“At God’s command amazing things happen, wonderful things that we cannot understand.” (Job 37:5)
They don’t receive a formal invitation in the mail. Nor are they verbally invited to the party. Yet, there they are, fixing a plate of food at the buffet table, doing their moves on the dance floor, and mingling with the guests. They are the outsiders, the intruders. They are the unwanted, the unwelcomed. They are the party crashers! And it is difficult to get them to leave.
God is one of them. In fact, he is the biggest party crasher of all time. He showed up when the Israelites were being defeated by the Philistines in the valley of Elah. The sight of their jumbo giant, Goliath sent the trembling Israelites running to their tents hiding under their covers in fear (I Samuel 17). This made the over-confident Philistines partying a premature victory. But then, God crashed their party! He didn’t show up with a mighty army or a legion of angels. He didn’t enter with a rushing wind or surrounded by a blast of trumpets. God crashed the party with a little freckle-faced kid named David, who had a sling shot sticking out of his back pocket. And you know the rest of the story.
It was the early morning hours when Gideon and his meager army of 100, faced an army of Midianites in a valley near the hill of Moreh. An intimidating prospect for such a small band of inexperienced soldiers (Judges 7). But then, God crashed the party! He brought no reinforcements, no back-up battalion, no F15 fighter jets. God came solo to this battle, and when he did Gideon and his band of merry men could only stand at ease around the edge of the Midianite camp and watch as God caused their enemy turn on one another with their swords. The defeated and confused Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
And who can forget King Belshazzar’s big bash. The arrogant king and his guests were merrily drinking wine from the gold and silver goblets his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from God’s temple in Jerusalem. But then God crashed the party by taking out his Bic and writing on the palace walls – “God has numbered the days of your reign. You have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up. Your kingdom has been divided.” (Daniel 5:26-28). That brought the party to a screeching halt.
Here is my point: It doesn’t matter how much the devil is dancing all over our life right now. It makes no difference how large and intimidating his giants appear to be to us. It means nothing that he is attacking us with his weapons. And it doesn’t matter how boisterous his celebrating over our weaknesses appears to be. It matters not how lavish his buffet table is, nor how loud his band is playing. The most important thing we can do while the devil is partying, is to in faith pray and trust God. Then wait and watch for the King of Kings to show up and crash the party!
Darlene