After The Victory

My blog post today looks at the phenomenon of failure coming soon after masterful success; a very common occurrence. 

One example is Elijah after his Mount Carmel victory, where he destroyed all the prophets of Baal. But after a threat from Jezebel, he went into hiding, sat under a Juniper tree and wanted to die. 1 Kings 18-19:4

I heard someone say once that it is not the rock in our path that causes problems, but the tiny pebble in our shoe that discomfits us.

Joshua sent some of his men from Jericho to spy out the town of Ai, east of Bethel, near Beth-aven. When they returned, they told Joshua:

Joshua 7:2-3:

There’s no need for all of us to go up there; it won’t take more than two or three thousand men to attack Ai. Since there are so few of them, don’t make all our people struggle to go up there.

The Israelites had a supernatural victory over Jericho, so going after a small city like Ai seemed such like a little challenge. As we would say today, “Dat is small ting, man”.  But we must never underestimate our enemy; he is a very cunning deceiver. 

We might convince ourselves that a situation is too small or too insignificant to pray about, so we complacently enter into a circumstance that we believe is nothing for us to conquer. We leave off praying; we leave off asking God for specific directions; we do not even consult with our inner circle, our intercessory team, and we go off on our own.

Of course, like the lamb who wonders away from the flock, we become defenceless against the onslaught of demonic forces. The lesson is clear: Our victory is dependent on God. He alone can protect us from the wiles of the wicked. We cannot fight this battle of life alone. We must depend on our Saviour Jesus Christ. We have got to stay within Jesus’ embrace.

God’s plan for his children is victory after victory, but we must be obedient and follow his directions fully. God did not make us robots. As human beings we have free will, so we can choose God’s way or our way.

But we face a ruinous future, if we feel that we can make it on our own. We are no match for the enemy, and we will surely be defeated if we try to face life in our own strength.

Ai was smaller than Jericho, but the Israelites faced defeat, as they sought to face the battle on their own. Of course, there was more to their defeat, but as one writer observes, we seem to be more vulnerable after a time of victory in our lives. We are more vulnerable after God has blessed us. But we need to be watchful; the devil lies at the door of our celebration, waiting to take us down, waiting to attack.

After Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove, but shortly after, He went into the wilderness where He was tested by satan. The dove came, but so did the devil.

We need to be as watchful after the victory, as before the battle.