A Haunted Cosmos
Joshua 1:9
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Of all the legions of devils that lurk in the shadows, that stalk our souls like lions, with gaping jaws full of gnashing, blood-thirsty teeth, drooling with insatiable bloodlust, of all the weapons fashioned against our faith, artfully manufactured to penetrate our weakest and blindest spots, I wonder: which terrifies you most? What ghoulish guise dismays your heart above all others? What shadowy form are you most frightened to meet when you walk out your front door? It strikes me that the spiritual life can often resemble that old haunted train ride at the State Fair: you buckle into a slow-moving boxcar, twist and turn on a squeaky rail in the dark, only to be startled around every bend by a menagerie of villainous faces and flashes of light and peels of ominous laughter.
Some people are horrified by the unseen realm of demonic powers, afraid to peer behind the weathered boards of a decaying world expecting to find a Moth Man or a chupacabra or a Skinwalker in hidings. They drape their bodies and their houses and their automobiles with good luck charms, hoping to ward off the evil spirits (on my way to church today I drove next to a lady who had an assortment of rabbits feet, beads, and crystals dangling from her rearview mirror). Others are more afraid of flesh-and-blood men than they are ghosts. Afraid of corrupt governing agencies that spy on them, that use their information against them, and steal their data. They fear being unjustly maligned or imprisoned by corrupt officials for a joke out of context or a political opinion or for protesting abortion clinics.
Nevertheless, remember: God is with you wherever you go, friend. He’s bigger than the boogeyman and bigger than Big Tech censors. He’s bigger than Pharaoh and bigger than radical ideologues. That’s why we always have cause to hold our heads high amidst the haunted train ride of cosmic spiritual war. Because the God of the cosmos is in the cart with us, holding our hands, even whispering above the din of those flashing, devilish illusions, “Be still and know that I am God.”