Do unexpected panic attacks leave you anxious and fearful? Although such attacks have no basis in logic or reason they threaten your peace of mind — even your sanity. These attacks come from behind without warning and leave you in a state of dismay and confusion. You might even feel like you’re choking! God’s people need to know how to survive the unexpected.
Israel’s most implacable enemy had a history of hatred. Amalek was the grandson of Esau, the brother of Jacob (Genesis 36:12). His tactic was to attack from behind, so as to kill the slow, the weak and the weary (Deuteronomy 25:17). His name means “a strangler of the people” — “one who comes from behind to choke”.
Nowadays we say that a person “chokes” when he or she is in a position to win but is suddenly overcome by a sudden attack of fear or self-doubt. It’s like hearing footsteps coming from behind. If so, it could be ‘Amalek’!
Amalek was born in bitterness and raised in rage over past issues. Esau’s spiteful descendant took revenge on Israel at every possible opportunity. He attacked when least expected so as to cause panic, dismay and disarray. God decreed “The seed of Agag shall never be exalted”. (The cunning Haman is but one example.)
The object of surprise in warfare is to weaken the enemy’s will to resist through a sudden and unexpected turn of events. But the Apostle Paul writes: “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Present your needs to God and thank Him for the things He’s already done [listing them out loud].” (Philippians 4:6) Doubts enter through gaps that open between our small fears and God’s great assurances.
What’s your ‘Amalek’ — the thing that attacks you unexpectedly from behind? The thing that has dogged your footsteps all your life and attacked you at times when you were weakest? It might be the nagging doubt that intrudes on your dreams or those that attack your daytime thoughts “out of the blue” when least expected?
Christians attacked verbally for no apparent reason wonder what they must have said or done to the person to make them speak so angrily and with such unexpected vitriol. I advise them not to seek logic where it does not exist. Satan is hellbent on destruction. Jesus warned that offences would come but pronounced a grim “woe” on those through whom they would come.
Christians need to be aware that devils dress themselves in people who — if not cut short — will dump their verbal garbage into your mind and walk away — leaving you to dispose of their odorous accusations and rotting criticisms.
Those who reject the rule of God and persecute new believers in Christ who’ve come “out of Egypt” and are intent on “entering into” the promises of God — these are the Amalekites of today. But how can you protect yourself against panic attacks that come through flesh and blood people yet have a spiritual origin?
The spiritual condition among the Israelites that allowed Amalek to first attack them is apparent in the doubts and fears they were manifesting. “Is the LORD among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7) “Then came Amalek…” Such doubts and questions open the way for the enemy to attack the weak and the weary from behind at times least expected.
Expressions of unbelief in God who has delivered us out from the authority of darkness and transported us into the kingdom of His Son should never be voiced because they open gaps in the mind’s defenses. We need to close these gaps to survive the unexpected.
The “gap” in our defense is the open mouth, which we use so often to question God’s will or purpose in life. Unless we open it to praise the Lord, or to rejoice in God’s promises, or to tell others of His great salvation through Jesus Christ, we’d be better off keeping it firmly closed! Our orders come from Above and are not for us to doublethink, much less question.
As any Army sergeant says on hearing the above: “NO TALKING IN THE RANKS!”