We take turns giving devotions at our staff meeting every Tuesday. Here is part of a devotional I gave recently.
“It was an extraordinary military operation. Never before has any military force gone so far, so fast, with so few casualties-to either side-as in this campaign….But then, having beaten the Butcher of Baghdad, the mission suddenly changed. The warriors whose courage, stamina, and military prowess had defied the predictions found themselves in a new role: peacemakers. In many respects it’s a more difficult task than simply fighting. Today our troops are charged with the responsibility of bringing democracy to a people who have known only tyranny all their lives.” (A Greater Freedom, p. 8)
When I read those statements by Oliver North, the thought came to mind that what we are seeing and have seen in Iraq is an illustration of the Christian life. Trying to introduce democracy and freedom to a people who have only known tyranny is difficult to say the least. You are battling against a history of decades and decades of cruelty and evil, and you are fighting those who once benefited and were a part of the old system. In the same way, when God saved us, the war for our soul was won; our souls are now God’s. However, that was just the beginning of the reconstruction period. The old must be torn down and done away with. The new must be built and established. It won’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen without hard work and perseverance. There are still battles to be fought against enemies within and without, and there are habits, sometimes decades old, and an old way of life to be overcome and replaced. At times it may seem an impossible task, and there will be those who will say in Christian terms that it’s a “quagmire,” “another Vietnam.” It will be easy to get discouraged, want to quit, give up & throw in the towel. Then, there will be times when we, through the power of God, see the enemy driven out of the Fallujah’s and the Mosul’s of our life; the strongholds will be torn down. And so in the Christian life as in Iraq, the reconstruction period is a long, difficult but necessary struggle.
To read the rest- a study of Haggai: Download it_was_an_extraordinary_military_operation.doc
Important Note: Pastor John Piper, senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis, MN, and the study of Haggai during my year of Bible school, I think influence nearly every word in the above devotional and certainly every idea even though I wrote it with just a Bible in front of me. Therefore, if you want the real deal, read Piper's sermon on Haggai: Take Courage: You Build More Than You See.
