by Jill Larsen
My church went into battle
And what a funny sight
They hardly had their armor on
So they couldn’t fight.
Helmets were on almost all
But shields there were few
And rarely did I see a sword
Poor defense I knew.
The breastplate of righteousness
Had long been left behind
But in it’s place sharp, fiery darts
Were all I could find.
But then what really shocked me
Was when I saw their hands
They had no belt of truth on so
They held up their pants.
Over-sized shoes too heavy
They surely held their peace
But their feet were so cumbersome
Few steps were released.
To make it worse, one brave man
Approached the watching crowd
For they had no armor on, and
didn’t make a sound.
Earnestly he called to them
“You need God! Follow me!”
But his pants fell to his ankles and
The crowd laughed with glee.
“Just look at you,” they told him,
“You can’t stop fiery darts
You say you have the answers but
You just fell apart.”
The man gave up and walked away
Mooning the crowd behind
He hid behind the others and
Threw his shield aside.
As I watched I thought aloud
“If not for God my King,
I think I’d say the same.” Instead,
I began to sing.
“Holy, holy, holy,
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come.”
Revelations 4:8b
Who knew it would mean so much?
Praise is an awesome thing
And as the others joined my song
The darts lost their sting.
One by one we grabbed our swords
And then picked up our shields
Singing louder we got our belts
Less shoes we did wield.
We then shined up our helmets
Our singing shook the ground
Then last we put our breastplates on
Righteousness now found.
The crowd around stopped laughing
As darts fell to the dust
True praise and righteousness restored,
God stood around us.
Isaiah 58:8
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Isaiah 61:11
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.