My wife was having a sleep-over with her sister. My son and I were home alone. So after church, I asked him if he wanted to catch a “Redbox” together. Yes! A perfect time to watch a “man movie” with him. The selection was a no-brainer: Lone Survivor. A movie about current events, courage, brotherhood, and ideology. Enough to keep us interested and build points of conversation into our lives. Plus, it had Mark Wahlberg. The movie was a testimony to the training and discipline of the Navy Seals…they were committed to a higher ethic and purpose.
While God was not a mentioned in the movie, I found myself reflecting over how modern culture shapes our view of God. What makes me intrigued with a “war movie,” but not allow my mind to shape God in the fashion of a “warrior.” It seems like the church has shaped God into a buddy we hang-out with at Starbucks, and who just may shop at Bath and Body for hand-cream, rather than a God who is a warrior. Even in reading this, there are some of you cringing.
Yet, God is a warrior. He fought for His people in their desire to occupy Canaan. There in a military textual tradition, God fought for His people in an emphatic measure (count the imperatives in Joshua 10:10). Then, if that was not enough, for good measure, God sent the grand cataclysm of the hailstones from the heavens (Joshua 10:11). The Psalmist asks, “Who is the King of glory” (24:8)? The response: The LORD strong and mighty…The LORD mighty in battle (24:8b). In the end, Jesus will come again….He will come as a triumphant warrior (Revelation 19:11).
Let’s stride to nuance our image of God to include the idea that our God is warrior…He will win!
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