The movie "Glory" (1989) stars Mathew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, and Morgan Freeman. Set in the turbulence of the American Civil War, it tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first formal regiment of the US Army to be made up of entirely African American men. Told from the point of view of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, its commanding officer during the war, the 54th was a unit that almost did not see combat. The regiment went from doing mostly menial labor to participating in a skirmish in South Carolina, where they successfully repelled a Confederate attack.If you have not already, in your lifetime you will encounter someone who would attempt to use the problem of suffering to create doubt in your mind with the objective of discrediting God’s love for you. Such an attempt could come in the form of a question like, “Why does God allow Satan to attack you if He really loves you?” Such a question is designed to create doubt in your mind. And whenever there is doubt, there is always a tendency for a change of mind and redirection of position to follow. The problem of suffering has always been a painstaking and a faith shaking experience used by some to discredit God’s love for His children.
If we were to draw from the story of Job, one possible insight into why God sometimes allow Satan to attack His children is for God’s glory, for our victory, and for Satan’s defeat. It is quite possible that God has to allow Satan to attack His children in order for God to win and for Satan to lose. Could you imagine any victory or defeat without a battle taking place? And imagine if the 54th was never deployed to battle. It is in battle that victory is won and it is in battle that defeat is suffered. God wants to gain glory in your circumstance just as he did in Israel’s circumstances. He said, “I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord” [Exodus 13: 4, 17]. Hemmed in by the desert and by an impassable body of water and with one of the mightiest armies in the ancient world in their pursuit, God's words were the only rays of hope for His people.
The Lord determines the outcome of our battles whether we win or we lose. Nevertheless, victory cannot be declared and defeat cannot be suffered until the battle is fought. And that is the one thing that we need to keep in mind. In the battle for Ai, the Lord declared the outcome of the battle to Joshua before the battle was even fought. His words were “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise; Go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land" [Joshua 8: 1]. Though the outcome of the battle was declared even before the battle was fought, victory could not be declared and defeat could not be suffered until the battle was actually fought. Not going to battle would have been tantamount to victory for Ai and defeat for Israel. And at a time when the Philistines were terrorizing the Israeli city of Keilah, David consulted with God whether he should go and engage the Philistine’s army in Keilah. God’s response to David was, “Go and attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah.”
Satan’s attack on God’s children is nothing more than an opportunity to put God’s power and strength to work for them. There was no fight that God fought for Israel that He lost. Israel also never won one battle without God. You will never win one battle without God and you will never lose one battle with Him. And my own declaration to you is the one that was handed to Gideon by the Lord, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Median” [Judges 6: 14]. The battle is the Lord’s and not yours.
Now, let's conclude our American history lesson. The 54th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry participated in the historic attack on Fort Wagner where the unit suffered very heavy loss of lives and were literally wiped out. The American Civil War ended when General Robert E. Lee (Confederate) surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant (Union) at the Battle of Appomatox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865.Though theirs was a unit that almost never was deployed, news of the courage and valor of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry spurred the recruitment of numerous black volunteers, and by the end of the war, there were more than 180,000 African American men in uniform; a fact which President Lincoln considered instrumental in securing victory for the Union. And maybe if it wasn't for the 54th, there would never have been a son of Jamaican immigrants, who grew up on the streets of the Bronx, New York, made it to the rank of a four star general in the United States Army, and then became the first and so far the only African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I said "maybe." And I pray that you discover life the way God intends.
K. George Olubodun
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