With My Sword and My Bow

01.19.15

Genesis 48.21-22 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.” St. Israel to his son Joseph (ESV)

I think we need to give careful thought to the people in the Bible and to the times in which they lived. The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) lived tribally: they had to. They understood they needed to provide for themselves but also they understood they needed to defend themselves.

Typically, we understand Jacob (Israel) to be a herdsman, but when necessary, the herdsman was also a warrior. Abraham, likewise had 318 trained men in his company, and when Lot was abducted by a foreign army, Abraham and his men went and rescued Lot and all his possessions (See Genesis 14). These guys knew how to herd sheep and camels and cattle and they also knew how to defend themselves.

St. Paul made the statement: For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10.3-4) We are God’s children, but we are also warriors. If we think for a minute that we aren’t under attack in some spiritual assault of some kind, then we better think again. Life, amid all of its learning, pleasures, and experiences, is a place of intense battle and with our sword and our bow we must defend it.

Today, I consider where I am, and what I need to do. It is not a time for sitting back and relaxing – it’s an intense time for war. I must defend myself against the thoughts in my own head and the pull of society and culture that tend to distract me from what is truly important: the Kingdom of God and my place in it. The weapons of my warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds – sometimes the strongholds within my own thoughts.

Father in Heaven, the warrior is a child – a dependent child who often cannot see the difference between his right hand and his left. Ah, but You have called Your child to war against the things that dishonor You and distract him from his true calling in You. Strengthen Your child today to stand dependent and humble but to grasp the weapons of my warfare that I may take, and keep from the enemy, the things he would attempt to steal, kill, or destroy. Thank You God! Amen.