Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!” Joel 3:9-10
“Summers in the eastern Oregon sagebrush are hot, dry, and dusty. When the sun was high the temperature could soar into the 90s, so whenever possible we saved most of the hard labor on the ranch for the early morning or late afternoon and evening, when the cool air drifted up from the river valley below. Sometimes we’d fix irrigation ditches during the heat of the day, which for me was a great excuse to get really wet. I’d tromp along in the ditch, letting the warm muddy water soak my jeans. But most of the time we’d head back to the ranch house for a glass of iced tea. Pop loved his tea sweetened with a healthy dose of sugar, the way they drink it in the South. We’d sit at the kitchen table and have a glass or two and talk about the events of the morning, or a plan he had to sell some cattle at the auction, or how he thought we’d spend the afternoon.
One day late in the summer of my thirteenth year, Pop and I had just come in for our ritual when he stood up and walked over to the window. The kitchen faced south and from there gave a view over a large alfalfa field and then on toward the pastureland. Like most ranchers Pop grew his own hay, to provide feed for cattle and horses he kept over the winter. I joined him at the window and saw that a steer had gotten out of the range and into the alfalfa. I remembered my grandfather telling me that it’s dangerous for a cow to stuff itself on fresh alfalfa; it expands in their stomach like rising bread and could rupture one of their four chambers. Pop was clearly irritated, as only a cowboy can be irritated at cattle. I, on the other hand, was excited. This meant adventure.
“Go saddle up Tony and get that steer,” he said, sitting back in his chair and kicking his boots up on the one in front of him. His demeanor made it clear that he was not going with me; he was, in fact, not going anywhere. As he poured himself another glass of tea my mind raced through the implications of what he’d said. It meant 1 first had to go catch Tony, the biggest horse on the ranch. I was scared of Tony, but we both knew he was the best cattle horse. I had to saddle him up by myself and ride out to get that steer. Alone. Having processed this information I realized I had been standing there for who knows how long and it was time I got going. As 1 walked out the back porch toward the corral I felt two things and felt them strongly: fear … and honor.
Most of our life-changing moments are realized as such later. I couldn’t have told you why, but I knew I’d crossed a threshold in my life as a young man. Pop believed in me, and whatever he saw that I did not, the fact that he believed made me believe it too. I got the steer that day … and a whole lot more….
A young man recently lamented to me, “I’ve been a Christian since I was five-no one ever showed me what it means to really be a man.” He’s lost now. He moved across the country to be with his girlfriend, but she’s dumped him because he doesn’t know who he is and what he’s here for. There are countless others like him, a world of such men-a world of uninitiated men. The church would like to think it is initiating men, but it’s not.
What does the church bring a man into? What does it call him out to be? Moral. That is pitifully insufficient. Morality is a good thing, but morality is never the point. Paul says the Law is given as a tutor to the child, but not to the son. The son is invited up into something much more. He gets the keys to the car; he gets to go away with the father on some dangerous mission.
I’m struck by the poignancy of the scene at the end of the Civil War, just after Appomattox, where General Robert E. Lee has surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. For five years Lee has led the Army of Northern Virginia through some of the most terrible trials men have ever known. You would think they’d be glad to have it over. But Lee’s men hang upon the reins of his horse and beg him not to go, plead for one more chance to “whip those Yankees.” Lee had become their father, had given those men what most of them had never had before-an identity and a place in a larger story.
Every man needs someone like Robert E. Lee, or that brigadier general from the 29th: “You’ve seen how to take a house. Do you understand? Do you know how to do it now?” “Yes, sir.” We need someone like my grandfather, who can teach us how to “saddle up.”
John Eldredge in Wild at Heart (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001) 60-62.
As I feel gifted by God to serve as an apostle and prophet, I love echoing the words of Joel in today’s Scripture: “Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors!’
At GTP part of our work relates to multiplying faithful stewards. We want to rally warriors for God, men and women, around the world. And our focus links to this phrase in the text: “Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”
We invite people to take a course called Journey of Empowerment. On the journey you fix your identity in Christ, you discover how to turn brokenness into blessing around you by practicing the disciplines of fasting, confession, and prayer.
And you discover so much more. The current cohort of about 100 stewards from 40 countries is learning this now. The next cohort for Journey of Empowerment runs in October. But why mention it?
Wherever we are, whether or not we take the course, changing our situation links to rooting our identity in Christ, setting aside our desires, and confessing that we are the problem and God is the solution.
And from there, in prayer, we ask God to come do a new thing. But the reality is, the evil one does not want that to happen, and he will do everything in his power to stop it.
We are in a battle and the weak can proclaim they are strong, not because of the size of their muscles but because of the size of their God. But, the reality is, that most people are just scared, moral people.
They do what society expects of them. They don’t ruffle anyone’s feathers. As a result, they will never saddle up Tony and never wrangle any steers. Where do you fit in this picture?
As for me, my job is to “Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors!’ If you care to join me, first you need to saddle up!