In the Lord's Army

“We are able to go up to take a county
And possess the land from Jordan to the sea
But the Lion may be on our way to thither
But God will surely grant the victory, Alleluia!

Only,
Move on to the right hand side, move on, to the right hand side Move on, to the right hand side of God!
Al-le-lu-ia Move on to the right hand side, move on to the right hand side Move on, to the right hand side of God!”

That song is one of the British folk hymns adopted by Nigeria my mom sung all the time to get us in a worshipful mood before prayer. I can be coaxed to sing it to you but it wouldn’t be as good as when mom does it. When I was young, I used to imagine mainly the lion mention in the song and make roaring sounds whenever the song came to that part. I would think of a menacing lion standing in my path and around then the scariest thing that came to mind was Scar from The Lion King.
My focus now is not so much the lion, represented as Satan, but rather the significance of being on the right hand of God. The song repeatedly informs us to “move on” to God’s right hand. In scripture, we see that the right hand repeatedly is used to denote a position of honor for those who do the will of God, the most famous one to occupy God’s right being Jesus Christ of course. But we tend to envision being on one’s right in the context of being seated, rather with God at His throne or with Christ at the head of the table.
I’ve recently been reading a book that helped me reexamine what it means to be on God’s right hand, especially on a military campaign to attain the promises of God. In the book I’m reading about the history of Poland, it turns out that from at least the middle ages onward, in every army the right flank or side was the position of honor sine the right was supposed to do most of the fighting, take most of the damage, and really turn the tide in battles. Furthermore, the strongest generals were always assigned to the right flank to set the tone and determine the success of the battle. Also, there is the fact that if you are going to be fighting a battle, you have to be fighting for someone, for something. Knights in the middle ages fought on behalf of their lords, how much more so should we for our Lord of Lords and King of Kings?
God wants us to give Him the opportunity to have our back, in battle, in personal relationships, and in the positions and jobs that we have. He offers us the position of honor at his table, throne, and in the midst of battle against the enemy. Its odd, we have a religion that gives the greatest blessings to the individual, as long as the individual is selfless and humbled. But it is better to be humbled under God than humiliated by Satan.
There will always be areas in our lives where we cut God off completely because we know his intervention in them would be hard to deal with. But the way God looks at that is us rushing out on our own out there like a single horseman who charged early against a whole army that is just waiting to pick him off. Even as Christians, our sins don’t just represent stumbles, but times that the devil has taken sniper shots at us as well. The bible refers to them as the flaming darts of the enemy. I am not trying to say our sins are not our fault, but it is much easier for the devil to pick us off when we disobey God and charge out by ourselves, leaving us a very vulnerable and tempting target. As I write this I am thinking of the areas in my life where I do not want God to be the general, to give the orders and have my discipline.
I’m struck by the fact that this all speaks to discipline. An undisciplined army, not matter the size, it utterly compromised. God wants to be the Lord of the little things in lives as well as the big. It may make Him seem like a drill sergeant, but one who gives more grace than barks in your face. Even a drill sergeant knows that although his troops may not see it, their success and survival on the day of battle depends on their obedience to him on the training ground. From the reading in Psalms today, it shows how disobedience on the battlefield is reflective to disobedience and faithlessness in one’s Lord:

“Like as the children of Ephraim * who being harnessed, and
carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle. They kept
not the covenant of God * and would not walk in his law; But
forgat what he had done * and the wonderful works that he had shewed
for them.”

This is after the Psalmist talks about how important it is to tell the deeds and
the law of God to one’s children, so that they may have a rewarding faith their
forefathers did not enjoy. I think about the treachery that befell William
Wallace in Braveheart. The Scottish nobility abandoned him on the day of battle
and helped the British instead because they already had a Lord they were more
loyal to, themselves.

Like Brianne was saying about the impact that we have upon each other in our obedience and relationship to God, we should realize that our selfish choices can put a lot more than just us in jeopardy, especially when we don’t see the big picture. An army can be routed by the disobedience of one faction, but in Christ we have a foundation that the gates of hell cannot overcome. Why when do we choose to expose ourselves, leave this protection and do our own will when we have a such a mighty fortress to fall back to and advance from? Why are we even fighting this battle, running this race that is the Christian faith? Because we are building a kingdom in both this world and the next, for all of us to enjoy each other and enjoy Him. And God wants you involved and needs your obedience.