Be Glad!

 

¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
         let them ever sing for joy.
    Spread your protection over them,
         that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
¹² For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous;
         you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

—The words from King David in Psalm 5:11-12

 

When we’re under attack from people who have deliberately chosen to make us their enemies, we often forget that such people are not alone in their assault on us. Though most people seem quite uncomfortable confronting the reality that we live in a world where the forces of darkness are actively at war with the forces of Light, the truth remains that this is so.

When people attack us with harsh words, and particularly with lies about us, they have joined the real enemy—Satan and his minions. Is it any wonder that under such an assault it’s hard for us to retain our joy.

If the attacks against us came openly and directly—in our face, if you will—it would be easier to identify what’s really happening. But, all too often, the attack is subtle and comes at us from behind our backs. Many times we don’t even find out the lies that people are spreading about us until they reach the ears of someone who has the integrity to report the lies to us.

You see, it takes courage for someone who disagrees with us to speak directly to us. Few people have that kind of courage. It’s far easier to sneak around and spread lies under the cover of darkness. Even people that you might think would have the spiritual fortitude to directly deal with an issue over which they have concerns will often take a coward’s way out and not speak directly to us. That’s just the kind of mindset in which the real enemy delights.

Satan and his minions are truly very clever. And don’ forget their attack is quite subtle. They work in the minutiae of life. You can get a good idea of what this is like from reading C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. Here’s a sample as Screwtape, a much more experienced minion of Satan, writes to a younger, more inexperienced demon named Wormwood who has been assigned a particular male human subject who he is to tempt and destroy.

One word of caution, as you read, keep in mind that Screwtape has our real world turned upside down. The things Screwtape calls “good” are to us evil and vice versa. When Screwtape’s writes about “The Enemy,” he’s talking about the very God we serve. When Screwtape writes about “Our Father’s House,” he’s talking about Satan and hell. So, here’s Screwtape writing to Wormwood about the assigned human male subject:

Remember, he is not, like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (Oh that abominable advantage of the Enemy’s!) you don’t realize how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary.

I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in the British Museum. One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the wrong way. The Enemy, of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was I saw my twenty years’ work beginning to totter. If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defense by argument I should have been undone. But I was not such a fool.

I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter-suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line for when I said “Quite. In fact much too important to tackle at the end of a morning,” the patient brightened up considerably; and by the time I had added “Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind,” he was already half way to the door.

Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a No. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of “real life” (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all “that sort of thing” just couldn’t be true.

He knew he’d had a narrow escape and in later years was fond of talking about “that inarticulate sense for actuality which is our ultimate safeguard against the aberrations of mere logic.”

He is now safe in Our Father’s house.

Quite interesting, don’t you think? King David talks about the genuine antidote to such attacks in the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post.

David expresses that taking refuge in God produces joy. That applies to us. We are to rejoice in the God of the Universe. Because He has chosen us to belong to him, we have every reason to rejoice in Him. In fact, David urges us to be glad. Have you every thought about what that might mean: being glad?

“Be glad!” It sounds very much like a choice to me. “You mean I can choose to be glad?” Yes! I think you can...we can. After all, we have lots of reasons to be glad. Even in the face of lies and other attacks from those who have chosen to make themselves our enemies, both supernatural and natural, we can choose to be glad.

Let me suggest you think about that concept today—the idea of choosing to be glad. To help you do so, here’s a song by Michael Kelly Blanchard sung by tenor artist Scott Smith that I hope will inspire you all through this day:

 

Will you pray with me?

Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

Holy Spirit, we invite you to fill us full of Your gladness. We desire to be glad. We know that Your joy will overcome any attack that comes our way. So we consciously and willfully choose to be glad.

We thank You, Precious Father, that You are the author of gladness. And, we thank You for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

_{Copyright © 2012 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

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