Maybe the world isn’t run by lizard people per se, but lately, I can certainly see what Saint John meant when he said “the whole world is in the power of the Evil One.” (1 John 5:19)
Practically every day, I’m getting inundated with political mail from one side of the political aisle and one side only, the worldly folks. The other side, we’ll call them the little guy, does its best with going door to door and trying to get themselves known with handshakes and the occasional yard sign. But there is just no competing with the money and slick salesmanship of the worldly folks. They have a giant machine in place in my area that is nearly impossible to go up against for the little guy (while ironically referring to the giant machine’s candidate as the little guy). The worldly folks just plug their candidates into the machine and out pops a deluge of political ads, mailers, flyers, yard signs, a well-done website, social media presence and endorsements (including from the local newspaper). The little guy just keeps trudging through neighborhoods trying to pretend like he has a chance.
Over the last decade or so, it’s become apparent that the machine in my local area is just a small part of the larger machine in place in our country. And then this past summer, when I finally joined X, I became aware that the larger machine in our country is part of an even bigger global machine. It’s this giant behemoth of money, power and influence and it exists to keep a status quo in the world that, frankly, isn’t so great for the little guy.
The local little guy candidates have to run against a wall of money. The national candidates that sincerely goes up against the machine for the little guy has to run against an Everest of money but also has to face the onslaught unleashed against him in the destruction of their reputation, their financials, and possibly even their freedom or life.
How do you win against that? When the powers of the world have all the worldly advantages, what can the little guy do? It all feels so utterly hopeless.
After reading the Books of the Maccabees this fall in the heat of election season, I think God told me the answer. And as they always are, God’s answer was simple. We need to humble ourselves and pray.
The Maccabees constantly faced armies far larger than theirs and consistently found themselves in situations usually classified as hopeless. But Judas Maccabee was not a man who let the material world have the last say in the making of history. He reminded his men that theirs was a God who had rescued their forefathers at the Red Sea when Pharoah’s immense army pursued them. Theirs was a God who had given David victory over the giant Philistine. “It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from heaven.” Judas told his men. (1 Maccabees 3:19)
With these stirring words, they all put dirt on the heads and prayed. And then with great faith, the Maccabees marched into their various battles in which they were very much the underdog and they won. They were the little guys going up against the machines of their day, the Seleucid Empire, and beat it.
I grew up in a very material culture and ipso facto, I grew up with very material thinking. Though I reverted to my faith 15ish years ago, I still have a difficult time seeing past the material world sometimes. Maybe it is for this reason that times like this arise in our lives. Times in which things are too big and all feels utterly hopeless. It is times like these that I remember Moses and Pharoah, David and Goliath, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, and The Maccabean Revolt and I start to remember that an entire spiritual world exists. And though it feels to my material mind like it’s not enough, I pray (Lord, help my unbelief!). I pray with all my heart knowing that there is nothing else I can do and it is only God that can help the little guy and that he loves to do it.
So, as foreign as it seems to our modern, material minds, let us, like the Maccabees, sprinkle dirt on our heads, humble ourselves and pray. It is our only hope to share in a like victory in which we are “invincible because the mighty God fought on (our) side.” (2Maccabees 11: 13)
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