Viva La Resistencia!

Finally winding down from a WONDERFUL anniversary weekend with my wife Stephanie in St. Augustine, FL.  Although it's only an hour away from home, it seems like a different world; and on this trip, it felt like we went back in time, too.

On Saturday, we braved the 95+ temps and took a midday tour of the Castillo de San Marcos.  The Castillo  was built by the Spanish between 1672 and 1695, and protected its inhabitants (and St. Augustine) through several skirmishes, battles, invasions, and wars, including the American Revolution and the Civil War.  It was designed to be perfect for defense against both land and sea aggression.

It's a pretty amazing structure; cannons & mortars everywhere, moats, man-made hills, lookout towers...and when you look at it from above, it's shaped like a Chinese throwing star!  But the most interesting feature of all was the structure itself - the coquina walls.  More on that later...

In James 4:7, we're ordered to "submit to God", but in his very next breath,  James tell us to "resist the devil..."  The devil is a manipulator - one who uses circumstances to set people up to make the worst, most selfish and prideful decisions possible.  Peter says, "Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8).

At the Castillo, guards were ALWAYS patrolling the top of the structure, keeping a watchful eye at the land and the sea.  The moment they spotted any enemy, coming from anywhere, they were ready with these cannons to repel whomever was coming to take over.  If by land, they filled the cannons with anti-personnel shot that blew shrapnel everywhere.  If by sea, they fired up the shot furnace, heated up cannonballs until they were red hot, then fired them into the wooden ships, which would then catch fire and sink.  They were serious about protecting their fort.

We should be serious about protecting our relationship with God, too.  In Ephesians 6, we're told to defend ourselves against the devil with truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the Spirit (God's Word), and prayer.  A humble person knows they need all these things to stand firm and defend what is important.

Earlier, I mentioned that the Castillo's walls were made of coquina.  Coquina, which is also called 'shellstone', is a somewhat soft stone comprised of seashell, coral, and mineral calcite, and it's not the heftiest of rock.  In fact, it breaks pretty easy when force is applied to it.  So why would the Spaniards built a fort out of it?  As it turns out, it was perfect for them because of how it broke.  Without getting to into the physics of it all, stone walls didn't do a very good job of holding up under cannon fire - they'd crack, crumble, shatter, and fall apart pretty quickly.  Not so with coquina; cannonballs would actually sink into it, and if they made it through, they come to a stop in the sand the Spaniards had packed in behind the walls.  With this setup, the walls would absorb the cannon fire without giving up much rigidity.

As we resist the devil, we have to know we're going to take some fire.  Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail"(Lk. 22:31-32).  Back to Ephesians 6:16, where Paul says, "...take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."  We must continually make sure our faith is strong...it will stop Satan's attacks in their tracks.

One final note about the Castillo: it wasn't exactly what you'd call a five-star resort, and the guys stationed there weren't exactly living the high life.  They slept on wool bags filled with spanish moss, they ate whatever they could hunt or fish for (or whatever spanish gumbo their wives brought them from town), and they had to roast in the Florida sun wearing four layers of wool military uniform.  It was hot, sticky, stinky, and miserable.  But, because they believed in what they were defending, they endured the less-than-ideal conditions and did their duty.

James says your job is to "resist the devil".  Peter says the devil is "looking for someone to devour".  Satan wants YOU.  And he wants to destroy you, and everything you love.  He wants to isolate you, confuse you, and punish you.  And he won't stop trying, because you're pain is valuable to him; he knows that, as you lay there bleeding, he gets to hear God weeping.  He knows that you're valuable to God.  Do you hear that?  You are worth defending, because God finds worth in you.  Actually, by creating you, he has assigned worth to you.  You may not be very comfortable right now; in fact, you may be suffering terribly, just like the Spanish soldiers were...or worse.  But you have to endure.  Every day, make it point to understand that you will come under attack because to God, you're worth the fight Satan is putting up.

One more VERY important thing:  "...and he will flee from you".  That's the second half of James' order regarding Satan.  If you have performed that reality check, embraced the truth, submitted to God, and are living in faith while clinging to the truth, the devil will run.  Why?  Because he's not strong enough to break down those walls, face that cannon fire, and take over the fortress that is you.  Take a moment to let that sink in...

Viva la Resistencia!