On Wednesday we noted one portion of Deborah’s song found in Judges 5, but this week, notice Judges 5:23 with me:

‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord,
‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly,
Because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord against the mighty.’

I find this verse particularly interesting because an entire nation of people are cursed by the angel of the Lord (which some believe to be Jesus). Now, anytime someone’s cursed, you wonder why – or at least I do. So these people, from Meroz, were cursed because “they did not come to the help of the Lord“. Ouch.

Clearly, this is a problem. If you do not come to the aid of the Lord and His work and His people and His will, you are wrong. How pertinent is this message in a 21st century world? We live in a world that constantly belittles Christ’s message. A world that does not defend the morals given by the inspired Word. A world that would rather enjoy the pleasures of sin for a moment than live in eternity with their Creator.

“But this is the Old Testament God”, some may say. True. The New Testament doesn’t spend a lot of its time cursing people. Instead, it looks to the Christian and exhorts them to be ready to defend.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed (1 Peter 3:15-16). 

 

And don’t forget Ephesians 6 which outlines an entire spiritual armor we are supposed to put on! Why wear armor unless you are attacking and defending something?! In our case, we are defending our Savior. We are defending the truth. And at times that will be difficult, and we’ll be tempted to lay low, but we can’t. Because not defending the Lord is cause for a curse. I know that I don’t want that!

But it’s not enough to defend our Lord. We must defend each other. We must look out for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are doing good works and serving their God. We find this principle in 2 Timothy 4:16, when Paul is giving his final thoughts to Timothy:

At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.

Paul made it a point to defend the Lord. We see that from the book of Acts, and the fact that he ultimately gave his life for the cause. But notice the second part of the verse. People forsook him while he was defending the Lord, and apparently that is a chargeable offense.

We have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are responsible for bearing their burdens, and helping them out of sin (Gal. 6:1-2). We have a responsibility to do good to them as we have opportunity (Gal. 6:10). We have a responsibility to help them financially when they are in need (Romans 15:26-27). And, it seems from 2 Timothy 4:16, we have a responsibility to stand with those who are defending our Almighty Maker.

This week, do what you can to defend the Lord and defend His people. Don’t participate in gossip that tears down your brothers and sisters or the church at large. Don’t share stories or articles that paint Christians in a bad light. Don’t engage in useless arguments that make Christ’s people seem arrogant or rude. However, do pray for our churches and our preachers and our elders and our brothers and sisters who are doing the work. Pray for Kent Brantly and his fight with Ebola. Pray for foreign and domestic missions. Pray for our country and that God’s word can be consulted and followed. Sign petitions and avoid stores that blatantly support abominable things. Don’t find yourself guilty of not defending the Lord.

Are there other ways we can defend the Lord? Share your suggestions in the comments.