Victory Today!

Victory is important, especially to Americans. We love sports and contests. Even in 2020, the forgotten year, the NFL generated twelve billion dollars! Every corner bodega in every American city sells lottery tickets. We have scholarships and awards for everything. Victory is important, and it was important to God and His people, Israel. 

When the king of Syria sought to make war with Israel, God informed His prophet, Elisha, where the enemy king had established his camp. He did this three times before the king of Syria decided he'd had enough and went looking for God's holy man. The king sent a large army accompanied by chariots and horses, to surround the city where Elisha was staying. Imagine, all of that for one prophet! The young servant who accompanied God's servant was in a panic. "What shall we do?" he asked. So Elisha answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them,” and he prayed the eyes of the young servant would be opened. When they were, the young man saw horses and chariots, more numerous and mighty than those of the Syrian army, surrounding Elisha. God's plan for victory was there all along.

I think Christians embrace the idea of some future, far-off victory for them in heaven. We readily accept ideas like mansions and rest, streets of gold and gates made of pearl, but how well do we see that we have the victory right now, here, today? When the Bible talks about victory, it is often in the context of victory over death. So, I guess, if you are still alive and reading this you have had victory over death for this very moment, right? Yes, but it's so much more. 1 John 5:4 tells us, our faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Our faith today gives us victory over this world. This is present tense stuff! We've all got bills, and sometimes those bills outnumber our paychecks, and then more bills come in. We've all got trouble, and sometimes that trouble outweighs the burdens our hearts can carry or our capacity to fix the trouble, and then more trouble comes upon us. We've all got things we have to do, and sometimes that list just doesn't seem to get any shorter no matter how hard we work, and then something else gets added. But, in Christ, we do not have to be overwhelmed. We can face these things head-on and know that God will bring us through them. We might be forced to give something up or look for another job; we might need to forgive someone or set firm boundaries; we might have to delegate some tasks or reconsider their importance, but we know, no matter what we are called to do, God is going to work it all out for His glory and our good. That is victory! 

Let me put it to you another way. If we are on our own in this world, if God's Word simply tells us to hang on tight and wait for what comes "someday," we might as well be sitting in a bomb shelter somewhere riding this thing out. If we are unable in this life, to clear any hurdles or rise above the drudgery and worry, what do we have to tell others about our Jesus? Do we tell them about the promise of "someday" from a God who can't (or won't) even give me the strength to overcome today? If our presence in heaven someday is the exclusive definition of victory, why are there any Christians on earth? 

Christians should never be sitting idly by waiting on a day of victory. We should never spend more time talking about the victory we're "sure will come," than we do walking in the victory we have. We shouldn't be so consumed by the idea of a future victory that we neglect the victory we should be experiencing today. And if you are in that place -- the place where you, as a Christian are so burdened by finances (or lack thereof), or sickness, or strife that you can't genuinely celebrate what God is doing, you can't take your eyes off your problems long enough to experience His peace and joy -- ask Him to show you that His armies are encamped about you. God's plan for victory is at work today, and through faith in Jesus Christ, we have the victory that overcomes the world.