There was a movie out some years back I wanted to go see but never did; did see a trailer though. The movie titled “A Bronx Tale” was basically a good vrs. evil tale of a father trying to protect and get back his son from a mobster who his son was being drawn to.
In the one short scene the father is confronting the mobster telling him he knows who he is and what he can do. The mobster is telling him, he, the mobster, treats the young boy like a son. The father tells him, “He’s my son not yours!” It was not just a statement. “You don’t fool with a man’s family. Stay away from my son!”
Can you picture this father, confronted by great power, heartless power, running off and hiding in his apartment. And after a time a neighbor knocks on his door and asks what’s the problem, what are you doing here? Yes…and he responding with something like…”Well I’m just so depressed…angry…but depressed. Look what’s happening. My son is being lured away. The guy is flashier, stronger than me. There’s nothing I can do. Sound a little like Eliyahu (Elijah)?
Or maybe he looks out his window on the streets below, surveying the traffic and people and visualizing the threat to him and his and instead goes on the offensive, planning his strategies, setting up defenses and readying weapons to wage war?
Remember King Hizkiyahu (Hezekiah) getting the word from Sancheriv’s (Sennacherib) messenger that he is going to take what he wants, resistance is futile, no one has ever prevented him from taking what he wanted in the past so what makes Hizkiyahu think he can resist?
I don’t know how you folks react but as I look at how things are in our country, once I get past the incredulousness and anger…well it’s downright depressing and initially I do think…”Man! What can I do?” None of that motivational stuff about being able to do anything I set my mind to means much when I compare my influence and resources to the powers that be and theirs’…what they are doing and getting away with.
Well… then sometimes I’ll console myself with the thought that “These things have to be.” and kind of let it slide.
But I’m thinking we aren’t allowed a pass just because “These things have to be”… and… we need to do something more than” just believe” no matter the size of the force we face.
Elijah wasn’t given a pass and neither was Hezekiah.
I don’t know how the father in the Bronx handled things, what his strategy was or what weapons he used to get his son back but in that case it’s a Hollywood thing…and I don’t give their ways too much credibility.
However in the case of Elijah and Hezekiah…well they trusted in and called on something more than their own powers, something more powerful than what they were confronting..
Yahweh called Elijah out of that cave with reminders and reminded him of who He was and what He had done through him. The King and Father gave him further tasks that would again put him at risk and Eliyahu obeyed and God saw him through to completion… and beyond.
Hizkiyahu did everything in his power to prepare and then:
“…Hizkiyahu the king and Yesha’yahu (Isaiah), the prophet, the son of Amotz, prayed and cried out to heaven. …Then… ADONAI sent an angel, who cut down the valiant warriors, the leaders and the officers in the king of Ashur’s camp, so that he had to return shamefaced to his own country…” 2 Chronicles 32:20-21 CJB
There is a falling away from the “Ancient Paths” in our country. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of our government, federal and state, the enormous bureaucracies associated with them, our educational institutions and our religious community are formidable powers and influences, that have lost moral compass in the person of so many in leadership and the ranks, that the whole thing in near crumbling apart. We’re at the crossroads, looking but not asking: “…Which one is the good way…” (Jeremiah 6:16), and taking it.
In the end I’m thinking it will have been more important to us all that we were in the fight regardless of whether or not we won or lost some of our personal battles.
What will be important and a comfort is that we sought after the Good Way to know what it is, then on the basis of that, conducted our personal lives at the level we were at. Regardless of outcomes, in the here and now, the war has already been won… so odds and outcomes now are not options for decision making or requisites for involvement.
In moments of human frailty we may run and hide but we need to remember who we are and Who we belong to…come out of our caves, get our Instructions, make our preparations and… praying and crying out to Jehovah God… get into the fight.
Father there are powers greater than we but none greater than You.
We are Yours and live to please You… so we call on You to go ahead of us and level the enemy confronting us, give us strength to do what needs to be done.
Be ours “in the moment” victories or “in the moment” losses, no matter, only that we contended for You, for our families and children and in doing so were witnesses for You to the world apart from You… and… You be glorified.
In Yeshua’s name we pray,
Amen.
May God’s love be in us all.
Elder
