Defense

Just like taking a test. You study and study and study and then the time comes when have to test what you have learned. I wrote on criticism yesterday...and should have known that the test would shortly follow. I knew the material, but when it came down to acting out what I had known and just written about that very day I teetered on blowing the test.

It was one of my own who had been criticized unfairly and unjustly...and my initial response was that of defense. I figuratively "wanted to cut their head off".(2 Samuel 16:9)....just as David's followers had felt when David was being pelted and cursed unjustly as he was withdrawing from Jerusalem. Then as David had responded calmly, so did mine, stating "it will all work out, what matters is who I am serving...Christ"! My resentment began to melt, and gave way to reflection of how God was working. He was testing the leadership, integrity, faith, fairness and a steadied knowledge of his servant....and watching as he moved forward in God's grace. That test was not only a test to him but also a lesson and reminder to me. Seek God and trust God...in all situations; for with effective service come critics from all directions. Don't be intimidated, offended, or rattled when adversity strikes.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

We do impulsively defend those we love. Sometimes in blind defense, sometimes in overbearing defense, sometimes in emotional defense but hardly ever is defense initiated without a deep concern of protection and devotion for the one we are defending. If we didn't love them we wouldn't care. But at what point do we get in God's way? Sometimes, as in David's example, he did not need defending. He was strong in character, and a man after God's own heart. But often times those we choose to defend are not always so strong and do need support and encouragement. So how do we know where the boundaries are and when to advance with support and when to fall back and stay out of God's way?

When you are in a position to defend, here are some boundary markers that may tend to help:

1) Pray first - step in with support only after you have submitted to God for his direction
1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually,

2) Seek to find God's hand upon the situation...look at his set up...how did things get to be where they are?
Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

3) Don't make excuses for what has been done...ask God how to help move forward?
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

4) Don't pretend to have answers, that is God's job.... we are called to be faithful and let God lead us down roads of improvement.
Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD

5) Be confident of this: God does not start projects without finishing them...we each are a beloved project of His.
Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

6) We all submit to ploys of self centered activities - none of us is without blemish some are just more well hidden than others...approach others with humility and concern not self righteousness
John 8:7
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first
to throw a stone at her."

7) Consequences are a result of the choices we make....good and bad...we can not undo what has been done but we can establish a new slate of criteria for choices to come
1 Peter 4:2
As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

8) None of us know how God will use what he has allowed to happen in our lives to grow us and mature us and bring us closer to himself
Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

9) God will give you comfort is you let him and he will use this experience so that one day you can come beside someone else and comfort them in the way that you have been comforted
2 Corinthians 1:4
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

10) Nothing is too hard for God
Jeremiah 32:17
"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you

and finally
11) It is all about God's grace
1 Peter 5:10
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.


Too often we come into a situation with suggestions or opinions based on our own experiences and we leave God completely out of our equation for success for both ourselves and for others. If we are to be victorious in any field of service in his kingdom, it is God who knows the answers and the paths and the sequences that will get us there. May we have the confidence to trust him, the will to seek him, the faith to abide in him and the security to rest in his love.

"We judge of things by their present appearances, but the Lord sees them in their consequences. If we could do so likewise, we should be perfectly of His mind; but as we cannot, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us." - John Newton

Dr. Scott Hahn said, "God loves us just the way we are, but too much to let us stay that way."

God allows suffering in our lives for the same reason he allowed it in the lives of his chosen people in the Old Testament: He allows it for the sake of a greater good.

Dear Lord, Please keep me within your bounds. Amen
Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!