There exists the notion that victory speaks only of joy, peace, love, rest in their counterfeit forms, the wishy-washy, mushy-gushy kind that has no place in reality. This song expresses the reality. There is war before victory. With war comes bloodshed, hard times, threatenings, loss and destruction, but the victory is there in real terms, earned and established by the Lord.
We wash our feet in the blood of our enemies;
Not in vain have we believed for our victories;
Though the trek has been long and full of miseries,
Still the worth has been there all the time.
CHORUS:
We are crowned with the helmet of His glory,
Our scabbard filled with the power of His Word;
Though the battle is bloody and gory,
His life He gives by the good news which is heard.
Not in vengeance nor in spite do we revel;
We wrestle not with flesh and blood but the devil;
We fill the valleys and the mountains we do level;
Our goal is righteousness and peace in all the earth.
There was a time when on our backs all men did trample,
At times unbearable if only but a sample,
But His grace He gave to us was more than ample;
He is the Captain of the hosts and our Lord.
Let the powers of Hell advance and do their utmost.
Here on earth we will stand guard at our outpost.
Standing for us, all around us is the Lord’s host;
There is nothing in this whole world to fear.
Lethbridge, AB; February 12, 1985
Related posts:
Twice in my life has the Lord enlightened me on this person in particular, once by revelation without the experience and the second time by a taste of what Job suffered, taking me back to my mother's womb, my earthly origins. It is not our righteousness.
I knew a man by whom I met Judas Iscariot. Judas, I learned, was a glory seeker, one who wanted in on the best this world had to offer and who was prepared to betray any association to get what he wanted. Ironically, what he wanted was belonging, acceptance, social security. He lost it all or rather, lost all opportunity of gaining such because he never did have it.
"The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." At the time I wrote this, I sincerely thought and desired that I would give anything and everything. I haven't changed on that except that the Lord has given me more since then and the more I have, the less possible it seems that I can give all. I now have a son and am much more appreciative of what it cost God to give His Son. We have these sincere thoughts as did Peter on the last night but to perform is terribly difficult and even impossible, I say. Only by the grace of God can we give Him everything and it is not without pain if we have that which is valuable to us to give. But being a jealous God, we must surrender all to Him and He is faithful, patiently and mercifully enabling us to do His will.