"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"
- 1Corinthians15:57
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I've read a book or two that suggested that most people see wars and focus on losses incurred, and the devastation experienced - both at home and abroad. Meanwhile, others see an opportunity - for wealth, for regime change, or for open doors. Initially, my thoughts were that capitalism is a ravenous beast, never satiated, because who is thinking this when lives are lost, and peoples' lives are forever altered?
But how do you create a new vision and rebuild if your thoughts remain with those that have passed? If your eyes are in the grave, how can you hope to rebuild from the rubble? Someone has to disconnect from what has happened and have a vision for the future. There has to be someone, or people, who have a vision beyond what the eyes can see.
Is that why nations go to war? Certainly, they count the cost, but it's the opportunity that they're after. Everyone has a role to play - those who mourn, those who protest, those who despise, and those who want to possess the future. And as I lay in bed this morning, I thought to myself: what role am I playing? What is the opportunity that has been presented in this chaos?
When I consider the prayers that I pray out loud, in my heart, during corporate prayers, with friends/family - an interesting pattern emerges. There's always a struggle before the physical victory. There's a period of darkness -- where everything is either stagnant or goes wrong, and despite your best efforts, nothing is changing; it seems all you're experiencing is loss after loss. Perhaps, you've experienced one or two victories, but somehow you're back at a disadvantage. But if God is ordering your steps, weeping may endure for a night. All that you're experiencing will not last forever. If you love God, all that is good, and bad - every mistake, every tear, every prayer, every little thing- God is using it to work together for your good. But you must position yourself well. You have to take your eyes off what everyone is looking at, and allow God to give you a fresh set of eyes to see beyond what is in front of you.
You can't commiserate with everyone about everything. You can't host a pity party for days and weeks and months, with no end in sight, no plan thereafter. Decide that there is an end to this season and that your expectation will not be cut off.
Recently, I saw someone comment on Threads that they are 40 years old, and they won't ever be given an opportunity to create a film ( I believe he also cited lack of finances). And Ava Duvernay, a movie director, responded saying that no one is coming to give him anything. He has to give himself that opportunity, and create the film he wants with the resources that he has; that amazing stories have been filmed on an iPhone.
The "wars" in our lives don't have to be losses of people per se. It could be years of closed doors, of household witchcraft, of bad advice derailing us, of discouragement, and lack of opportunity. For this man, his age, and lack of financial resources are the grave where all his ideas and hopes are dying. And he's mourning them. But Ava highlighted something interesting - that by his hands he's killing his own dreams. She didn't say it in such words, but if he wanted it, he'd get his head out of the grave and make it happen.
You have a vision - invest in it, labour for it, travail for it, suffer loss for it, but pursue it.
Wars are pricey. The cost of human life. The cost of equipment. The economic and political challenges…sometimes it appears world leaders just start them on a whim. But they've seen something worth pursuing, something that is worth the sacrifice, the hurdles, the potential loss. Remember: you can pursue a territory, or a resource and fail to acquire it. But they inconvenience the country and the world for it anyway. Because a win will change everything. And we have to begin thinking in the same way.
This morning, as I lay in bed, thinking about what I need, and what I want, what I've lost, where I am, and where I need to go, it seems that my enemies have handed me an opportunity I could not have fathomed. Although they manipulate, scheme, lie, deceive to trade human life, in God's goodness He has given me divine escape. He has opened my eyes to see water in a desert. Israel is 60% desert, yet they've successfully transformed much of its land into fertile agricultural land.
God has made us a fertile ground wherever he has placed us. It's up to you if you want to die thinking your environment is too dry to produce anything. Your enemies may drive you into a desert thinking the same way, but remember: the Word of God is Spirit and Life. It creates out of nothing. Your wells will spring forth if you don't stop digging. Create an opportunity if none is given to you. Rise up and contend for the life that you want. A whole nation is surviving in a desert surrounded by its enemies. You, too, are surrounded by enemies, known and unknown. Rise and contend for your destiny. You're guaranteed a loss only if you do nothing.
