Self Defense

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

Tonight we had a visit from my good friend Gary Haskell (not Eddie’s brother), a pastor from upstate rural Pennsylvania that I have known for almost 20 years. He is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and put on a clinic for us on basic principles and techniques of self defense. Some of his teaching was on methods of defending yourself in the case of attack, focusing specifically on things we can do to get the hands of a bad guy off of us so we can run away. Other principles were based on preventative maintenance; things we can do to not get in bad situations to begin with. Unfortunately, we hear too often about victims of crime who made themselves an easier target simply by not being aware of their surroundings and doing innocent things that placed them in harm’s way. A little common sense goes a long way in these cases.

There are a lot of “bad guys” out there. We cannot live our lives in abject fear, because when we do, the enemy wins without firing a shot. We have to go out into the “big bad ugly world” daily; not paranoid, but prepared to defend ourselves against potential attack. Gary gave us a good line to remember: “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” In other words, the more prepared we are, the less likely we are to be a tragic news story or statistic. When we hear of a young lady abducted and abused by some filthy disgusting piece of human debris, we grieve over the tragedy and wonder what could have been done to prevent such a horrible thing. But what we see in the natural world always has a spiritual application to our lives in Jesus Christ.

We face an enemy who is relentless and wants to do anything he can to destroy our lives. He is the “roaring lion seeking whom he may devour” in I Peter 5:8. If you have ever watched the Animal Planet shows, you have seen them in action. They stalk their prey looking for the one who gets separated from the herd or shows signs of weakness. Criminals often do the same. They see someone who is unguarded in their behavior, alone in the parking lot, and not alert to potential danger. The Bible says that we are to “walk circumspectly” in Ephesians 5:15. That is a big fancy word, but easy to understand when you break it down. “Circum…” means to walk around danger, and “…spectly” means with your “spectacles” (eyes) open. Too many Christians just mosey through their spiritual lives with no regard for the wiles of the enemy. They are easy prey because they are separated from the pack – not plugged in and involved in their local church. They are targets of the roaring lion because they are weak – not built up in the word of God by daily exercise in its pages. They may be “manly men” who can weld bridges with one hand while holding them up with the other one, but one hundredth of an ounce of paper is too heavy to lift.

The story is told of a remote tribe with a “rite of passage” for their young men to pass them into manhood. They are sent out into a dangerous area where lions are known to hunt with nothing but a spear, and they have to come back with a dead lion. The young man waits until one is stalking him, then has to kill it before it kills him. He might run a little or do something to make the lion think he is prey, then at the last minute, he turns back and faces the lion, standing firm and tall, and roars back at it. The lion is confused by this action and for just a moment, stops in its tracks. It is at that precise instant when the spear does its work, and the lion is bagged.

Paul said, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13) We have to learn to defend ourselves by standing. There is no need to attack the enemy; in fact, you are a fool to try. Just unsheathe your sword, turn and face him, and roar in his face in the power of the “Lion King”. That would be the Lion of the tribe of Judah, our Saviour Jesus Christ.