(Audio)
The last line from yesterday's reading from Hebrews was:
"Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience" (see Hebrews 4:11)
Israel was concerned about falling by the sword if they trusted in the Lord's promise and entered the land of Canaan. But it was precisely this lack of trust that put them at risk.
"Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you" (see Numbers 14:42-43).
It is this lack of faith in the promise of God about which the author of the letter to the Hebrews warns us. If we believe and align our lives with God's word it becomes a weapon that helps us to overcome the challenges of our lives. Rather than destroying us, it prunes us (see John 15:2), and helps us to grow.
"In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication" (see Ephesians 6:16-18).
"Jesus himself is the Word of God. He himself is the one of whom Isaiah prophesied, "[h]e made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away"" (see Isaiah 49:2).
Jesus said that whoever was not with him was against him (see Matthew 12:30). One thing this means is that whoever refuses to wield the sword of the Spirit through obstinate unbelief may fall by the sword. But even to have the sword turned against us in this case is not so dire as it was for the generation of the Exodus. The word of God is sharp, but it is so in order to reveal and to penetrate, like the scalpel in the hands of a surgeon.
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
There is a sense in which we all still need the surgery that the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, performs on sin sick hearts. We all need to fall in this sense in order to rise again. But the goal of this surgery is health, making us warriors who can wield the sword ourselves, speaking the word into the areas of our own lives where we lack hope, or areas where victory seems distant or impossible.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
May the Lord cut away the parts of us that doubt, that grumble, that insist on our feelings that the journey is too long or too hard. He can do this by the power of his word. May he show us the way to use this same word to speak again our own doubts, fears, and uncertainties. May he teach us to use it even against the strongholds that keep many around us hostage to the evil one.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
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