Exodus 23

Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
(Exo 23:20-22)

This is not just any Angel, this is the angel of the Lord, a pre-incarnate (before he came in the flesh) appearance of Jesus. This was God Himself going before the people, just like He goes before us. This promise here is amazing… God himself will be an enemy to those who make themselves our enemies, and those who oppose us will be opposed by God; as long as we are following Him.

It is 100% true that when we follow Jesus we often open ourselves up to attack from this world. To be a friend of God is to make yourself an enemy of this world. That can be a frightening thing; little old me versus the big, nasty, man-eating, Fire-breathing world. It has the potential to make me run and hide, to make me want to break off my friendship with God to form a truce with the world. But… But… But… God promises us His protection! That changes everything, now it isn’t us vs. the world; it is the miserable little world vs. the God of the universe, a true no-lose situation for us!

I can remember it like it was yesterday… I was about 12 years old, 4 foot something, skinny, and very afraid. I was surrounded by “bad” kids, the kind of kids I picture belonging in juvenile hall, and they were really letting me have it. It started with name calling, and then it progressed to pushing and shoving. Before I knew it they had stolen my hat. It wasn’t the coolest hat ever, but it meant a lot to me. It was this cool plaid material, and had a picture of Mickey Mouse on it… my parents had bought it for me as a gift when we were on vacation. I had a red and green one, Trevor’s was blue and tan. These kid’s had taken it, and when I tried to get it back they shoved me on the ground. They started to make fun of it, and to make fun of me… I didn’t know what to do. My face was getting hot and turning red, and could almost taste the salty tears that were starting to spill down my cheeks. “I can’t let them see me cry” I thought, “that is like giving them a nuclear warhead to destroy me with”. They started shoving the hat in the gross trash can at the baseball field; a trash can full of old chili dogs and nachos. I knew that I was done for…

Then it happened. Robbie Macleod showed up. He was my best friend, and his 6’0” stature offset my 4’0” frame quite nicely. Instantly the whole scene changed. They were scrambling, totally freaking out, all without Robby saying a word! They apologized, gave back the hat, and ran for their lives. At that moment, I felt like I had won a war, I kept waiting for “We are the Champions” to start playing in the background. I was so glad that Robbie Macleod was on MY SIDE!

That is what it’s like with the Lord gang. We may feel like I did on that day, bullied and harassed… FEAR NOT, the Lord is with you! The world may be against us, but as the Bible says, “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world”.