FRUSTRATE THE ENEMY!

These troublous days, prayerful Christians have made Psalm 91 their scripture for refuge and strength. In particular, their prayer points have centered majorly on the verses that declare the promise of God to keep us from pestilence and evil on all sides. The good news is that it works! God hears and answers this prayer and keeps His people safe and secure. But will it be right to dwell on the prayer of safety alone? Are God's promises limited to our welfare only? Does He not speak to us in other ways? What does God say about victory through warfare prayers? Does He not instruct, lead and direct in other ways and by other means, especially what to do to our enemies? 

Quite recently I read Psalm 83 and my attention stood still on the words of that apparently hidden chapter in the book of psalms:

Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You...Deal with them as with  Midian, as with  Sisera, as with Jabin at the Brook Kishon, who perished at En Dor, who became as refuse on the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, “Let us take for ourselves The pastures of God for a possession.” O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, are  the Most High over all the earth.(Psalm 83:1-18NKJV).

The Psalm itself is titled 'A Prayer to Frustrate Conspiracy Against Israel.  After reading it severally,  I arrived at the thought that Nigeria at the moment is in the same shoes as Israel wore in days of the Psalmist. The Psalmist quotes the enemy as boasting, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel [Nigeria] may be remembered no more.”...“Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God [Nigeria's South] for a possession.” Then my thoughts grew into questions: What can we do in the face of this predicament? Have we considered not just praying in the defensive and become more offensive? Whatever happened to prayers for victory through warfare? Should we not change our prayer strategy to that of attacking our enemies while we still let God remain our front and rear guard? 

Psalm 83 uses words of warfare. There are other Psalms of warfare in the Bible (Psalms 35, 94, 140, 149, etc.) but 83 specifically addresses the current issues haunting us as a nation. In it the psalmist yells to God, ''Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, “Let us take for ourselves The pastures of God for a possession.” Our enemies wear the same intention as those who strived against God's people of old. Yet God remains the same yesterday, today and forever. He will answer when His chosen ones call to Him in their time of distress. Has He not declared, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” (Ps. 50:15)

The time to upgrade our hitherto acquiescent prayer mode to cries of warfare before God is now. He answered His people in the past, and He will answer us speedily now. Amen.

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