Battle Drill #9: Escape and Evade!

Proverbs 6:1-19 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the ninth battle drill – Escape and Evade!

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 6:1-3:

My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor, have given a pledge for a stranger, if you have been snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of your mouth, do this then, my son, and deliver yourself; since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.

To importune means to beg or beseech, persistently for something or for someone to do something. It means to entreat or implore, to urge or solicit. The Hebrew word RHB, translated “importune” in today’s battle drill, carries an intensity to it that is almost military – to act stormily, boisterously, and angrily. Psalm 138:3 translates RHB, “On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.” God emboldened him with strength in Psalm 138:3, just as God gives you the wisdom in Proverb 6 to know how to escape and evade whatever has ensnared you to your neighbor, whether a financial misstep or your words.

The purpose of the US military’s SERE training is to equip military personnel for the worst scenario – when a mission goes terribly wrong, then they must be able to survive, escape, resist, and escape (SERE) from enemy territory, or even enemy restraint, so that they can return home with honor. In fact, that is the motto of the school, “Return with Honor.”

To understand how I am applying this text to learning how to escape and evade as your battle drill for this week, you need to hear these verses in their context from the Field Manual in its entirety, Proverbs 6:1-19:

My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor, have given a pledge for a stranger, if you have been snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of your mouth, do this then, my son, and deliver yourself; since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids; deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, o sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, o sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest” – your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man. A worthless person, a wicked man, is the one who walks with a perverse mouth, who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who points with his fingers; who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil, who spreads strife. Therefore his calamity will come suddenly; instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing. There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.

We know what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

The end of Proverb 6:3 gives us a threefold answer, “Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.” The Hebrew word translated “go” is hālakh, which we learned all about in my sermon, “Battle Drill #4: Walk in the Way!” based on Proverbs 2:20: “So you will walk in the way of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.” That is our primary strategy, but what happens when you wander out of the way and need to escape and evade from enemy territory and/or enemy restraint, to get back on the paths of the righteous?

The Bible invites us to hālakh in the ancient paths of God (Jeremiah 6:16), in the way of good men (Proverbs 2:20), and in the light of the Lord (Isaiah 2:5). We are to walk in or take on the habitual lifestyle and the customs of God’s commands as our own way of life. As the Mandalorian says when he acts according to the customs of his own people, as peculiar as not taking off his helmet in front of other people and as honorable as putting himself in harm’s way because it’s the right thing to do: “This is the way!”

As one unit, the church of Jesus Christ, we, too, must learn to prioritize this battle drill so that we can escape and evade effectively. The time to walk in the way is this moment just as the day of salvation is today. Proverbs 6:4-19 lays out three key skills to successfully escape and evade:

1) To escape and evade you must act decisively, time is critical (4-5). You may not get another chance to act, so you must seize the moment and not squander the time entrusted to you. Make sure you act wisely and not hastily. Paul teaches us in Ephesians 5:15-21:

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Paul further teaches in Colossians 4:5-6: “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”

2) To escape and evade you must work hard work, effort is required (6-11). One of my favorite passages about this is found in Ephesians 4:28, “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.” Paul says that you if you find yourself out of the way because you are stealing, then get back in the way by working hard, and not just to provide for your own needs, but to share with the one who has in need. It is not enough to simply get right with God, you are asked to labor for the sake of others and get right with those that you have stolen from.

3) To return with honor, convictions must be kept (12-19). There are personal convictions you must keep when you are escaping and evading; otherwise, it would be easy for the ends to justify the means. Paul explained this in Ephesians 4:29-32:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

That is the first part, “Go,” of Proverb 6:3’s threefold answer, “Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.”

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.

It wasn’t until after David returned to the way of God and humbled himself that he was in a place to teach transgressors God’s ways in hopes of seeing sinners converted to God. We cannot do for others what God has not first done for us. The same was true for Peter before he could become the rock of the church. Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22:31-34:

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

Humility puts us in a place where God can use us to impact others because we will not approach our neighbor’s proudly, but humbly, ready to extend to them the same grace, mercy, and compassionate comfort God first gave to us (2 Corinthians 1:4).

And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Then, in John 13:34-35, at the time of Seder Meal, of which you will learn more about next week, Jesus’ gave a new commandment: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” While the command to love was not new, the quality of our love was made new by the sacrifice of the One who commanded us to love as He loved us. We are to love in like-kind with Jesus, not in like-kind with the person we are dealing with.

Love, ultimately, is how we will escape and evade! To treat others as we want to be treated ourselves (Luke 6:31). As Peter commends to us in 1 Peter 4:7-11:

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.

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Battle Drill #8: Watch for Ambushes!

Proverbs 5:1-23 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the eighth battle drill – Watch for Ambushes!

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual. The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 5:21-23, “For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.”

To understand how I am applying this text to learning how to watch for ambushes as your battle drill for this week, you need to hear these verses in their context from the Field Manual in its entirety, Proverbs 5:1-23:

My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding; that you may observe discretion and your lips may reserve knowledge. For the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold of Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life; her ways are unstable, she does not know it. Now then, my sons, listen to me and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house, or you will give your vigor to others and your years to the cruel one; and strangers will be filled with your strength and your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien; and you groan at your final end, when your flesh and your body are consumed; and you say, “How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof! I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to my instructors! I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation.” Drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be exhilarated always with her love. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.

We know what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit. Watching for an ambush is a significant reality in combat missions. An ambush, by definition, is a surprise attack from a concealed position. The primary way to avoid a surprise attack is through a well-chosen route, in other words by learning how to “walk in the way,” but, at times, when you have not avoided an ambush through route selection, you must then learn to look for signs of the enemy by knowing that you have an enemy who is actively scheming against you. As Jesus said of the devil in John 10:10a, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”

The devil is actively seeking any opportunity to defeat you when you are walking in the way of God and one of his primary schemes is to get you out of the way of God, even for just a night, so that he can ambush you to destroy your testimony, rob you of your joy and love, or kill your faith or hope. Listen to passages from God’s Word teaching us this reality of our enemy:

Pay attention to these situations and the circumstances of your life that could cause you to make decisions that you would be ashamed of, decisions that take you off the path and could potentially destroy your witness, rob you of joy, and kill your faith and hope. Apply Paul’s teaching to his protégé in 2 Timothy 2:15-17a, 22-26:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth [this is the AWANA theme verse]. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. … Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Ambushes often occur at night or in the places of our lives where we are not allowing the light of God to shine. Therefore, apply Psalm 119:105 to your daily life, which states, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Invest time with God daily so that the Spirit of God may utilize the Word of God to illuminate every step you take so that you can avoid potential ambush locations by bringing light to darkness. Much of watching for and avoiding enemy ambushes is proper route selection – cry out for discernment and walk in the way, trust God and choose to do good, guard your heart for from it flows life and godliness!

But sometimes ambushes are unavoidable, when the enemy is tenacious to destroy you, and has put you and your ministry in the bullseye, just as he did last weekend to one of our staff members who has been so effectively impacting our church and community through her testimony. I am going to close today’s sermon with a prayer for this staff member and with an admonition that as a faith community we need to watch out for one another, while each of us watch that we don’t find ourselves alone on the way. We are not intended to walk the way alone because when you are alone you are easy prey. Satan is a predator seeking his next prey! We must pray against Him and watch one another’s back while standing firm against him and his schemes together. I conclude with Paul’s words from Galatians 6:1-2, which expresses our need to be in community, especially when it comes to avoiding ambushes:

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the message by clicking HERE.