In Captivity

 Today I was thinking about the Roman siege against Jerusalem. Not because I have exhausted every other topic, but because a friend mentioned it on his social media. He was mourning the destruction of HaMikdash (the Temple) and said a few things that contradicted Josephus, the historian that recorded the whole long ordeal, but I didn't contradict him. Instead I'm writing a blog about it :)))

In all fairness, it has left a deep wound on the Jewish soul everywhere and every Tisha B'Av they mourn their loss. But I am not writing about the wound of a nation. I could never do it justice in explaining that pain. But it got me thinking about the siege itself.

If you read Josephus' account The Jewish War, he goes into every detail of what it was like on both sides. It has been a gruesome, torturous and long event. It began on the 14^th of April, a few days before Pesach (Passover) and lasted until Tisha B'Av in August. The Roman legions surrounded the city and tried to cut off all supplies. They encountered a harsh resistance from the Jewish Zealots which often ended up fighting among themselves as well as trying to defend themselves. They didn't just surrender, they put up a fight. The walls collapsed slowly and the population kept retreating to wherever the walls held up. But in the end the siege succeeded and Romans won. They killed a massive number of people, armed and unarmed and those that couldn't flee, they enslaved and carried large numbers to serve as entertainment in gladiatorial fights. It's a sad, sad story where the only happy ending was for Josephus, whom turned against his own people and joined the Romans.

I started thinking about Paul's words to the Corinthians. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2Corinthians 10:4-5)

Paul is using military language. He's describing a siege tactic. He's talking about a spiritual fight that happens in the mind and he suggests that we should employ the same ruthless tactics of a siege to overcome whatever you need to overcome in order to follow God. Whatever setback, whatever sin, whatever evil that has made a stronghold in you, you HAVE to attack it and if that doesn't work, you have to lay siege to it until it's demolished. It might take you a long time, you might encounter resistance, in fact you will for sure, but that's alright. Arm yourself with patience and grace. Rejoice in every small victory and don't be discouraged by any loss, because if you stay on it long enough and are relentless enough, it will fall. The Babylonian walls have collapsed even though they were 85 feet wide. There's hope for your walls to collapse as well.

Once everything withing you that has rebelled against what you know God is and what His word says, then you take that thought and put it in chains and enslave it without any mercy, by submitting it to Christ.

It sounds ruthless. That's because it is. The good news is that if you're smart, you'll probably have to use siege only a few times in your lifetime. If you happen to be like me, a bit on the slow side, you'll probably have to use it more often than I care to admit in this article. But the point is, it works.

It's painful, it's exhausting, but believe this if you believe nothing else: IT WORKS.

We might be sent like lambs among the wolves which makes us food basically, but we're not defenseless. We have been given weapons. The only ones that do work which are only effective if you stay close to The Lord. So follow close to Him, even if you have to drag in chains after you every little thought you've taken captive.

by Cristina Pop