That’s the obvious surface form of the siege. But under the surface, there’s another kind of attack – the “flaming arrows of the evil one” described by Paul in Ephesians 6:16. These are in particular temptations to lose hope, fear the future, compromise ethics, withdraw into our own problems, stop loving.
Paul’s solution is “the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one”. How does this help with what Paul had in mind, and in particular how does it help at work?
For the soldier of Paul’s time, a special concern was an attack that involved opponents soaking arrows in pitch, setting fire to them, and then firing them high over the opposing army so that hundreds of them at a time would come down upon the heads of the soldiers. The shields would (in theory) be interlocked over their heads so that the arrows would fall harmlessly and could be extinguished. For us, it seems these burning arrows can fall from any angle, and at any time. That means, the shield must be constantly up and protecting us. Often, it is when our guard is down the most that we are most vulnerable.
Faith is powerful indeed. It will extinguish arrows of doubt, replacing them with the certainty of God’s love and mercy. Faith will snuff out our sense of guilt, replacing it with gratitude for God’s assured forgiveness. And it is by faith that we will defeat fear, through reminders of God’s faithfulness and His perfect plans – fear is thus replaced by hope.
And now to the workplace. When I feel besieged, when it seems that things are all going downhill, I have a tendency to express my frustration, my doubts about the future, and my temptations to just quit and do something more “rewarding” (whether financially or personally, what I mean by this is usually self-centered, not God-centered). What impact does this have on the rest of the staff? Or on my boss, the owner of the company? Let’s be careful here – I’m not talking about the need for us to have faith in the company, or our business model, or our boss, or our future. These are, in fact, all just as uncertain as they feel. What I can bring to our staff is a faith in God that gives perspective, puts priorities in order, shows what is really valuable, and offers hope that God is in fact in control of His creation, and that His plans transcend any short-term financial crisis. This faith isn’t something for me to be proud of – it is a gift of the Holy Spirit, offered to all.
It is faith, ultimately, that helps me see that what I do here is truly worth doing, even if every plan fails, every negotiation falls apart, and even if in the end we collapse financially. Because I am called to this place, by a God who knows what He is doing! I am called to these people with whom I work, because God loves them beyond imagination. I am called to live a life of the Spirit, so that God will show the world His majestic glory, His righteousness, His mercy, His love, and His sovereignty.
Without faith, our lives lose meaning, and our jobs lose meaning too. For a while we may seem to be accomplishing something, but it is a house of cards, and will sooner or later fall flat. Only God’s work, performed through us, is truly enduring. That’s what we’re called to do in our daily work. If only we lived our entire lives in this faith, the burning arrows would be no more than warm pin-pricks on our shields.
