Only an arm of flesh

He spoke encouragingly to them, saying, ⁷ “Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. ⁸ With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”  (2 Chronicles)

I’m going to tell you all a true story.  Many years ago, I felt led by God to write a Bible Study on the subject God had been guiding me to study deeply in His Word.  A young person asked me to mentor her at the time, and without praying about it, I naively said “Sure!”  We would go through all that God was teaching me together and were really excited.  But unbeknownst to me, someone was telling her distorted lies about me behind me back.  This girl, without warning, called and told me she never wanted to meet with me again, and that I was “Unstable and Needy.”  I was so thrown off by this, that I believed her lies about me, rather than God’s truth.  I set the Bible Study I was writing aside, and have never been able to finish it since then.  When I shared with one person about what happened, she looked at me and said, “Unstable and Needy?   Well, aren’t we all, really?”

For some reason, those were the exact Words I needed to hear at that time.  I tell you all this, just to say.  We must heed the Words of King Hezekiah here:   and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,

⁷ “Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. ⁸ With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”

I allowed what God was doing in and through my life to be derailed by an arm of flesh.  I was so young in my faith, and no one was really watching over me in Leadership, so I caved in.  I hadn’t learned, as of yet, to lean fully on the STRONG ARM OF THE LORD, but still cared too much about what other people thought and said.  Funny thing was, the Bible Study I was writing at the time, was, in part, about that very thing; Leaning on God’s view of me, instead of man’s.

So Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ, do not yield to a mere arm of flesh.  Do not let the good work that God is doing in and through your life be derailed by a human attack.  I did, and I have grieved it many times.  But God is not done with me or my life yet, so He can Redeem even my biggest mistakes.

Be especially careful when the “arm of flesh” attack comes from within the Body of Christ, which they do sometimes.  These are the most surprising to deal with, and the ones that hurt the most, because we expect them the least.

May the Lord bless your Day as you seek Him with all your heart.