rights are weaponized against them. My point is an old one: you can’t judge a book by its cover, and in fact, whereas you can at least read a book, you can’t read people’s interiors. That’s Triune God territory.

I always marvel at what the disciple John tells us about Jesus: “But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man (John 2:24-25 ESV).”

We might wish evil people just looked evil, it would make our job easier. But that’s not the way it works, and I think there’s purpose in that too. God has said judgment and vengeance belong to him, and while we’re asked to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Mt. 10:16), our greatest job is to trust the mighty God who has promised no weapon fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. God says through Isaiah that this is our heritage as a servant of God: vindication from God himself, and that my friends, is a very powerful promise.

PRAYER: Oh God, your son said, “do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Help us to trust your promises and heritage as the arsenal of the world continues to grow.