This past Monday, our nation was shaken by the insane killing of three 9-year-old children and three adults at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. For me and my family, it was/is especially devastating. One of the children is the daughter of the senior pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church. We know him well and are grieving sorely for him and his family and the Church family. Additionally, the sister of a Dallas friend’s wife was a substitute teacher that day and was one of the victims.
It reminds us that no place is actually safe from this kind of action. It is insane and it is satanic. The devil prowls around seeking someone to devour. And usually he uses people as his instruments of deadly destruction. You ask, “How could this happen at a Christian school for young people?” The heart of man is evil and there are no boundaries on what he is capable of.
Joel gives us an insight into what we are called to do as the body of Christ to combat evil in our neighborhood, city, state and nation, actually around the world. Read the above verses again. Joel concludes with this. ‘Between the vestibule and the altar let the priest, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
Non-believers are quick to mock our God that would allow these kinds of things to happen. We know that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual powers in the heavenly places. That is why we must stand firm and embrace what Joel has prophesied for us while in this world. It is a spiritual battle and can only be won by spiritual means. Jesus is the only answer!
