Stand Your Ground

The George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin trial and controversy has dominated the news and kitchen tables of America for months. The unprecedented insertion of comments by the President, along with the words of those who have a vested interest in inflaming race relations, prolonged the story far past the normal news cycle. And I, like most Americans, quickly wearied of it all. That is until I received a spiritual ding to consider that God might be using the controversy to say something to His people. One of the elements of the story is the controversial Florida law of "stand your ground." Although it played no actual role in the trial since Zimmerman rested his case on self-defense, nevertheless the 'stand your ground" law was continually pointed to as a key factor. The ding came after listening to one of my favorite songs, "I believe," by Josh Waller. The question asked in the song is, "Where do I stand concerning Israel? A question that could be applied to numerous challenging issues today, starting with homosexuality, abortion and Islam in the world arena. Or in the fellowship arena, whatever Biblical truths the Lord may have revealed to you that might run counter to traditional church theology. I believe our Father in heaven is drawing a line in the sand. He is saying the time of easy believing, especially in America, is coming to an end. It will soon begin to cost us majorly to stand for what we believe. It will be a time of testing to see if we are a true believer or not. When confronted with the loss of social acceptance among our peers, longtime friendships, career, income, family, freedom, or life itself - will we stand our ground? Or will we buckle? For God has promised to give us the grace to stand if we have the courage to do so. "Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not look anxiously about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10). Nevertheless, I fear we will see a dramatic reduction in our ranks in the days ahead. And this must be so. For it is just as in the days of Yeshua on earth who realized he had many followers who only followed because it was comfortable to do so. But as the opposition grew, and Yeshua's words become more difficult to defend (see John 6:59-65) they fell away. They never were God's people to begin with. Let us determine to be part of the remnant of Israel - come what may. God grant us the grace to be today's Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!