Judges 18:28
There was no one to rescue the people, for they lived a great distance from Sidon and had no allies nearby.

Today…we will have the opportunity to isolate ourselves or integrate ourselves

Today…we will be tempted to fall into the trappings of our own arrogance and begin to believe that we are all we need

Today…we will hear stories and songs of “self-made” men and women who “did it their way” and “lived their life” and didn’t need “help in any way”

Today…we will be lured by our talents and abilities away from spiritual reliance on God and social reliance on the community of the cross

Today…we will do war with the flesh in us that believes there is only flesh and only today

Today…we will find that defeat comes not from lack of strength but from a fool-hearted bent toward independence

Today…the Spirit of Christ will walk with us, often silently, and graciously rob us of our delusions of autonomy

Today…acclaim that is directed toward us will ferociously attempt to be misappropriated and credited to our own glory

Today…we stand in the valley of war doing battle for our soul, our future, and our quality of days with the weapons of our warfare being the Sword of Scriptural Perspective and the Shield of Humble Prayer

Tomorrow…we will realize how foolish the temptations of today are when perspective shows us that the fight was worth it.