Attack Your Strength

By Grant Gaines

While he may have never used these words specifically, boxing legend “Smokin’” Joe Frazier followed the advice of Proverbs 21:22 (ESV) which says, “A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.” Frazier famously reworded this proverb by saying, “If you cut off the head, the body will die.”

This strategy was simple but brutal – attack the opponent’s strength and watch as the rest of their “game” falls apart. This means if Frazier was fighting a boxer who was much quicker than him, Frazier would back that opponent into the corner so the opponent could not use his speed against him. If he was fighting an opponent who was stronger that he was, he would move around as much as possible to take away the opponent’s advantage. Frazier believed that if you took away an opponent’s strength, you could physically and mentally obliterate him in the boxing ring.

This strategy of attacking an opponent’s strengths isn’t something we only see in the boxing ring, it’s also the exact approach that we see the Lord God apply when He delivered His people from Egypt in the book of Exodus.

Whether you grew up in the church or not, you’ve likely heard that God sent 10 awful plagues against the Egyptians who were enslaving the Israelites before the Lord delivered His people from the Egyptian’s oppressive grasp. But what you may not know is that those 10 plagues weren’t just randomly selected by the Lord to afflict the Egyptians, rather they all had a very specific and deliberate purpose – to attack the false gods of Egypt.

Unlike the Israelites who worshiped just one God – “the LORD” – the Egyptians had roughly 2,000 gods that they believed in and worshipped . Because of this, when the Lord commissioned Moses to bring a deadly plague upon Egypt, He wasn’t just doing that to free the Israelites, He was taunting the gods that Pharaoh and the Egyptians believed in to prove that He and He alone was (and still is) the one true God.

It’s as if the Lord said to the Egyptians, “Oh, you believe you have a ‘god’ who can control the sun more than I can? Well let’s see how your ‘god’ responds to the Plague of Darkness over the land for three days (Exodus 10:21-29). You believe there is a ‘god’ that is the guardian of the Nile River? Watch me turn the Nile’s water into blood and see how your ‘god’ handles that (Exodus 7:14-24).” Time after time after time, the LORD goes directly after an Egyptian god and slowly but surely dismantles any sliver of hope the Egyptians could have had in those false gods. (For a more detailed list of how the ten different plagues attacked ten different prominent false gods of the Egyptians, click on the following link: http://www.biblecharts.org/oldtestament/thetenplagues.pdf).

Although this exodus story takes place thousands of years ago, the Lord never changes (James 1:17) and is the same, “…yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, NIV). Just as He violently attacked the false gods of the Egyptians to prove that He and He alone was the only true God, He will do the exact same thing to us.

If the Lord senses that you are allowing money, health, a relationship, a social status, etc. to be the “god” of your life, He will attack that god by taking it away from you. (A “god” (lower case “g”) is anything that you prioritize, concern yourself with, dedicate your time, energy, and efforts to more than to the LORD.) The reason He does this is because He is a loving Father who wants the best for His children. And what’s best for His children is not more money, optimal health, or an incredible job, though those all certainly are good things. What’s best for God’s children is for Him to be at the center of our lives. That being said, the LORD will relentlessly assure that He is the focal point of our lives – because that’s what is best for us.

I personally experienced this multiple times in my life, but most obviously in my 10th grade year of high school. At that time, I was following the Lord, but also had allowed football and girls to be the “gods” that were at the center of my life. Far too much time and effort were spent pursing those two gods to the point that I was obsessed with football and obsessed with my girlfriend at the time.

But just as the Lord did to the Egyptians, He attacked those gods in my life and stripped me of what I thought was most important. I developed a painful case of Osgood-Slaughter in both my knees and my girlfriend and I broke up. The two gods that I had incorrectly placed before the one true God were taken away from me and I eventually realized my misaligned affections and allowed the Lord to regain His rightful place on the throne of my life.
The Lord will do the same for you too. He loves you enough to know that no matter how much money you have, it will never satisfy you. No matter how incredible that husband or wife you’re married to or are dreaming about may be, they will make an awful god. Our God loves you enough to help you preserve His rightful spot as the only true King of your life.

Are there any “gods” in your life that you need to get rid?