Forgive & Fight

I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together. Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me. Isaiah 27:4-5 (ESV)

What “briers and thorns” are you letting grow up between you and God? Dear one, they are no match for the fire of His love for you! Take hold of His strength and make peace.

Sometimes the “fight” rages not with God, but with the cruelty of this world and yet God calls us to love our neighbors (EVERYONE is our “neighbor”) (Lk. 10:27). If we love God well, we will love our neighbors. 

Jesus set us an example while on the cross. He prayed, (even in the midst of dying) …“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”… (Luke 23:34 NIV) WOW! 

I wonder how much peace we forfeit because we are fighting with the “briers and thorns” we have set up around our own hearts, rather than allowing The Great Gardener to burn through them? 

His strength flows when we choose to forgive; forgive as He first forgave us (Eph. 4:32). Isn’t it easier to forgive if we don’t think someone truly meant to hurt us? Isn’t it easier to forgive if we don’t think the other person really knew what they were doing? It may still not be easy, but it’s easier than if we judge their motives and intentions as knowingly malicious. 

We can judge an action but we cannot truly judge someone’s motives or intentions behind it. Try as we may, we are not omniscient! Only God is all knowing and understands the depths of every motive of every heart He ever knit together (Heb. 4:13)! He alone is most qualified to judge. 

We ourselves don’t always understand why WE make choices the way WE do at times! How then can we assume the position of God and judge another to the depths we don’t even know our own selves?!! 

Let God burn the “briars and thorns” you’ve let grow around your heart. Then if you are going to fight, fight to forgive like Jesus forgave you. Forgiveness brings freedom to embrace the peace that flows from His strength; the strength that prayed for your forgiveness as He hung on the cross paying the penalty for your sin and mine.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27 (NIV)