#134: Surrounded!
Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there and they came by night and surrounded the city.
II Kings 6:14 NKJV
When battle lines are drawn and two armies engage in fighting it is the goal of each army to rout the other. Victory is generally achieved in one of two ways: 1) by one army pushing the whole of the second army in retreat through a frontal assault; or 2) by one army attacking the side or rear of the second army (a flanking maneuver) so that the second army must defend two sides at the same time and retreat or risk a collapse of its lines. The most dreaded position for any army to find itself in is when both sides of its lines are outflanked and the enemy encircles their position. The Battle of Thermopylae, Stalingrad, and the Falaise Pocket, all were brought to a successful conclusion by the victors through encirclement of their enemies. With nowhere to retreat, supply lines cut, and battle raging on all sides, eventually the circle is made smaller and smaller until the encircled army surrenders or is wiped out.
The armies of Syria were no novices of war. As they went to Dothan they approached it by night and before any defense could be laid out by the town guard, before any arrows were exchanged or any aid could come from Israel’s army, the Syrian army surrounded Dothan, cutting it off from any outside help.
The position of Dothan should remind us of the position of the Christian and the church. The Christian is in the world, surrounded by the world, and Christ’s church is always under siege by the world. The Psalmist speaks of this in Psalm 118, “All nations surrounded me…they surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me…They surrounded me like bees.” In military terms, encirclement is often synonymous with surrender and defeat, but not so for the Christian and the Church. Encirclement is where we live the Christian life.
Recognizing you are surrounded, will you live in fear, retreat, or give up to the world? Or will you stand firm in the middle of the encircling enemies? For many years the evangelical church has been doing little but retreat. J Gresham Machen made an analogy to the church being a fortress with many layers of walled defenses. Some of her defenses are the miracles of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Christ, the inerrant Word of God, the substitutionary atonement of Christ for sinners, and the virgin birth of Christ. If the church concedes to the world and rejects one or several of her truths, she gives up her defenses and withdraws further inside the fortress. Over time with the world pressing further and further into her fortress and overwhelming her faith and doctrine she finds at the end that she looks much like the world for she has lost all of her outer walls of truth. We must not fall back, compromise, or surrender to the world but we must contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.
We may be surrounded on every side but we are not in distress. We are encircled by the enemy but quite the opposite of living in fear, we may live in confidence, for the Lord shall set us high upon a Rock and that Rock is Christ. He will lift us up far above our enemies so that on the high ground they will not be able to overwhelm us. The powers of darkness can never prevail against Christ and His Church. As we wait on the Lord, may He grant us courage, strengthen our hearts, and teach us to patiently wait for Him continuously (Psalm 27).
Do not fear because of encirclement for all who have gone before us in the faith were likewise encircled by the world. The Lord lifted them up above their enemies and will do the same for you if you hold fast to the end. Stand firm dear friends!
“Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident” (Psalm 27:3).
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