According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,
fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;
the coastlands He will fully repay. So shall they fear
the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory
from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in
like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a
standard against him. “ The Redeemer will come to
Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in
Jacob,” says the LORD. -- Isaiah 59:18-20
When you think of a flood, what do you think of? It is something rushing and mighty and bowling over everything in it's wake? That's not the kind of floods I think of.
I come from a country who's population is mainly concentrated on the coastal plains. These plains are six feet below sea levels and so, when the Dutch ruled the land they made dikes to keep the water out and to reclaim some of the land. These were later rebuilt closer in and serves as a strong reinforcement against the Atlantic Ocean. The house we lived in was less than a mile away from these structures and one night, after my family went to bed, one of the walls broke and the flood waters came rushing in. Overnight there was a steady raise in the water level and by morning we were knee deep in water. We woke up the next morning to see anything that was left in our yard floating around and the muddy sea water at our kitchen steps. The water never touched the inside of our house because our house was lifted - it was prepared for these situations.
Last night we had another flood. It was in our basement. A pipe broke and the water level rose. It wasn't until it was ankle deep that we discovered it and were able to turn of the pipes and start pumping the water out. In this situation the break was closer to home. A faulty pipe which lack of care caused to break. The break was sudden but the affect was slow raising until, before we realized it we were under water and many of the electrical units on the ground was affected - we were not prepared for this.
When I look at the verse above I no longer think of the enemy rushing in with trumpeting sound to make it known that he is taking over, I think of someone sneaky, someone who is crafty and knows that the best way to hit is from the inside. However, God has built a hedge of protection around about us and he stands with us as the first and impenetrable line of defense. When the enemy tries to seep in the Lord blows him away and puts him in his place - all I have to do is stand behind God and be prepared.
Comments (5)
good stuff shan :P
when i first read the title though, i thought it said, "slow creeping FOODS" and was really confused.
it's friday, my brain stopped working yesterday. yay it's almost the wknd!
@haemina@xanga - slow, creeping foods ... now THAT is an interesting story :)
I thought it said foods at first, too!
@quiet_strength - lol ... attack of the slow creeping foods! muhaha!
That waa a very good teaching with a real life example. Thanks
frank