The Hidden War

The world is a battlefield.

All around you, there's a war. The woman you passed, thinking she was a grump? She was just mortally wounded, and her blood quietly seeped out on the parking lot.

But you didn't see it. You just saw a woman scowling as she whipped grocery bags into her SUV. And when you said, "Well, that's a pleasant woman," you didn't know.

You didn't know her hope has died. That today she knew for sure that she could not believe in a God who would let her husband leave her, just like her father did. That the reason she glared at you was because she was demanding of God why.

Why do you look so happy, herding your little kids into your car?

Yes, they're disobedient children, and your voice sounded irritated and weary, and your van has scratches and that big dent you were so upset by. But you take your children home so your husband can discipline them, and she'd give away her shiny car for a little taste of the joy you have and take your weariness if she could get rid of her heartache.

Yes, in the world there's a war. But the war's not just outside.

Your daughter complains that she gained five pounds and her face is all broken out, and her friend isn't talking to her. You tell her everyone gets pimples, don't worry what other people think, and by the way, she needs to clean the bathroom.

You don't see the soldier aiming his machine gun at your daughter's heart; you suggest a stroll through the countryside, unaware of the snipers and the deep fear she cannot explain.

Then you wonder why she seems angry with you and how you have failed her.

The war's for you, too.

Yes, that person has just cancelled on you again, leaving you scrambling for a fill-in and wasting those two hours you meant to use to make a nice dinner for your family. Yes, she always does it.

But, though you imagine her shooting her poisoned arrows into your back as you wish, she isn't your enemy.

The enemy is deeper. He's put his weapon inside you. The poison that is killing you isn't from her arrows.

It's sin.

It's a powerful force, an unrelenting enemy.

You live in your little village in the mountains, far away from the booming cannons and explosions of war. But you are not safe. Your enemy has signed the contract for military law, but the enemy is a thief and a liar, and he will not obey them.

The neutral party is not safe. In fact, the neutral party is not neutral.

If you remain unaware of the war, living in your little out-of-the-way village, the marauders will come though, burn your helpless home, and shoot you through your unprepared heart.

You cannot afford to not prepare. The enemy is a burglar, searching the lonely places where there are quiet people whose inoffensive nicety keeps them from building fences and oiling guns, where the enemy can knock on the door with his gun slung over his shoulder and be welcomed in as if he were the owner of the house.

But really, the enemy has already infiltrated. He is the owner of the house. You cannot resist his thieving rule unless you join the defeating Army that is coming.

But even if you do, you'll lose battle after battle if you don't see the war.

Be on the alert.