Armed, Not Harmed

UV 3705/10000 Armed, Not Harmed He has made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He has kept me hidden; and He has made Me a sharpened arrow, in His quiver He has hidden Me. Isaiah 49 The uni-verse is a prophetic utterance about the Messiah, Jesus. He is referred to as His Servant. The book of Revelation speaks of the fulfilment of the prophecy in the description of the sword of the Word coming out of the mouth of the Lord. It is the sword of salvation, of deliverance, of healing. We too as His followers should use our tongue only to bless, heal, deliver, pronounce the good and positive, share the promise of all encompassing salvation in Jesus. We are to sharpen our mouths and tongues on the whetstone of the Word such that it is efficacious, penetrating the hearts, performing effectively that for which it is used. We need to seek an anointing of our lips and our mouths so that the fruit thereof is pleasing to the Lord. Armed with the word of God, we become sharp swords. We are so armed so that we are not harmed. God hides us in the shadow of His hand. It implies that His hand would do and establish that which is needed for our protection. When we read this along with Psalm 91, the promises that are our heritage are physical protection from all kinds of threats, long life, honour, eternal life. All these blessings together constitute all encompassing salvation. Salvation then is holistic and comprehensive and it covers the physical dimension- our health and security, our longevity, our success and happiness, eternal life. Instead of our minds settting on its own like shapeless cement and concrete left unattended on the road side, we should set our minds on loving the Lord, studying His word, obeying His spirit. His hand is not too short. In fact, His hand is competent to do all things in and on behalf of us. His ear is not dull. In fact, He is so sensitive that He hears our sighs and whispers, observes our tears, fulfils our hope in Him. But we are not to be just consumers and beneficiaries of the blessings of the presence and power of God in our lives, but we are to be hidden weapons, secret weapons, powerful weapons, sharpened weapons in His armoury. Instead of quivering in fear, we should know that He has hidden us in His quiver to be a hidden weapon, a secret weapon, a powerful weapon to be released by Him at the time and place of His choosing. As a sharpened arrow, we are destined to hit the target that God has in mind for us on the bull’s eye. He has prepared us for holistic success, not the narrow commercial success of this world.