THE CANADIANS ARE COMING! THE CANADIANS ARE COMING!! Ok, as a warning cry, that one comes off pretty weak, but bear with me. I know Paul Revere’s midnight horseback warning cry carried more weight as the British ships were bearing down on the colonies, but you already know how that story ended, and I needed something that was different. Now, where was I? Oh, yes! The Canadians are invading! And we have the world’s greatest military ready to defend our country. And the northern border states have well-equipped militias trained to defend their states. And the Canadians have Dudley Do-Right on his uniformed white horse (named simply “Horse”, by the way) invading the United States. And Dudley’s charging into Minnesota on horseback yelling in a Canadian accent, “I’m ‘aboot’ to attack you guys! Surrender, eh?” And I’m here writing an email yelling, “the Canadians are coming!”
And here we sit with our planes and our missiles and our snipers and our troops and our tanks. And we just let him invade. And Dudley takes over “Minne-sohh-ta”, eh! Then he turns east and takes over Wisconsin. Then he jumps in a boat like George Washington crossing the Delaware and crosses Lake Michigan and conquers Michigan with no opposition! Then he turns South, and begins a one-man (and his horse) reenactment of Sherman’s march to the sea. And he’s conquering Illinois, and Missouri, and Arkansas and state-by-state this Canadian Mounty is sacking our country.
And at this point you’re thinking, “yeah, like one Arkansas redneck with a good deer rifle couldn’t put a stop to him AND his goofy horse!” You’re right…they COULD. But in my story, not one of them did! They just sat back and let it happen. They never asked for help. They never got their guns. They just sat back and let Dudley take them over and set up a new set of rules for their lives. And by now you’re thinking, “this is just stupid…why would somebody let Dudley Do-Right, of all people, take over the country without lifting a finger?!”
And my answer to that is this: The same reason we let the devil do it. We see him coming. We see the temptations. He doesn’t even really have to hide it very well these days. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says he disguises himself as an angel of light…but these days there are times when he almost doesn’t have to disguise himself as anything. Just walks right up to us, “hi there, it’s me…c’mon, let’s go sin!” Sure, Devil, Let’s GO!! And first he’s conquered your Wisconsin, then that spills over to your Michigan, then he crosses that Great Lake you swore he’d never get across…and he did. And now he’s conquering more and more of your life. And controlling more and more of your actions. And we just laid down and let him do it. Then it’s me sitting on my couch Sunday morning watching NFL pre-game shows instead of going to meet with my church family and giving my worship to God. God? God who? Is he a back-up on the Vikings? I think I might have him on my Fantasy Team…drafted him late in the draft just in case something happened and I needed a backup to fall back on.
Not so funny when it’s not Dudley Do-Right anymore, is it? I look back at the person I used to be…the mouth I used to have…the things I used to say about people…the things that I actually said TO people. And why? Because I let the devil walk right in…”Here! Have some anger, Dwayne. It’s better than heroine! The world still frowns on heroine…but if you’re funny when you get angry and insult people, then other people will LOVE you!! You’ll be hilarious when you insult this guy, then that guy, then make fun of that professor. OH! OH! And do funny voices and make fun of how they talk!! People love it when you do funny voices when you mock someone!!” And I said, “Yeah, I like doing voices. I like when people think I’m funny! AND I’m quick-witted! I can insult people like nobody’s business!”
And he conquered my Michigan, then my Wisconsin…because I let him. EVEN THOUGH I had someone even MORE powerful than the US Military taking on Dudley Do-Right on my side! He was sitting there the whole time…watching…whispering to me “ask me for help…just ask me for help…I’ll be there…just ask…” 1 John 4:4 “the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world!” He can win the fight for you. Ephesians 6:12 says our struggle is not against flesh and blood. And I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that when you’re fighting ghosts, you can’t win. But seriously, you think you can beat the devil on your own? Not a chance. Call out for help! If there were 6 big dudes pounding on your head in a parking lot…I’d bet you’d be yelling for help!
One of the funniest things I remember from high school was a friend of mine getting beaten up by a guy twice his size. (and you’re thinking, “THAT was funny?”) It was sort of a sucker punch deal, but still. Big dude walked up to us, and said, “maaaan” then POW! He threw a punch right over Andrea’s head and socked him right in the face. Then commenced to beating on his head while my friend ran to the high school office yelling for help! Yelling for help, squawking like an injured chicken…something like that. And yeah, that guy chased him right into the office while punching him in the head the whole way. I was a good, loyal friend…I didn’t get involved at all…I went on to my class and heard all the other details later! HA! But this illustration still works. He was in a fight he had no chance to win. The big guy was a guy we both knew, and we also knew that even together, that guy would have killed us both. So what happened? He RAN toward help! He didn’t just cry out for help! He cried out for help while running as fast as could TOWARD that help with his hands over his head while he was doing it. Duck and cover…stop, drop and roll…he was trying it all. (man, that story still makes me laugh as I remember that scene while I type it).
But we should be the same way. Because the devil disguises himself sometimes, and it may be something that we’ve known for a long time and had no concern when you saw it coming. THEN BAM!! You’re punched in the face! So do you stand there and let the devil beat you down? No way! You cry out to God for help! And then you RUN to Him! Jeremiah 16:19 “Lord, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble.“ Psalm 143:9 “Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord! I run to you for protection.” Psalm 27:5 “Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!
I run to you for protection.” Psalm 12:7 “You, O Lord, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever.” Are you starting to get the picture? Probably a picture you already knew, right?
So why don’t we? Is it because we don’t have trust in God to help us? Probably not the reason. I think the more likely reason is that we place FAR too much trust in our own abilities. And honestly, our own abilities could be enough…if we were wearing the full armor of God. If we were to put on the Belt of Truth, and the Breastplate of Righteousness, and had our feet fitted with the peace that comes from the Gospel of Peace! And we would stand a good chance if we also grabbed the Shield of Faith (with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one), and put on the helmet of salvation and stood ready to fight with the Sword of the Spirit – which is the Word of God. That’s how Jesus fought the devil. When tempted in the wilderness, the devil used scriptures to attack, and Jesus used his knowledge of the Word to recognize how it was being twisted, and fought back with his own scriptures.
But we don’t always wear the Armor of God. We wear the armor of ME!! And I grab my Belt of Half-Truths, and the Breastplate of Self-Righteousness, and my feet are fitted with the worries of this world because my worries outweigh His Peace. And I stand behind a Shield of Weak Faith (that sometimes falters when it’s tested), and I don’t need a Helmet of Salvation because My Big Dumb Hard Head is helmet enough for me! And lastly I use a dull, rusty sword. And my sword is rusty and dull because I never sharpen it. My sword (which is the Word of God) lays in my back seat all week long until I get it out to carry it in on Sunday morning. Then I carry it back out (having never opened it) when church is over, and when I finally need my Sword of the Spirit, it’s mostly useless to me…because I don’t know how to use it, because I never have.
Like the Boy Scouts, we need to be prepared. Like the United States military, we need to constantly train so that when evil strikes, we’re ready. Like firefighters with their gear ready to go, we need to have our Armor regularly maintained, so that it’s flawless and perfect. Our swords need to be sharpened, and we need to be training with our weapon daily. Wear your armor like a football player practicing in full pads, so that when you need it, you’re comfortable in it. Not trying to fight the devil in unfamiliar armor with a sword we don’t know how to use.
When you get a minute at work, don’t immediately whip out your phone for Angry Birds or Facebook updates about how bored you are at work. Pull up a Bible App, or jump online for a quick online devotional. Andrea got me one that I keep in my desk drawer. It’s a daily Razorback devotional. It tells an interesting little Razorback story from back when, then uses that story as an anecdote to illustrate a biblical concept. That sounds familiar. Listen for the Whisper that tells you that you can’t do it alone. Stand ready to defend yourselves against the devil and his army, and don’t be too proud to call out for help. If we wouldn’t try to fight 6 guys in a parking lot – or one guy in a high school hallway – alone, why would we try and fight the devil alone? Maybe we need to take off our “My Big Dumb Hard Head” helmet…and let God help us fight.
~Dwayne
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