Ephesians 6:16 “in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
This is a great metaphor. We first must realized that we are at war. The devil seeks to destroy us. If he can’t do that, he would love us to be ineffective or self absorbed. He will send his darts to do his work.
C.S. Lewis describes the battle wonderfully in The Screwtape Letters. The darts that are sent are mainly thoughts. They explode inside us. Sometimes they are time released. They may not do their dirty work until later.
These are thoughts of doubt, shame, selfish indulgance and more. All of these things we have had plenty of practice with. It would be easy to get the cycle going again. They enter as thoughts, but they trigger emotions, shame, passions and more. That’s when they become dangerous. It’s like the engine is on, warmed up and there is momentum. It almost has a life of it’s own. The imagery in the passage is fiery darts. A tiny flame is easily extinguished. However, a large fire has it’s own energy and often doesn’t die out until it runs out of fuel or oxygen.
Following the analogy of a fire, let’s focus on what is the fuel/oxygen. The dart is some sort of attack. It may be an accusation of how selfish I am. The efficient attack is the one that has an element of truth. The first problem is when we zoom in and focus on it. This is part of the fuel. We scan our lives and much like a magnet will attract steel splinters, so several examples of our selfishness come into focus. The more the evidence, the greater our shame. As we zoom in closer, we begin to get depressed. More fuel on the fire. It start as a match, then goes to a campfire. After a while an energetic bonfire is going.
Another attack is aimed at our passions. These don’t need much to be set on fire. 1 Peter 2:11 says, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” These are more destructive. These feel like our person has been hijacked. These are major victories for the devil. Shame of all sorts come with these.
How to use the shield. The darts hit us. Our faith rejects the message of the dart. It pivots to a different direction. Almost ignoring the attack. For example, we may feel shame over a particular sin. However, we’ve confessed, received forgiveness and moved on long ago. This is ground that already has been covered. The repair work has been done. When we feel shame, faith believes that it’s been dealt with. It’s over. Faith doesn’t need convincing. It can pivot elsewhere.
Faith isn’t soley a mental exersize. It’s not just positive thinking. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It’s a type of confidence, but not generated only by human effort. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” As we hear the bible, it’s planted in us like a seed. It grows into faith. It’s divine.
Faith comes from hearing God’s word. However, it’s our choice to exersize it. When the dart hits, we decide to lift up the shield to deflect it. There is an odd comfort in wallowing in our own guilty self. Sometimes we choose selfishness over growth. That’s a different topic all together.
Lord, help us to use the faith You give us. Help us to stay in Your Word to cultivate that faith. Help us to be skilled in deflecting those darts.