“The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another; because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:43-44 NIV)
Jesus was specifically speaking of the Roman invasion that would occur in 70AD. History books tell us how Rome squashed Jerusalem like a bug under a boot. I remember – from our time in Israel – surveying the remaining evidence of that squashing. To this day, Temple stones lay strewn about below the Temple Mound. The Romans crushed Jerusalem and any other Jewish holdout. They chased the rebels all the way to Masada and into a standoff that lasted three years. Millions of man hours later, Roman troops ascended a manmade siege ramp to ultimately overtake the high altitude fortress. The Jews did not live through the night.
I read Jesus’ words against Jerusalem and my heart remembers similar strains penned by the psalmist. He wasn’t writing of our enemy, but our ally.
“You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and You lay Your hand upon me.” (Psalm 139:4-5 NIV)
The Lord longs to hem us in, also. He wants to surround us, to encircle us with His love and care, to protect us from the siege ramps of our enemy.
It occurs to me this morning that we will be surrounded either way: by the enemy or by our God. There is no neutral territory: no Switzerland for the soul. The soil of our heart will be won over: we alone get to decide which side wins that conquest. Will we surrender and submit to a holy God? Or will we be squashed by the boot of the enemy?
Lord, we finally see our frame as a field being fought over. We can cave to the enemy or we can enter an alliance with You. Either way, we will be surrounded, and eventually occupied. Today we lay down our defenses and surrender our territory to You. Let Your Spirit spill in. Permeate our personal space, Lord. Reign in us and have Your way. We long to belong to You. Amen.