Opposition

Opponents can make life miserable.  They are the kind of people who watch you carefully, waiting for you to make a mistake that they can exploit.  They set themselves up as rivals to your own progress and success.  They seem to take great joy in causing you distress and harm.  Perhaps you already have a mental picture of an opponent in your own life. It may be someone where you work.  Sadly, it could also be someone within your own family, maybe a spouse or a relative.  Or it might be the brother or sister in Christ who sits on the other side of the auditorium on Sundays.  Whoever it is, an opponent can be a real thorn in your side.

As troubling as an earthly opponent can be, imagine how much worse it would be if God Himself became your opponent!  Notice God’s words to the captive Israelites in Babylon: “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’ therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations’” (Ezekiel 5:7-8).  What chilling words!  To have God declare Himself as an opponent!

The Bible teaches that when God is for us, it doesn’t matter who or what else seeks to oppose us (Romans 8:31-39).  We will ultimately conquer all opponents when God is on our side.  But the inverse is also true.  When God is opposed to us, it doesn’t matter who or what else claims to be our allies.  We are guaranteed to fail when God is our opponent.

Lord, please help me to live in such a way that You can be for me instead of against me.  I desperately need You to be on my side.  May I forever claim You as a friend instead of an opponent.

God loves you!

Mike