Life On The Offense

The L-rd will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 

~ Deuteronomy 28:7

No army in all of history has ever won a war or battle by playing it safe. They never tell their leaders to just stay on the defense, to hold their ground for the duration of the war. The goal of battle is to crush your opponent. To be successful the bravery of the soldiers must be tested on the offense. The motivation that drives them must be hardened when brought under fire. And the courage of the individual must be tested against the zeal that can only be found when routing an enemy. 

For the faithful this is a test that we only dream of while we go about our daily lives. We stay within the boundaries the enemy has laid out for us. The defenses the enemy brings up to corral us into a place of starvation hinder our thirst for battle. Fear, self-doubt, and apathy keep us with our heels dug into the ground while we pretend to be bold. But G-d did not make us to simply hold our ground. 

When we have grown in our faith we are designed to seek out the enemy. When we are strong, when we are as lions, we were made to pursue the wicked. Our fangs were never met to be hid from the eyes of the enemy. Our claws were not meant to dig into the ground but rather were designed to bring down our foes. We were made to live our lives on the offense. 

It is in this that we find the strength of Ad-nai. It is the struggle that we find our purpose in life. Through the scars, the wounds, and the pain we endure we find the lessons that J-hovah has prepared for us. None of which will we learn as long as we stay idle in the face of an ever more depraved enemy. 

So what keeps us locked in place? 

Fear

Fear is a wonderful motivator. In Hebraic tradition we are commanded by G-d to fear H-m. It is a complex concept in our modern world. It is hard to understand with our ideas of what fear is meant to be and what we feel it actually is.

The fear of the L-rd is that of respect. It is a fear that cultivates both love and reverence for the L-rd who provides for us and guides us. This fear allows us to connect with the principles the L-rd has laid out for us in H-s commandments. It helps remind us when we are going against the way the L-rd has laid out for us. It helps to keep us on the path that G-d has set before us. This is the fear that G-d has commanded of us. 

The difficulty is in the understanding that fear of G-d is not a fear of H-s wrath or anger but rather a fear of being separated from H-m. It is this fear that we often first associate with our parents when we are young. This is the fear we first feel when we find ourselves lost and without help. For most it is that moment when we run ahead of our parents or get lost in a crowd and turn around to find we are all alone. 

It is this same fear that the enemy tries to use against us. Through perversions of the same fear that G-d has instructed of us the enemy is able to put many back on the defense. Thus the fear we were instructed to hold, the only fear we were ever meant to have, is used against us. 

For others there is the fear of being cut off and surrounded. This fear arises often when we have already gone into battle against the enemy time and time again. We are given this fear through experiences from which we may not have learned the lessons G-d tried to show us. All we see is the supposed fact that our fellow faithful comrades dropped back and left us stranded. This is the fear of outrunning our supply lines, of being out gunned and out classed.

They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the L-rd I cut them off! I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the L-rd helped me.

~ Psalms 118:12-13

Yet G-d reminds us in Psalms 118:12-13 that wherever we go, not matter how contentious the battle, our S-vior is forever faithful. There is no point in our lives that G-d will ever forsake us or abandon us. It is only the deceiver who whispers these things in our ear. It is the enemy who tells us to give up and surrender our faith. 

It was in our L-rd's infinite wisdom that He instructed us to fear H-m and H-m alone. If we truly fear the L-rd we can fully trust that He will be with us. It is in this that we find our strength to endure. It is the fear of G-d that we find the ability to cast off the fears the enemy lays before us.

Doubt 

When we first are faced with the daunting reality of spiritual battle we can often become overwhelmed with doubts. In moments of adversity we begin to doubt our purpose in this battle. We begin to question why we ever set out to meet the enemy in the first place. It is in these moments that we are told the lie that it would be better to break and run than to endure the battle. 

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the L-rd, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. 

~Jeremiah 28:11-13

In battle doubt it deadly. It leaves us vulnerable on all flanks. We can neither retreat nor advance when we are overcome with doubt. In this aspect it leaves the combatant paralyzed. It is for this reason the enemy wields this weapon against us so readily. For we face an enemy that does not simply want to push us back and reclaim the ground or win the day, we face an enemy that seeks to destroy us entirely. 

Thus G-d persistently tries to reassure us of H-s faithfulness. In Jeremiah chapter 28 the L-rd boldly tells us that He (and He alone) knows the plans that have been made for us. In H-s love for us He has made a future for us filled with glory. And in H-s ever present grace, the L-rd has given us hope when we feel hopeless. 

The only thing G-d ask of us is that we seek H-m with all our heart and soul. It is through this that we will be able to cast aside our doubts and see the path that He has made for us. Through our dedication to the L-rd we have been given a way to persevere in the face of adversity. We can in this set aside our inadequacies and surrender our self-doubt. For our L-rd goes before us like a raging wind before the storm. 

Apathy 

Faith is much like a plant in many ways. It needs to be replenished by a living water. It must be given the light to grow. And when neglected it slowly dies, wilting leaf by leaf till all that is left is a weak and fragile shell of what once was. For this apathy in faith is much like the autumn... a slow decay of what spring had brought forth. 

When warriors of the L-rd are apathetic they loose their fighting edge. We tend not to realize that we are constantly engaged with a foe that never relents. While we let the decay set in the enemy waits. While our weapons rust and our defenses are cast aside, the enemy waits. It is when the vitality of our faith has decayed till it can be sustained no more that the enemy launches its blitz against the apathetic followers of the L-rd. 

In reality the lack of sustaining our faith comes from the lack of seeking G-d's presence in our lives. In doing this we barely even live a life on the defense but rather set out the battle all together. Without engaging our faith by maintaining our relationship with G-d we cheapen our own purpose in life. 

The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the L-rd lack no good thing. 

~Psalm 34:10

When we refuse to seek the L-rd we find ourselves hungry. Our spirit is filled with want and desire for the L-rd. It is in our very nature that we need G-d in our lives. Thus the root of just why apathy is so fatal to faith. Without G-d's presence, without the source of our lifeblood, we turn to other sources to fill the desperate desire that is left within our souls. 

For this the slow death of apathy takes us off the battlefield and places us in captivity. It chains us to cheap idols and sinful delights that last but for a season. For many it is often only when the pain of a spiritual death finally sets in that they realize just how far they have gone astray. And it is by this point that the enemy reinforces the suffering of apathy with doubt and fear. 

O G-d, you are my G-d; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 

~Psalm 63:1

If we are to live our lives on the offense we must first learn to overcome the snares of fear, doubt, and apathy. We must learn to seek our L-rd constantly and to follow where He leads us. We must be bold in our faith and learn to feed off the blessings of G-d. We must quench our thirst with H-s word and stifle our hunger with H-s fellowship. All of which the L-rd has promised H-s faithful if they will simply seek the L-rd with all their heart, mind, and soul. 

For those on the offense...

Let us not be weary for the L-rd our G-d is our strength, our savior, and our redeemer.

Broken Arrow

"The J-hovah shall cause your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten before your face; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways."

~ Deuteronomy 28:7

The Blessing of Obedience

I was once told by a very close friend that I'm a lot like a dog on a short leash, just tugging at the slack waiting for the M-ster to release H-s grip. At first that sounded rather nice. But the more I thought about it... well that was when the truth of the matter came to the surface. 

A hunting dog is eager to please the hunter. It wants more than anything to be able to let out that howl that signals his master to the object of his owner's fixation. Yet in this sense of duty there comes a time when even the best dog trees the wrong prey or corners an animal bigger and meaner than he alone can hold. While the dog wants to be obedient, even the best intentions can lead the dog astray. 

That is why I had to take a moment and think about what it really meant to be that hound tugging and jerking at my leash. Sure it was nice to think of myself as all those things that seem masculine and powerful... tenacity, bravery, fierce, bold, dedicated... It was another thing to have to think of myself as the less pleasant aspects of being that same animal... immature, over eager, rebellious, and at times... disobedient.

Once the dog's leash is dropped the hound takes up the hunt. Like a lightning bolt, the dog springs forth with his nose to the air and his muscles fueled by anticipation. That is what it often feels like when we set out to fulfill the commandments our G-d has laid out of us. We are so eager to fulfill our task... our mission... our job. 

Whenever and wherever the faithful set out to take to the field so as to please their master another beast rises up to meet them. The enemy of our G-d claims the soil, the land, and all that dwells upon it. It is only natural to them that they should defend it, and defend it mercilessly. But when we set out like the hound to the hunt we are often not even thinking about this. Instead we take off almost blind to the reality of what we are doing. We don't see the battle, we don't think about the war... we just want to complete our task.

In the field we meet them. Upon the field we are engaged in ways that we never expect. We are turned from the hounds of the hunt to the dogs of war. And in an instant we find ourselves surrounded. For the faithful this is a reality that is often overlooked by the young, the immature, the bold and brazen followers of a faith they have not yet fully come to understand. 

It is in this moment that we make decisions that will either win or lose the day. It is in the first moments of battle that we either decide to take up the role of conquers or simply hold the line. Once this moment has passed we can no longer decide to disengage or break off the chase. Once we have taken to the field there is no retreat. 

One decision seems to prevail more often than not. This is the decision to muscle our way through the fight. We take up our own shields and rely upon our own muscle. We don't realize that the enemy is a liar and hides from us the reality of what we are up against. When we advance upon our own might we are lured into a fight we alone can not win. By digging our own foxholes we often dig our own graves. 

We were never meant to fight alone. This decision is disobedient. It is a decision to chase after a scent that we were not sent out after. It is the lure that leads us astray. It is the best defense the enemy has.

"The J-hovah shall cause you to be smitten before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth."

~ Deuteronomy 28:25

The Results of Disobedience 

Cut off, surrounded... 

In the Torah we are reminded that we do not fight against flesh and blood. We are told that we fight against the spirit of evil and the presence of darkness all around us. We are meant to be light onto the world. So when we attempt to take the L-ght out into the darkness it would seem natural that the darkness would flee before It. However when we go out unprepared or for our own glory we often find that the darkness is ready to fight back. 

But there is a way to find our way back to the L-ght without showing our backs to the enemy. There is a way off the battle field.

The immature dog will give a call that he has cornered his prey when he has not. The trained hunter will not respond till the dog has completed his job however. There is a difference in our tone when we are out doing the task G-d has given us and when we are simply pretending. Yet when the dog gives out a call for help, when the dog finally admits that he isn't able to fight the beast he has encountered, the M-ster always comes running. 

Once engaged the enemy will not relent. It is a merciless foe that knows our weaknesses and exploits them at every opportunity. The amazing part is just how long we are willing to fight these attacks all by ourselves before we are finally pushed to the point where we simply surrender. 

Some hunting dogs will give the call for help sooner than others. Some will come face to face with the meanest lion and still not back down. And tragically, some will never call for help.

All we have to do when we find ourselves here is fall down and surrender. Not to our enemy. Not the evil we have encountered. But to the Creat-r of life, the M-ster that sent us out to the field to work. We simply have to be prepared to admit when we are out matched and especially when we have gone off course. It is in these moments that G-d wants to teach us things we may never have learned without the fight... without the thrill of the hunt. After all, G-d pursues us far more eagerly as we pursue H-m. And He never wants us to be left upon the field alone and cut off. 

The greatest sense of obedience is the willingness to admit that we need H-m. We were always meant to need the warmth of the love our Abba bears for us. Even when the leash feels like it has been dropped, even when the thrill of the hunt has passed, we will always need H-s guidance... H-s mercy... H-s love.