Opposition

Day two hundred seventy-eight

I prayed this morning with a heart full of gratitude for the gospel in my life.  At chruch yesterday I was deep in thought about the opposition that we face in life and what a blessing it is to have the gospel teachings that help us to resolve conflicts, to forgive one another, and to keep an eternal perspective. We are truly blessed! 

  

1 Kings 20

My thoughts from yesterday led me to some interesting scripture study.  I love it when the things that are on my mind coincide with the things I am learning about in the scriptures.  So today I write about opposition.

There are three main sources of opposition in our lives: the world (others), ourselves, and Satan.  It is a constant battle against these three forces. It is important to understand that Satan is the chief enemy, but he will use the world to entice and tempt us. 

Two of these forces we really can’t do anything about. We live in the world, and until Jesus comes back Satan is always going to be an issue for us. However, we can do something about controlling ourselves.

As we catch up with Ahab in chapter 20 we will see all three forces at work.  These were treacherous times for the people of Israel. Their king, Ahab, had been guilty of leading the people to worship Baal, instead of Jehovah. As a result, wickedness filled the land of Israel and they were headed on a collision course with the judgment of God.

Satan

What is the source of idol worship? 

"Behold Satan hath come among the children of men, and tempteth them to worship him; and men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish, and are shut out from the presence of God." (Moses 6:49)

Is idol worship a problem today? You bet it is!  Satan does not give up and he uses the tools that work.  In an article titled, "Refusing to Worship Today's Idols" Dennis Leary stated:

"The shapes of the idols may have changed since the days of Moses, but the basic principle—allegiance to God above all else—is still the commandment."

Battle Plan 

When we are spiritually minded, we are hard for the devil to handle. When we are walking around with the love of God in our soul and glory in our hearts, we are a force to be reckoned with. It is hard for Satan to defeat an excited Christian! Maybe that is why Nehemiah said "the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Neh. 8:10).

This situation makes me think of Job. When Satan puts the squeeze on Job he is expecting Job to turn on God. However, all that Satan was able to extract from the life of Job was worship and praise (Job 1:6-22). If Satan squeezes you and all he gets is praise to God for his efforts, he is likely to stop squeezing after a while!

The World (Others)

Enter King Ben-hadad of Syria who is growing as a regional power. He links himself with 32 other kings in the region and decides to flex his muscles against Israel.  Notice what Ben-hadad is demanding of Israel:  He wants their silver, their gold, their children and their wives – whatever is precious (v 6).

It maybe that some of us will encounter people in our life that will literally steal from us, but ALL of us will face the challenge of keeping our priorities straight in a world that tells us that our priorities are wrong to begin with!  It is a tricky place to be in, because it doesn't usually happen all at once, but over a period of time.  We start to desire money, prestige, whatever the world has to offer us, over our families, friends, and even God.

Battle Plan

The Syrians make a dangerous assumption concerning the God of the Israelites. Since they were defeated in the first battle on the hills surrounding Samaria, they assume that the Israelite God is a mountain God only. Their strategy is to get the Israelites to fight in the valley, where they think they will easily defeat them.

There was only one problem with the Syrian's assumption concerning God: God was greater than they thought He was! He sends his prophet to tell Ahab that God is going to prove Himself to be God of the valley as well as God of the mountain. He assures His people of victory!

It doesn't matter how many of the worldly people try to influence us, our greatest ally is God and with Him all things are possible.  His love is a greater power than anything the world can throw at us.  God wants to demonstrate to His people that He is God in every stage of life. He wants to be able to demonstrate His power in our lives. He wants to show us that He is still God. That is why the Bible is literally filled with promises that teach us that God is in control (Rom. 8:28; 1 Cor. 15:57; 2 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:17).

The best plan for us is to keep the Lord in our lives and to allow Him to help us fight our battles.

Ourselves

Now, just because God is willing to help us fight our battles it does not mean that we are to sit back and watch. We have to be involved in the process too.  Notice that Ahab is going to have to be involved in the process of victory. He is the one who is going to have to call forth the army and appoint the young men who will go out (vs 14). The same is true for us!

So God did exactly what He promised and Israel was victorious.  After the victory the prophet comes to Ahab and gives him some very wise counsel:

"And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee." (v 22)

This is a good thing for us to remember: we need to be constantly strengthening ourselves.  Some people are always looking for someone else to strengthen them, but they need to learn that to have lasting effects they need to learn to do it on their own.

Battle Plan

I think these are extremely important points.  There are people who say they have asked the Lord to help them with their struggles, but aren't following through on their part.  Let me give you some examples:

An alcoholic who asks God to help him overcome his addiction, but doesn't remove the alcohol from his home.

A pron addict who doesn't unplug the computer or get rid of cable.

A person who is in deep debt, but doesn't change their spending habits.

God is waiting for us to do what we need to do.  He is ready to move in and bring us the victory, but too often He is waiting for us to take the first step!

There are also people that will work hard to get through their struggles only to become complacent later and return to their previous actions.  A victory is not a time to get lazy!

Final Thoughts

Genuine spiritual victory is never a matter of that which we are facing in life. Genuine spiritual victory is simple faith in the promises of God. We are victorious, not because everything is perfect in our life, but because we have allowed God to work in our life. Therefore, regardless of the situation, we can find rest in the promise of God. There is a great saying that fits this discussion:

"The battle may rage around me, but it does not have to rage within me! "

We can choose to control how we react to the opposition in our lives.  The Lord has given us a perfect battle plan, we just have to do our part and He will take care of the rest!  Peace in the midst of war, what an awesome blessing!