Shadows

Out of the shadows… You are still rolling stones… Rise Up, rise up… I thought it was over… Rise up, rise up I heard about the power… Now I believe it… The darkness should have known. I thought that I was too far gone… But you called my name.. It is no surprise that this is the song that you wanted me to hear this morning Lord. For I find myself hiding in the shadows, behind the rock, under threat…

Yet who is it that threatens you?

For 40 days you have been under threat.

The giant speaks to you and calls you names.

And here you find yourself.

And here you find yourself.

And here you find yourself.

Come out, come out wherever you are.

Come out of hiding, come out and show yourself.

For it is time to take a stand.

For it is time to stand against that which threatens you.

He says to you “am I a dog that you come to me with sticks and stones?”

He towers over you, he looks down upon you, yet he defines himself well.

For the dog will fetch the stick thrown by his master.

Once again I have lulled him into a sense of security.

He stands tall and proud with his army of supporters behind him.

Yet he is no threat to me.

He sets himself before you, he lays it out with such arrogance.

Yet he does not know who he is dealing with.

He defines the terms of the engagement, although possessing much and commanding many, he puts himself forward.

He declares whoever fights him and wins will rule over all, yet if he wins he will dominate all.

He thinks this battle is all about strength, and skill and experience, and dominance.

Yet he knows nothing about you, he observes you are not like any other foe. But he laughs at you, he belittles you, he underestimates you.

Is this not your defining moment?

Is this not your moment of definition?

For he knows not that I have called you to be King!

For that which comes against you shall be overcome.

The enemy invites you to come, to come over, yet shall be overcome in the place of the coming over.

Just as the giant invited David to come over, and was over come.

For at the very invitation he had already lost!

For who invites his strong enemy to come over?

Only he who is confident in his power and strength and skill.

Come out of the shadows.

Your strength is found at the end of my rope. I will stand my ground where hope can be found.

What is it that causes you to fear?

Did I not say that he breathes his last, and in his dying breath he lies at your feet, grasping at you with his dying breath?

Yet I fear he has been resurrected with greater power than before.

He stands before you again in the valley.

Yet this is just the valley of the shadow.

It is the valley of the shadow of death.

It reminds you of the death.

But who died?

You act like it was you, but it was your enemy.

Did I not say when you cross over, you shall see your enemy no more?

Is this not the time?

Is this not the time of the crossing?

Is this not the place of the crossing over?

For one path crosses another, one path impacts another, one path dominates another, one way is established, the other way is broken.

Did I not say “a way of the parting, a parting of the ways”?

For the enemy comes at you in one way, but shall part in 7.

For the path multiplies before you.

For I have broken the path of the enemy, it splinters on impact, it shatters on impact.

The enemy sets you up for defeat and invites you to come.

Yet the invitation sets you up for victory and domination of all that opposes you.

Have you not seen, have you not heard?

THIS IS NOT A FAIR FIGHT!

I warned him not to move, I told him to stay down, to get his hands off you, but he wouldn’t.

Now it is my turn!

Let me show you what it looks like…

2 Kings 19:32-37 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow here or come before it with shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by that way shall he return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake. And it all came to pass, for that night the Angel of the Lord went forth and slew 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the living arose early in the morning, behold, all these were dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Armenia or Ararat. Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.