New Mountain IV - Fight

There is a little story, often forgotten on the broader narrative of the Samson account. Found in Judges 14 it deals with a dual dimension - the works of men and the ways of darkness.

Whenever we embark on a new adventure, climbing a new divine mountain, we cannot expect a free 'hall pass' from the enemy. He is totally committed to our demise, seeking to disqualify us at least, at best to destroy us entirely.

The fresh mountain air and the adrenal pumping through our veins, gets us to throw the backpack on our back and get us marching off loaded with romantic idealism. However the creaking back, rubbed by the pack that was suppose to be our life source, creates in us a sense of wonder "What was I thinking?" - as these thoughts begin to infiltrate our deeper senses.

In this little story we get a peek into the strategy designed to get us to give up the fight:

1.   Entice - we are all vulnerable to money, sex or power. Which one will the enemy use to buckle our knee? Discerning this is a life saver. Dismissing this is a life destroyer;
2.   Intimidate - we have an enemy who wants to overwhelm us with impossibility. But that is the language of faith. He is not impressive. The cross looms over his efforts. It is simply our mandate to remind him of that;
3.   Impoverish -we all suffer from the fear of failure... none as great a fear as financial depravity. Many a great act of obedience has been stifled by the fear of poverty, that is a heart-pounding, throat-closing, palm-sweating fear;
4.   Emotion - we are living in a world increasingly governed by the anchor less foundation of feelings. Drifting from the moorings of the sacred text, the power of community and the conviction of obedience, all that is left is our emotions, and they are cataclysmic as a solid rock;
5.   Sustained pressure - we are vulnerable to persistence. Like the torture of dripping, the ceaseless, endless, continuous whispers, wear us down - sometimes to the point of surrender.

This is not a blog of defeat. Actually, it is a narrative of victory. Samson won! The gracious Father has put us on a new journey loaded with overwhelming odds against us. We have an enemy who wages war on this great kingdom advancing climb. But "if God is for us who can be against us?". This is a fight worth winning.