Wisdom To Get Back Up
12/3/19
It is easy to find ourselves sitting on your backside
after being delivered a hard blow. It
does not matter how that blow reached our body either, for when one lands just
right we have no choice but to obey gravity and fall to the ground. However, it is not our place to stay sitting
down and not being productive during our battles. Walking along life’s journey requires
continual defensive measures and we have been given specific methods to protect
ourselves when these dreadful opportunities arise. These battles and punches gave also come
from the spiritual aspect of our existence as well and these are eternally
deadly and need not take hold for if they do, our eternal status could change
and we miss out on what God intended for us to begin with. Unfortunately, it has become noticeable that
many people who have known God for quite some time are allowing the enemy to
take punch after punch at us while we are sitting down; we now refuse to get up
and fight according to the Word of God.
Church, this has to change or we are sunk into an eternal abyss.
When I was a youngster, boxing was a popular sport with
many an American fighter being portrayed in the news, magazines, or on sports
programs. I thought this sport to be a
bit exciting at the time and when I was five years old or so tried my hand at
the sport. This adventure of mine did
not last too long however, because my first practice “fight” was against my
best friend and was supposed to last for two rounds. During the first few seconds of the first
round, Randy landed a nice punch to the side of my face and while it did not
really hurt me, it stunned me enough that I had no choice but to follow my body
down to the mat. I was in shock at the
moment but it was at that moment I knew that I was not cut out to be a
boxer. My ambition for the sport left my
heart and mind at that point and until this day I have never wished to
participate in that sport again nor have I ever really watched it again either.
Now, I have to admit that I was tempted just to stay
sitting down on the mat and not continuing with my assigned rounds and even though
my pride was hurt the most, I got up and finished the practice round and then
went into my corner for a brief pep talk from my brother who was in the high
school division. I have no clue what
advice he gave me and I do not even really remember the conversation much
either but it was not too much longer until the old bell rang again and it was
time for me to be a punching bag again.
Not much action between Randy and I was noticed in the “second” round
for all we did was just run around dodging the wild swing punches both were
trying to land. Shortly, the bell rang
again and my boxing career came to an end with no decision yet with one huge
knockdown by my best friend. I took the
gloves off and have never put any more on like it again, but I was determined
to get up that day and to finish what I had started and it is this Truth that
God wants us to remember when we are in the world’s boxing ring for there shall
be times that our lives shall take shots from our enemy but we cannot afford to
sit there and not defend ourselves and finish the race we have begun.
Another quick example here is that of the battleship USS
Arizona and how she was “minding” her own business, on 7 December 1941 when the
Imperial Japanese Navy bombed Pearl Harbor and sunk many ships and destroyed a
great number of planes and fields of the US military. Many bombs and torpedoes were dropped that
day and the USS Arizona was sunk with a death blow with the direct hit of her
forward magazines which resulted in a gigantic explosion that took the lives of
many sailors on her that day. What God
wants us to understand is that sometimes our enemy shall hit us with direct
blows but we cannot afford to keep sitting down and not return to the path that
we were designed to complete.
Jeremiah 8:4-5 will serve as our Scripture passage for
this article, but while the King James Version will be given I will also give
the Hebrew original meaning as well:
Jeremiah 8:4-5
Moreover thou
shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden
back by a perpetual backsliding? They
holdfast deceit, they refuse to return.
So you are to tell
them this is what the Lord says: Do [men] fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not return? Why [then] have these people turned
away? Why does Jerusalem always turn
away? They cling to deceit; they refuse
to return.
This passage tells us that there will be encounters in
our lives that will come as trouble to our immediate being. These encounters can be ones that we conquer
quickly or over time but we will see victory along this journey of ours. It is easy for us to stay focused on these
good times and good results and when we are strong and young in spirit these
victories can be numerous. However, we
must never forget that those that we have defeated have friends too and when
the news of our victory against them becomes known, they will want to help out
their buddies as much as possible. This
is expected when one is at the top of their game or the most powerful example
the world has to offer for their gifts and blessings ring loudly to those who
wish to challenge them. It does not
matter what type of challenge or fight it may be either, it will arise at some
point and it is our duty to stay in shape in order to fend these punches off.
Do you find it unusual that Jeremiah makes such a statement
and question as this since Israel is the apple of God’s eye? Especially in a tone that would suggest that
Israel would not return to a fight or come back to take her rightful place
under God’s protection. Wait a minute
here, Israel was not under God’s protection at this time? What were they thinking and who were their
hearts actually beating for? All
throughout the Old Testament we see that God protected Israel in detail after
detail and gave them provisions when provisions should not have been around or
in supply for the area, but now we read that it seems like Jeremiah is speaking
to them and telling them that God sees them sitting around and not returning to
the Ways of God. The word and phrase
used here concerning “fall down” means to fall down prostrate, completely,
nothing standing as in one not having the energy to raise themselves back up
after becoming subject to that downcast position. It also suggests that whatever has fallen has
no intention of getting back up either.
From this passage, it can be ascertained that God is
frustrated with those who do not return to Him and His Ways after they have
fallen for any reason. When God asks us
a question about our conduct we must remember it is not that He does not know
what is going on but why we have forsaken Him and His Ways and then refused to
correct those ways of sin against Him. Furthermore,
it seems like from God’s point of view that they have no intentions of even
trying to return to their greatness, but apply wickedness and deceit into their
lives. God did not put it in our lives
to not fight and to dress what we are supposed to be guarding but according to
the second verse in this passage, this is exactly what Israel has done. Moving to appease the world and all of its
deception is not in a productive direction or returning to her Creator, but is
allowing her lusts for worldly equality take cheap shots and rabbit punches to
her body over and over without any true resistance to speak about. But what confuses God the most is that Israel
does not defend herself in the ways that she has been taught to avoid, and it
is because the heart of Jerusalem longs for the world and its punches instead.
It is evident that Israel had lost her desire to stand up
and regain her composure and to defend her eternal honor again. While the world called her name then seduced
her through its worldly acknowledgments and words, the true wisdom to get back
up and to stand her ground with the knowledge from her Creator was washed away
in crowded turmoil that she had established on her own through the choices she
made. What hurt God the most is that
Israel had fallen so far away that she did not even recognize the fact that she
had done anything wrong, bad enough to warrant her getting up all the while
using her prostrate position to proclaim her struggle against those who were
attacking her. Wisdom shall tell you to
defend yourself by the ways that you have been taught this truth cannot be more
demonstrated in this passage. For God
shall always teach you how to eternally and purely defend yourself against the
ways of the world but the world shall always teach you to take the blows that
come to you because you are stronger than others around you. God’s Ways produces winners while the world
produces losers, for winners may take a few punches on the chin but have the
wisdom, even in pain, to listen to their instructors for a solid defense.
This passage tells us so much about the condition of the
heart of Israel and which kingdom she was living after. God has never deceived anyone and shall never
deceive anyone in the future either.
God’s definition is Truth Eternal, plain and simple and going against
this Truth of His definition would deem Him not God but a fraud. God has not lied or deceived us yet nor has
He done such a thing in the history of mankind, so why would He begin now? There are so much deeper details in this
passage that we could touch on in this article but we are going to skip them
for now, because God wants us to place ourselves in the shoes of Israel in this
passage and hear His voice calling out to us for we have fallen down in such a
prostate position and staying there taking punch after punch instead of having
the wisdom to stand up and remember the Lord our God.
This is why it is so sad to watch today of many people
trying to proclaim that those on the other side of the political or religious
aisle are wrong because of _________ reasons.
We have failed to see that all of us have failed and it is all of our
responsibilities to turn back to God and to make things right with Him, first,
then we can turn our nations around and live in peace and harmony with each
other. In a day and age where it seems
like we must take shot after shot on those who differ from our opinions in
order to make a name for ourselves in any area of this world, we demonstrate
this passage of Scripture because we do not have the wisdom enough to defend
ourselves adequately or accurately.
Throwing punches and swinging wildly in response to a landed punch is
not always the best defensive measure, watching and knowing the enemy and
predicting his future movement against you is the best defense for the perfect
offense in turn. Our issues focus around
who has done what and when and hat “my” plan is the best for societies and all
others are ignorant and should not even be considered. Think about this for a moment, can you stop
and ponder this type of activity that our eyes and hearts encounter each day?
God knows we will be knocked down from time to time, that
is a given just because of who our enemy is and what he wants from our
lives. But when we deliberately stay
down and relieve ourselves from the eternal design we have been given from God,
it is at this place where God cannot help us any longer until we get up and
return to the fight properly. This is a
state and condition that God recognizes that we are in and must address this He
cannot let it slide because what if He turned away and did not respond where
would we be then? The only problem with
this previous statement is that: when God does step away and allow His eye
opening experiences occur, we too will be like Israel and fail to recognize
what we have done because we shall soon afterward begin the same blame game on
those who differ from our position and opinion; the ones who are still alive
that is. We have been punched by the
world so much, and so often that we can no longer focus on who or what is
swinging away at us. Our hearts have
become so used to the fact that it is normal to take a direct blow to the chin
as soon as our feet hit the floor that if the blow does not come then we live
inconstant paranoia wondering when the blow will arrive.
As long as we choose to follow the answers of the world
to the problems of the world that we seek freedom from, we are just going
around in circles as guideless fools.
Going in circles just wears us out and provides no truth about the
battles we encounter, only a predictable punching bag that will eventually fall
down and has no desire to carry onward.
It becomes clearer every day that many people believe they have the
answers to fix the problems that we all encounter but when their plans come out
holes are easily noticed and over a small amount of time their ideas are
virtually destroyed due to so many counterclaims that have been
entertained. It does not matter on which
level these programs and plans occur, it can be the so-called gun control
issue, the infamous universal healthcare quandary, or simply how to live within
a federal budget, it does not matter for our ways are tuned toward the world
and the world cannot provide anything but destruction, devastation, and
death. It took thousands of years for
Israel to wake up and to turn her heart back to God and still today she has a
good portion of her population living under worldly confines. Do we have to follow in this type of
devastation and suffer the same humiliating destruction that awaits us if we
continue on this path?
Here is where the Church (us) come in and promotes the
Lord and His Ways. But, you hear the
crickets in the night? God hears no
cries from the altars, nor does He hear our voices out on the streets
proclaiming the Truth about how to end all of our issues and problems not only
temporarily but more importantly eternally.
The only explanation for this silence and evening cricket sounds is that
we have fallen down and are now lying in our prostrate position with our faces
eating the dirt we lay in and receiving the punches, the same punches that the
world gives to everyone. We no longer
have the faith in God enough to remember the wisdom (God) that has been
provided for us to get back up and to effectively proclaim who is the Truth and
who has the correct answers? When the enemy first hears the opposition speak, they will continue to swing away but
after a while, when they know that their attack formation no longer is
effectively landing he has to change tactics, and as long as our hearts are
grounded in the Word of God his tactic shall fail every single time. The same goes for all of those enemy attacks
from those who have differing opinions from God’s and scream and yell at those
who believe in God. Remember when we lay
prostrate and refuse to get up we promote the advancement of Satan’s Kingdom,
just as we do when we side with ANY worldly claim or proclamation.
What we are witnessing today all across the world shall
continue until we begin to get back up and take a stand for God and proclaim to
the world that His Son is the only way to peace now and forevermore. No one is going to do this except us,
Church! When we are swung at by the
enemy and we do not have the knowledge of how to properly defend God, our
lives, and His Ways we have no wisdom what-so-ever. That position only makes us worldly-wise and
not spiritually wise and believe me there is a huge eternal difference in these
two positions. God gave us the ability
to remember the true wisdom He gave us and teaches us on a continual basis so
that when the time comes, and it has arrived, that we need to proclaim the
Truth (God), we have the authority to do such a measure. The only way we can achieve this is to have
the heart that God gave us beating for His Kingdom and its advancement, and
this Truth statement demonstrates the wisdom to get up and fight again.
DLB
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