Putting out Flaming Arrows

One of the most encouraging God lessons I have had recently came from a rabbit trail my mind took (or maybe where the Holy Spirit led me) during a message a couple Sunday's ago. My apologies to the speaker! For years I have struggled with why God allows horrible things to happen to his people, people that we need in the battle for the advance of the Kingdom. I just couldn't make sense of it. Now, I know that, as the "clay" I am not really in the "need to know" group for the "potter"; but still, making some sense of things would help sometimes! As I listened that day my mind was directed to Ephesians 6:16..."wield the shield of faith with which you can put out the flaming arrows of the evil one." (JP - Jeff's Paraphrase) I think, most of the time, I have thought of this as our shield stopping the arrows before they reach us; but, that is not what the passage says...at least in English. Our faith puts out the fire of the arrows. It nullifies their purpose, which is to burn us up, to destroy us. However we may, at times, still be pierced by them and injured. We are in a battle after all.

Faith changes the intended purpose of evil. Think about it. Doesn't God always turn Satan's best plans on their heads. The prime example? Killing Jesus seemed to be the triumphant victory of the enemy and yet was actually his ultimate doom. To conquer death Jesus had to die and rise again, opening the door for us to follow...Praise Him!

Does this make suffering any easier? Probably not. But, for me, it helps in getting my mind around God's choices at times. Would I prefer that the arrows never reach me? Of course! But, if God allows them to, I know that he is only doing so to put our enemy on his head just one more time. I know that by faith, and faith alone. Our belief that God is in control changes our outlook on what we are experiencing and assures us that the ultimate victory is won!!