The Perfect Peace of Victory!

Numbers 21:1-3 and 34-35 - When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.  Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, "If you will indeed give this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their towns."  The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and handed over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their towns; so the place was called Hormah………

But the Lord said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him; for I have given him into your hand, with all his people, and all his land. You shall do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon."  So they killed him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left; and they took possession of his land.

 

The Israelites are close to the promised land of God…ready to move into a time of battle to overtake it and claim it for their own.  Everyone that listened to the spies say it was a bad choice to even try and defeat such giants…. has died in the time it took them to wander the 40 years of their punishment….except Moses...and Joshua…and Caleb.  So God allows a few of them to be captured…to motivate them to pray for his help.  And in a urgent prayer to God…they vow to destroy the peoples that stand in their way of his promise.

 

Maybe it was the loss of the loved ones they missed….maybe it was the routines of worship they had built over the last 40 years…maybe they remembered the great stories of battle from their parents and grandparents growing up…but something motivated them to cry out to God…and this time he agreed with them and listened. And he helped them to destroy the town that held their loved ones captive…and regain what they had lost.

 

Thus begins a trek across the last pieces of land that will bring them into the promised land…the land that God promised Abram. Battle after battle…town after town…God delivers them…and helps them defeat…everyone who stands in their way of traveling those last miles to their destination. Sweet victory after victory over all the enemies they meet along the way.

 

I hope I am not the only one who still battles every day.  Some battles are easy…like when Satan tries to get me to go straight to bed…and not read the Bible. God has somehow given me a thirst for his word…and I am so drawn to it that I have not missed reading at least one chapter every night for the last two years. I even somehow magically have time to write about it every day. But other battles are not so easy to win…like finding the time to pray…real fervent prayer….the motivation to do a better job at work without whining…and just getting out of bed to start the day today…I lost count on how many times I hit the snooze button this morning after 5 times.

 

But this story gives me such hope….such promise…that I can get it right …IF….I call out to him to help me.  I can win every battle from this moment on….break the chains that bind me to my loneliness…laugh and live on God’s joy in spite of all I have been through. Never fear about my life on Earth again!  I can find such strength in Jesus…that I can even motivate others to break the chains that bind them...to addictions of all kinds….to their hurts…..to the fears and pain that draw them to alcohol or drugs.

 

God offers me the same perfect peace he offered these Israelites…the same peace that helped him sleep in that Boat during that awful storm in Mark 4:38…..or the perfect peace Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah 26:3. …and the peace that gave the young David the courage to wait out the death of King Saul….and the peace that gave Jesus the courage and strength to die on the cross for me.   The peace that surpasses our understanding is but a prayer away…and just as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:7 …” And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

 

Oh father...I ask you this morning to do a work in me….even though you know how much work you have to do in my life to get me where you need me.  Forgive me for my selfishness once again…that has built a wall of complacency around my heart…and blinded my eyes and ears from hearing you over the roar of Satan in my world.  Bind Satan from me today so I can hear your soft …gentle…and loving voice….so I can feel your love wrap around me…and learn to really pray for you to give me victory over everything that is holding me back from doing what you placed me here to do.  Give me that perfect peace that will give me courage to move forward …and use the victories over my mistakes and fears to help others. Amen.