YOUR ENEMY IS ‘INFINITELY SMALL.’ 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

There’s an old story about an art contest in which competitors were challenged to paint a picture of peace. Most of the paintings were beautiful, idyllic: sunsets, a gentle snowfall, a field of flowers, smiling children. But the winning entry showed a bird against a cliff above a raging ocean. She was nestled in a hollow, her wings outstretched shielding her babies from the violent storm. Sometimes the unexpected picture proves to be the best.

Imagine an art contest in which competitors are challenged to portray the ultimate battle of good and evil. What would the paintings portray? I would expect something that makes the LORD OF THE RINGS look like a children’s book: storms and blood and death and darkness, armies of millions stretching from horizon to horizon, black clouds in the sky and smoke everywhere. Bombs, fires, swords, horses, tanks, missiles—just the busiest, scariest painting. The noise, the screams, the furious rage—how big would the canvas have to be to tell that story?

But here’s my entry: Sunshine. Birds singing in the trees. Green grass, flowers, a birdbath, maybe a swing nearby. And a tiny child blowing on a dandelion for all she’s worth.

How could such an image possibly capture the “ultimate battle of good and evil”? The figures involved in such a battle would be the God who created the universe and the angel he created who rebelled against God. People often imagine a battle between God and Satan as though the two sides were equal, like two cowboys having a gunfight in the unpaved streets of a western movie. But God is infinite. Satan is not. Compared to God, Satan is infinitely small. This is not a contest. This is God allowing Satan to mount an attack, and the attack will end the instant God chooses to end it. Satan will fire at God with all that he has. And God will blow on him like a dandelion–and the war will be over.

“The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothingness with the brightness of his coming” 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

Are you under attack? Do you feel like the evils you face are too much for you? They are not too much for God! Ask him to blow on your circumstances. The wind of his breath is enough to right every wrong in your life!

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