"Watch it! I'll slit his throat! Not another step!" he warned. "Ha! I'll take that pretty necklace o' yore's too. Now stop and toss it here! Stop!"
Arthur did not stop. The only sound was the noise of his booted feet tramping across the earth. The thief clamped Ewan more viciously, red-faced and angry. Ewan had to claw at his arm just to breathe. Arthur's expression was grim......
The thief screamed and shook. "If you want him to die, keep walking! ....."
His last words as a living soul.
Arthur never hesitated. Once within striking distance, he raised his sword and thrust it past Ewan's cheek straight into the man's gullet. Grasping at his throat, the man staggered backward.....
He fell, dead, staring into the cold sky.........
Gasping, Ewan peeled away, stumbling backward in shock......
No one spoke......Everyone stared at Arthur. Ewan softly shook.
"Are you still ready for me to be your king?" Arthur rumbled as he passed by......"This is who I am. Now let's ride. And from now on, keep your swords ready."
I closed the book. I had moments before asked God to share something with me - anything. I just wanted to hear His voice and feel His presence with me again. As I read these word (of which I have left out many to shorten it) I knew there was a message for me. This thought went through my mind,
"Sometimes you just get in My way."
We do, don't we? Especially when it comes to our children or grandchildren. If a family member is being troubled by some sort of oppression, be it drug addiction, sexual impurity, immorality in general, etc. we want to jump in and fix things for them. The problem is, we don't have our swords ready and we don't really know how to fight. We think we do, but are sadly mistaken. We walk away from the same battles over and over again, shaken, bruised, weary and wondering what in the world happened. Instead of being the mighty and victorious warrior we were designed to be, we walk away defeated. We need to keep our swords ready. How?
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
We must really know the word of God. Read His word and pray for understanding.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1 and 14
We must take out time to get to know Jesus, through the communication of prayer - listening for His voice and learning to recognize it.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:5-7
Then we must learn that His ways are not the same as our ways. His ways are perfect and will always bring about the very best results. It may seem at times that He is fearsome, as Arthur seems in The Song of Unmaking as He goes after the demons of darkness on our, our children's or anyone we love's behalf. Other times we will wonder why He waits, when we want to jump headlong into the fray. We must remember that we are not the ones who can see past, present and future all at the same moment. That is something only God can do. We must learn to trust Him no matter how things look on the outside, because He sees the inward parts of all creation. If we will take time each and every day to spend time getting to know Him and His Word, our spiritual swords will be at the ready, even if our physical man strives to drive us to fear. We will remember the words of the children's song:
WHAT A MIGHTY HAND
Words & Music by Stephen Elkins
Chorus
What a mighty hand, a mighty hand has He
What a mighty hand that calms the raging sea
What a mighty hand, a hand protecting me
What a mighty hand has He
Humble yourselves, humble yourselves
Under God’s mighty hand
Humble yourselves, humble yourselves
Under God’s mighty hand
What a mighty hand
For it was He who made you and me
And every creature in the sea
For it was He who made you and me
And every creature in sea
In the deep blue sea
I had not thought of this song in years until God spoke it to my heart this morning. I pray He speaks it to yours as well and that as He does, we all say together, "YES!! We are ready for You to be our King!!"
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