"We Few...We Happy Few"

Do not fear, for the Lord your God will personally fight for you.

Deuteronomy 3:22

 

These last several weeks have been one of those periods of life when words cannot adequately describe the exhaustion I have felt.  I have officiated three funerals of people I have gotten to know.  When each of them passed, it felt as punch to my spirit.  Putting together each eulogy was agonizing and left me feeling as though I had been the punching bag for a prize fighter.  I just wanted to go to bed and not wake up until next week.

This morning, during my quiet time, one of my favorite movies came to mind.  The movie is "Henry V" starring Kenneth Branagh.  The pivotal moment in the movie was the Battle of Agincourt where the outnumbered English soundedly defeated the French.  But the part that stood out for me what after the battle scene when King Henry V of England stood visibly exhausted on a cart to address his soldiers.  He was bruised, filthy, and bloody.  And I could understand how he felt.

You see, the object of that battle is to force the opponent to give up.  And I have felt that I had been fighting an seemingly endless battle.  Then God reminded me that when I fight in my own strength, it's a losing battle because my strength is limited.  But when I step back, be still, and let God fight the battle for me, His strength is limitless...not to mention He has already won the war!

Am I still tired?  Yes.  But knowing that the battle is God's to fight gives me strength.  God has let me fight until all my strength was gone, but He is always faithful to remind me that His mission for my life is not completed and until it is, it's HIS job to make sure I get there.  So I have learned this lesson once again...God is God and I am not. It is not my place to try to do God's job because I can't.  It IS my place to get out of God's way so HE can show His strength and mercy.