How to be on Your Best Guard

“Be on your best guard because the wicked also have lamps. Remember, David had his sling and stones before he left camp.”  - Michael Apa

I have been at war with myself for a long time now. Even the process of writing this blog post has been exceptionally difficult. Navigating trauma, depression, anxiety and homesickness while trying to build up a business and be present at home with my family has proven to be very taxing. Of the two-liners I have released, this one holds a special place in my heart because, in a lot of ways, I feel like I have to wake up every morning armed to the teeth with my sling and stones. 

I will dissect this two-liner, explaining what it means to me, and as a result, I hope that it encourages those of you who feel the war raging inside of yourselves. 

LIGHT + LAMP

Light is symbolic of The Word of God here. Lamp is symbolic of the heart and mind. Proverbs 4:20-21, 23 fortifies this, saying that the heart is from which the springs of life flows.   

In this context, light equals knowledge, education, information, proof, or the opposite of darkness.

When the Bible talks about “being a light” (Luke 8:16-17), it’s talking about when people see your everyday conduct, words and actions. 

The meaning of lamp is two-fold, as its application is dependent on for whom it’s intended. When it comes to acting as a lamp to others, we lead by actions and words. But when it comes to being a lamp for ourselves, our thoughts are our lamps. A lamp leads our feet to either a good path or a bad path. Through prayer, we are looking for the good light, or Christ himself. Jesus is the mediator between God and humanity (1 Timothy 2:5-6). 

The three wicked lamps in the world consist of:

1). our carnal nature (or human nature, as a result of the Fall in Eden, motivated and tainted by sin),

2). the world (or the yeast of the Pharisees; i.e., culture, religion and various other ideologies the world stands by),

3). Satan and his angels

If you think about it, it’s kind of like we’re the fish of the sea, and the sea is poisoned. The ways of the world are poison to the body, and the pathways in which the poison can access lead to an entire body filled with poison.

Matthew 6:22-23 says,  

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (ESV)

The darkening of our eyes starts when we dwell in the opposite of faith– when we start believing only in what we can see. Since God is a spirit, our eyes (or our lamp) will become dark when we doubt Him. 

I see this as an “if/then” statement–

If we have faith and believe in the things of God that are not seen, and we put our lamp on the lampstand (Matthew 5:15), then good works will shine. Our works won’t be good if our lamp is dark, because our whole body will be dark, as our light originated from the light of this world, which by nature, is darkness itself. (2 Corinthians 4:4) 

The bad light is formed from Satan, veiling the minds of unbelievers and anybody who doubts. The only way he can reach our mind –since he cannot create anything– is by tampering with the things we see, feel and hear. By influencing our minds, he has a foothold in our actions.   

SLING + STONES

The sling and stones represent a habit of prayer, applying the blood of Christ in prayer, reading the Bible, as well as seeking Him and His kingdom. Jeremiah 1:9-10 says, 

“Then, the LORD put his hand and touched my mouth and the LORD said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’” (ESV)

It is the Word of God that has the power to destroy strongholds in us. 

Ecclesiastes 3:8 states that there is “a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace”. This is similar diction or language used when people discuss a nation’s policies, war politics, etc. A time of war comes before a time of peace. However, this “war” is internal, as Matthew 7:1-5 explains. We have to hate the things in us that aren’t of God’s nature. This verse was particularly poignant for me, as I really have had to identify, hate and then consequently, put to death so many elements of my carnal nature, as a result of events that happened a little over a year ago. This is a daily death. 

Through prayer and applying the blood of Christ in prayer, we are given “the authority to tread on  serpents and scorpions” (Luke 10:19) with the same weapon that Christ used, which was His Word (Luke 4:1-13). 

When we “leave camp” everyday to make ends meet, Psalms 119:105 is a great verse to memorize and meditate on.  2 Corinthians 3:3 and Jeremiah 31:33 states that God wants to purify our hearts and write His law within us so that our hearts can tell our feet where to go and where not to go (according to His will). 

____

Well, that’s all for now. If you found this to be encouraging, I’d love to hear from you! I really want to get the conversation going. Comment your musings below, or on social media (FB or Instagram)! 

The two-liner that I talked about is actually available on drinkware across the US, complete with my wife’s original design (it’s drawn all with one line– it’s very cool)! If you want to help support One Little Big Shop, click here to check out our David + Goliath collection, or feel free to poke around the site to see what suits your style. 

Thanks for reading. 

More to come, 

Michael