God of War

Our God has many faces. In the Old Testament the God of Israel is often remembered as the warrior God of the desert. The God of Israel made Egypt (arguably the most powerful nation of the Ancient Near East at that time) look foolish when he rescued the Israelites. The God of Israel defended and provided support for Israel's people for forty years in the wilderness. The God of Israel sent Judges to lead the people in battle against their enemies, and crushed Israel's enemies again and again. Psalm 18:31-42 is David's turn to tell us how God gave David the agility and strength to over come all of David's enemies. When I look at verses like these from the Old Testament I sometimes wonder why doesn't God work that way today. The truth is God does, only the warriors are not men on a field, and the stakes are a lot higher than whether the faithful will own a given piece of land. Paul explains the war for us in Ephesians 6:12.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

With Psalm-like imagery Paul describes how we are to fight this war in  Ephesians 6:10-20. God is absolutely a God of war, but the war is not against men. God is not stretching his hand out to fight Muslims, Taliban, Afgan rebels, child molesters, or rapists. God is in all out war against the very forces which have brought sin into this world. God is working through us the same way He worked through David. God desires to heal the brokenness with people that causes them to think taking from another for personal gain is okay. It does not matter to God if that taking DVD you did not pay for, or the personal integrity of a woman or a child at the hands of a rapist or child molester. God is working through us to share the Gospel with those who do not know and do not care who God is or worse twist God's word as an excuse to take from others both here in the U.S. or abroad in places like Afganistan and Iraq. Make no mistake. Our God is a God of War, in some ways the ultimate God of war. God has already paid the ultimate price by sending His only Son to die for us while we were still not worthy. God is all in - are you? Are you ready to leave your old sinful life behind and to take up the armor of God?