Promise of Conquest . . . Even Today
Exodus 23:27: “I will send My terror
ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and
I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.”
Here is a verse that many say is clearly Old Testament and
at first glance, it certainly appears to be so. I mean what exactly is “God’s
terror”? And what ‘enemies’ are actually
fleeing from us?
Well, for starters, commentator David Guzik translates the
‘terror of God’ as the “fear” that God instills in us, probably of Himself. But
for the most part, commentators are silent on the topic. What we do know is
that God “throws people into confusion”.
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that our world
is more confused now than ever before. More confused about whom they can trust
and who they cannot. The Iran Nuclear
deal just signed yesterday is just one example. The value of a life lost when
killed by a police officer is a crime, but aborting babies and selling their
various parts for profit by the thousands daily by an organization called
Planned Parenthood is not talked about or investigated. Illegal immigration is
wrong but we need the illegal immigrants to fill our menial jobs. The
disagreements between members of a similar political party or coalition are rampant
globally (see the U.S. Republican party; or the coalition of the Prime Minister
of Israel; or the Greek government coalitions). Parents are confused about how
much discipline they should give their children. They also do not know when to
say ‘no’ and when to say ‘yes’. The
United States appears to be making sweet deals and coming to peace with all its
enemies (even those that continue to pursue communism [Russia, Cuba, etc.], or
disregard human rights [Syria], or want America abolished [Iran]) and seems to doing
all it can to undermine its allies [Israel] and its own Christian citizens.
We’ve stopped going to the moon and our long-term NASA projects, but we’re
pursuing trips to Mars and Pluto. We spend billions in research to keep people
alive on the one hand and we are trying to pass laws to end the lives of the
elderly on the other. Greece, by all historical standards, should have been
kicked out of the European Union and the Euro currency long ago, and especially
now. And yet, the creditors are afraid
to kick her out and are handing over yet a third bailout – one they know cannot
be paid back no matter what is promised.
Individuals do not know if they are male or female and some want to be
both or the opposite of what they were. Confusion for sure. And I could go on.
I’m sure you could as well. Some of us have witnessed that confusion in our own
communities, perhaps in our churches, or even in our families.
But here’s the thing, God says “He throws people into
confusion” and He does it for the purpose of working out His Plan for His
people. All this that is going on around us today is being allowed or sometimes
caused by God so that His Plan for us can be worked out. Yes, sometimes that is
a very hard pill to swallow, no doubt – especially when it is your family or
you that are suffering – economically, socially, physically, etc. But if we can
just catch a glimpse of the bigger picture through a fuller knowledge of
Scripture and somehow “believe on Him” we will indeed feel the conquest He has
afforded to us in Him and through Him.
God says that people that come across our paths and are
not His (and I dare say sometimes those that think they are His but for one
reason or another do not have in them the ‘grace’ that He alone gives and the
‘hearts’ that He alone changes), these people who choose to oppose us not only
in spiritual matters, but in practical ways, will be thrown into confusion by
God. Have you seen that or experienced it in your life? If not, may I humbly
suggest that you, like many of us at times, are not fully relying on Him and
trusting Him to do that, or you are not obeying His instructions to you, or you
just aren’t involved in serving Him to the extent that such service is actively
opposed by the Enemy and such protection is required by God.
And then God says, He will make these people “turn their
backs to you”. Other later portions of the story of Israel demonstrate to us
exactly what this means – confusion, defeat by the Israelites, fleeing. God
says He will do that to our spiritual enemies and to our physical enemies. I
believe that as tough as things get (and they will get tougher), the true Christ-follower
who depends fully on God, obeys Him totally, and serves Him unreservedly will
be so protected – his/her enemies will be cast into confusion, they will be
defeated by God with us (we will have a role to play) and on our behalf, and
they will flee from us if not eliminated in battle.
Are you and I ready for the next stage of the working out
of His Plan for mankind, for you, and for me? My hunch is that if we are not
and we’re waiting for the last minute to make that preparation or decision to be
on God’s side, we will, in the midst of the confusion or in the heat of the
battle’s pressures, make the wrong decision; the challenge to those who are
unaware of what is going on and unprepared when that climatic time hits (be it
global or just our individual ‘time’s up’) will be too much to handle wisely.
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