Isaiah 54:17  no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,   and this is their vindi-cation from me,” declares the Lord.

    Parents often have to make difficult decisions for their children. Decisions that may not be immediately understood by the child. The parent sees that short-term pain is often neces-sary for long-term pleasure. For example, a parent takes a child to a doctor for an injection knowing that shot will hurt! But a lifetime free from the debilitating effects of polio are worth it! The parent has, in that case, the long view in mind. 

    God always has the long view in mind. When Isaiah was inspired to write that “no wea-pon forged against you will prevail” it is God’s long view that makes sense of this. For the ori-ginal recipients of this writing certainly could have pointed to more pain that they faced. But God has made us for eternity. He always has that in mind. He also knows the enemy of our soul and his designs and can say with confidence that if stay close to God, no weapon will prevail! Prevailing is a long-term condition.

    We also read that “you will refute every tongue that accuses you.” But surely there have been times that you walked away from a verbal confrontation and thought “I wish I had thought to say…”? Again, if our viewpoint is on today, that must certainly be true and this verse just wishful thinking. But God always has the long view. A personal insult may not be pleasant, but in view of eternity is insignificant. What if the “tongue that accuses you” is Satan? He is the accuser of the brethren. What are his accusations? “You are wasting your time reading the Bible! Nobody really reads that any more, it’s so old!” “Going to church? Who does that? Don’t you realize that the church is full of hypocrites?” “You don’t really give 10% of your income to the church do you! Think what you could do with all that money?” 

    Yes, Satan’s accusations seem to never end. But as I live my life with God, trusting in Him, obeying Him, reading His Word, my very life will be the refutation of those words of accusation! Wasting my time in the Bible?! I learn the very mind of God when I read it! Going to church?! I join with my brothers and sisters in Christ in corporate worship of our living God! Giving a tithe (10%) of my income?! God has blessed me so much in my life and always seems to make the 90% go farther than I’d have thought!

    The greatest vindication of the servants of the Lord will be eternity with Him, of course, but living for Him now is the downpayment of that vindication! God always has the long view in mind. You could also say that short-term pain often produces long-term pleasure. But never forget that the opposite is almost always terribly, obviously true. Short-term pleasure often produces long-term pain. 

    We have a heritage from the Lord! An inheritance! And it is worth having!

    

Blessings