Strength For The Fight, Peace For The Future

Strength For The Fight, Peace For The Future

The LORD gives his people strength. The LORD blesses them with peace. Psalm 29:11

“I just don’t have the strength or will to go one more day,” Harvey said. “I’m battle worn. My ‘get up and go’ done ‘got up and went.’ I just want to step away from the front lines and have permanent R&R.”

Harvey’s battle vocabulary was familiar. We often heard similar descriptions from the patients who were referred to our nursing home by the Veteran’s Administration. These brave souls had seen the worst of the worst and lived to tell about it. They had post-traumatic stress disorder long before it was even recognized as a syndrome.

Many of the older vets fought in wars that today’s teens don’t even remember. They fought battles that literally were won in the trenches. In those days, they didn’t call it PTSD; they called it shell shock, or combat fatigue, but it’s the same thing.

PTSD is an emotional disorder that takes away a soldier’s peace and emotional resolve. Recovery takes time and therapy and requires a team of providers coordinating all areas of the veteran’s health care. But sometimes even the best medical science and practice can’t put all the mental and emotional jigsaw pieces back together again. Only Jesus can.

Most of us have not been in combat, but we’ve figuratively dodged a few stray bullets in life. Maybe your battle is your marriage, cancer, a friendship, a job, or financial concerns. The effects of the stress can be the same. The constant barrage of stress, fear, and uncertainty wears us out physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Remember, we were created to live in a garden; yet here we are smack-dab in the middle of the most epic battle ever fought—the battle between good and evil. We continually hear the sirens of jealousy, anger, crime, and disease warning us to take shelter. While the battle with the enemy of our souls rages on, we place our confidence in our holy Commander-in-Chief, who gives us strength when we need it most. We rest in the knowledge that he has already defeated the enemy. The victory is his, and it’s also ours for eternity.

TODAY’S RX

Rest in and renew your strength in God’s faithful promises. He has defeated the enemy, and the victory is ours.

God, the battles I face on a daily basis are wearing me down. I’m wounded and under attack. Please remind me of the hope I have in you—and your victory over death—to help me through.