THE GREAT WALL

Scripture for the day: Isaiah 26:1-3 "In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.""

Thought for the day: Twenty years ago this very day I was touring a mission enterprise in the city of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with a friend who would soon be taking his family there to become a part of the ministry. As I reminisce, I’m struck once again at how indescribably rich that opportunity was. Despite the cold, biting winds that swept across the open countryside and chilled us to the bone, the landscape was breath-taking. The people were some of the most open and welcoming souls I’ve ever had the opportunity to spend time with. They even gave me the opportunity to share the gospel with them on several occasions.

On the way to Mongolia, my friend Steve and I got to spend a day in Beijing, China and had an opportunity to visit the Great Wall. What an incredible experience. As Steve and I were standing on the wall, looking out over the rough terrain to the North, we couldn't help but wonder at the tremendous feat of engineering represented by such a structure; still the only man-made construction that can be seen with the naked eye from outer space. The years of toil and labor, the lives sacrificed during construction and the purpose for undertaking the project in the first place are almost beyond our comprehension. The entire project was aimed at protecting the Chinese from the Mongol hordes of the North. The wall is high and thick and, when guarded well, virtually impregnable. After decades of constant work, the wall was completed and the Chinese emperors considered their more "advanced" society safe from the barbaric tribes in the north. They settled down to enjoy their safety and within 100 years were successfully invaded no less than five times! Why?

One would wonder if there may have been flaws in the construction that allowed them to break the wall down or if there might have been gaps or areas where invaders could go around the wall. There were no design flaws or gaps to be found. But there were people guarding the wall who, for a suitable bribe, would open the gates and allow the invaders easy access. This happened time after time as the Chinese tried in vain to keep out the world and protect their treasured environment.

"Well, so what," you say. What does that have to do with us? Just this; it occurred to me while standing there on the wall that the attempt the Chinese made to keep out the Mongols is not so different from the attempts we often make to keep out the temptations Satan has in store for us. We build great walls of our own through rules and regulations, specific activities, rituals and regimens that are meant to protect us from the onslaught of Satan and his barbaric hordes of temptations. And we settle down in complacency, thinking that if we perform just right or keep all the rules we'll be protected and our neat and clean Christian culture will remain intact. But there are traitors among us, my friends, and we have to look no further than our own hearts to find them. For the right bribe, we will too often open the gates and allow Satan to invade, often successfully.

For the Chinese, their folly was in thinking a mere wall would protect their society. They relied on external structures to do what internal strength should have been able to accomplish. If their society was so weak as to need physical protection such as they hoped the Wall would give them, they were doomed to destruction from the start. In the same way, as God has promised Salvation to be our "wall of protection", we ought to rely on Him for our protection rather than our own forms and ideas, no matter how well constructed.

Now don't misunderstand; I'm not advocating we abandon proven methods of building and maintaining spiritual maturity, such as church attendance, Communion, Baptism, or prayer and Bible study. These are all tremendously important. It's just that, if we rely on those things alone to protect us, we will fall just as surely as the Chinese when they relied on the Great Wall. As the songwriter said, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." If we're relying on anything else to bring us safely home to Him or to protect us, we've moved away from Him and must return immediately - we're in great danger of being overwhelmed by Satan and his hordes.

But if we're relying on God to keep and protect us today, we've never been safer than we are just now. Praise His name for He keeps His promises!

Now go take on your world. - Bill