“He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.”
The words above come from Isaiah 49:2. In this text, I believe that the Lord has concealed a promise to any who would seek him. I believe that he has agreed to turn his faithful servants into weapons of warfare, by which He intends to prosecute the end time destruction of our foes. I believe that there are several important things that we can take away from this passage regarding our transformation into weapons of spiritual warfare:
Arrows begin as trees. Through the process of taking a piece of wood and turning it into an arrow, much of the wood must be sacrificed in order to reveal the true, straight shaft within. Likewise, we must be willing to sacrifice much of ourselves in order to become weapons of warfare for the kingdom of God. Every time you fast and seek the Lord, you are allowing him to fashion you into a weapon. Every time you forsake your flesh and make a decision for purity, you are allowing Him to hack another piece of wood off of you, revealing the polished shaft.
Swords are sheathed, arrows are in the quiver. This passage makes reference twice to being “concealed” and “put in a quiver.” I’d like to submit that the coming revolution of purity and power is not about personal recognition. We are to be quietly developed into nameless, faceless warriors and then hidden in the Lord’s quiver until the moment of battle is at hand.
An arrow, when fired at the wrong time, gives away the position of the entire army. However, when fired at the correct time, the arrow strikes fear into the heart of your opponent. It causes him to alter his battle strategy. It wreaks havoc in the enemy camp. We must wait for the appointed time.
Swords and bows are both controlled by the soldier. We are the sword and the arrows. Jesus is the soldier who will employ us in the coming battle. Just as an arrow has no say over which direction it is launched, we must be submissive to the will of the supreme marksman. We must have faith that the direction that he sends us is the direction we were intended to go. We must have faith in the timing of his employment of our sharpened tips.
There are many arrows in a quiver. Some must be fired before others. Your friends may receive their mandate for the coming war before you do. Fear not. The Lord doesn’t make mistakes.
