Bullies love to pick on people that are easy targets, or folk they think no one will stand up for. That’s because they’re cowards. Today we learn how to be bully-proof.
I’ve written before about the motorcycle gang Bikers Against Child Abuse, an international biker gang with the sole mission of protecting abused children. They use the image of bikers as strong, mean and menacing to their advantage. When called by a parent or guardian, the local club shows up en masse, places a biker vest on the abused child’s shoulders and lets them know they have their back. BACA members keep in touch, and often accompany the child victims to court so the victim is being less intimidated and frightened, and therefore able to give a more accurate testimony.
One judge asked a young girl about to testify against her abuser if she were scared. The girl replied, “No, I’m not afraid of him anymore; my friends are scarier.” When you’re surrounded by a motorcycle gang ready to come to your defense, you’re pretty much bully-proof.
Today’s verse says MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.
I’ll go you one better than a biker gang. In Christ you never stand alone. The bible is filled with incidents where time after time GOD sends His angels to protect His children.
A king tried to bully three Jewish lads who had refused to bow down before an idol he had erected, and threatened to throw them in a fire-filled furnace if they didn’t. When they STILL refused he made good on his threat and had them bound and tossed in. Except they were not alone in the fire. God protected them. After watching them stroll among the flames, the king called to them and asked them to come out. Then he said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him.
Daniel refused to stop praying publicly, even when his enemies had a law passed making it illegal. The penalty for that crime was to be thrown alive into a den filled with hungry lions. A bunch of Babylonian bullies thought they had set up Daniel and found a way to eliminate him with a law that even the king could not ignore. They tossed Daniel into the lion’s den, but their plan had one flaw – they forgot about GOD! The king had to wait overnight, but when he rushed to the pit the next morning to see what had become of Daniel, he found Daniel unharmed and the lions a meek as kittens. Daniel told the king, “God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me.” (Spoiler alert – The lions gave the bullies a different welcome. Check out Daniel chapter 6 to read the whole story.)
I could go on and on with biblical stories of angels fighting for Gideon, Elisha, protecting Jerusalem. But secular history is filled with similar stories, too.
Attila the Hun saw two battle angels brandishing flaming swords flanking Pope Leo when the Huns were about to sack Rome. They warned Attila they would kill him if he proceeded.
During the 1914 Battle of Mons in Belgium, an entire regiment of white-clad, shining angels drove the German forces into a retreat. In 1918 Germans forces near Bethune, France reported a cavalry clothed all in white and mounted on white horses attacked them. The riders could not be killed with conventional weapons, including machine guns. Warrior angels.
“Don’t be afraid” is the most common angelic greeting when they appear. God’s angels are fierce and fearsome, and He sends them to do His bidding and intervene at His command. Paul, a “super-apostle” if ever there was one, didn’t pass through life unscathed. He reports that he’s been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. But God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” So Paul was happy to see God’s grace perfected in his life, even though it meant going through weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and many difficulties. Not easy, just worth it.
In every situation, wherever and however we fight, God’s provision of grace is sufficient. MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS. Sometimes God’s protection walks with you THROUGH assaults and attacks, at other times He protects you FROM those attacks. But however He chooses to do it, God is with you. And when God is with you — you can face ANYTHING …. AND OVERCOME!
When God is FOR YOU it makes no difference who is set against you. Do we have an enemy who is out to destroy us? Yes we do. Am I afraid of him? No, I am not.
My friends are scarier.
