Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Some Battles Are Lost

LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23 – The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

THEME OF THE DAY. SOME BATTLES ARE LOST. We each know by painful personal experience defeat in the Christian life. The powerful forces of our remaining sin, a deceiving devil, and an alluring world sometimes win out in the spiritual war called “the Christian life.” We lose battles. But let’s be careful here. The Christian life is a warring life. That means we fight against our remaining sin, a deceiving devil, and an alluring world. If we are not fighting Christians, for our own soul’s sake, we need to find out why. Every Christian is a soldier (2 Timothy 2:3). Every soldier of Christ is called to arms and combat. And in this war, we are going to lose some battles to sin. There will be situations, even people, testing us and we will fail. It might be sins of impatience, irritability, and impulsive speech or the lusts of the flesh leading us into the sins of envy, coveting or complaining. And if it is not sins of attitude or action, we will experience defeat in the fight for a pure thought life. Yet, we need not be discouraged and stay in defeat. Why? Today’s scripture. Let’s plunge into its riches and be encouraged when defeat comes in our spiritual battles. Defeat doesn’t have to keep us down.

First, despite our defeats, God’s love toward us doesn’t alter – “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” Aren’t we so glad that God’s love doesn’t rest on our “battle performance”? What a horrible thought to think we earn God’s favor by fighting well and we lose His favor when falling into sin. Thank God that isn’t the Christian life. So don’t let defeat cause us to question God’s love. Nor let defeat presume upon His steadfast love by not fighting.

Next, not only does His steadfast love never end, but His mercies also know no limits. What does this mean to us when we fall into sin? This truth of God’s endless mercies enables us to remember that He knows our weaknesses; He knows we are prone to wander; He knows we are but dust, and in rushes His mercy teaching us and encouraging us through His mercies (Psalm 103:8-13).

A third truth to embrace when spiritual defeat comes our way is that every new day is a new start – “they are new every morning.” What are new? Fresh manifestations of His steadfast love and ceaseless mercies. What we may embrace here is the past is the past, the future is not yet, live today fighting today’s battles. God’s love and mercy moves Him not to deal with us according to our past failings, and we have no right to do what He doesn’t – live with regret and remorse over yesterday’s defeat. Start today. Fresh with fresh encounters of His love and mercy. It will propel us to fight in His strength today’s battles.

Finally, we can pick ourselves up from our spiritual defeats because of the faithfulness of our God – “great is your faithfulness.” And here is a very encouraging application of His faithfulness, even when we suffer spiritual defeat. He has told us, “All things work together for good to those who love God” and that will include our defeats (Romans 8:28-30). God will take our defeats and shape us into seasoned soldiers, walking more in spiritual victories than spiritual defeats. His faithfulness will ensure this happens.

The Christian life is a warring life. And just as in literal warfare, some battles may be lost, but that doesn’t mean the war is lost. The outcome of our warfare is certain. Victory is assured, and we may learn to walk more and more in Christ’s victory as we remember God’s steadfast love, ceaseless mercies, and faithfulness each and every day of battle.

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for new mercies, not sometimes, but every day.”

QUOTE: “Yesterday’s spiritual battles are over. We start each day with new mercy to fight just for today.”