POSTING A GUARD

Yesterday we talked about the ancient Greek city of Sardis. We learned how the Persian army was able to subdue this great city by sneaking past its seemingly impenetrable walls through a small fault line in the foundation. If you haven't read that post yet, scroll down and read it before continuing.

Wouldn't you think Sardis' king and its government leaders would have learned their lesson from that costly failure and done something to protect themselves from future attacks? Wouldn't you think they would have posted a guard at that fault line? Just sayin'.

But.

Before we get too judgmental, perhaps we'd do well to look at the fault lines we discovered in our own lives and see if we learned our lesson the first time. If you did, well let me say, "WOO HOO, girlfriend! I'm proud of you!" Many times, however, some of the rest of us have to admit we DIDN'T learn what we needed to the first time around. At least, I sure have to say that! Speaking from personal experience, there are vulnerable fault lines in MY life where sin has sneaked its way in over and over and over again. Maybe that's happened to you too.

Let me tell you what happened to Sardis.

Two hundred years after its downfall to the Persians, the city of Sardis was once again under attack. This time it was besieged by the Saleucid king, Antiochus III. For more than a year he battled unsuccessfully to gain entry to the mighty citadel. Perhaps the Sardinian leaders thought they were safe this time. I don't know. What I do know is that they became over-confident. And, they got careless. One night, some of Antiochus' troops climbed the steep cliffs, entered Sardis through the same fault line the Persians had used and found the city unguarded. Once again, Sardis fell!

Regretfully, it didn't HAVE to fall! Not the first time. Nor this time. If Either one of the Sardinian kings had simply posted a guard at at the point of weakness, Sardis might have continued to stand safely on its rocky hill.

Girls, I don't know about you, but I know that I repeat Sardis' same foolish mistake every time I grow careless about the weak areas in my life. I have identified some of my weak areas. . . my most prominent fault lines. [At least the ones God has given me insight into right now. More may come later on.] Have you identified yours?

Once they are identified, we need to do something about it. It's time to quit being careless or over-confident. We need to post a guard at our weak spot so sin can't enter that way again.

How do you post a guard?

You grab hold of the Word of God. What did Jesus use to defeat Satan in His wilderness temptation when He was weak from hunger? He used the Word of God.

Whatever your particular fault line, find two or three scriptures that pertain to that weakness and post them as guards. Memorize them. Meditate on them. Have them at attention and in place.

Then.

When sin tries to creep in that crack in our wall, it will be confronted by a powerful weapon - The Word of God.

For the word of God is living and active.

Sharper than any double-edged sword ...

Hebrews 4:12