THE MIGHTY LORD OF SABAOTH
We were on the El train in downtown Chicago. She was sitting in the seat facing us, smoking a cigarette. Suddenly she scrunched up her face, pulled the lit cigarette out of her mouth and threw it at my friend, aiming for her face. Then she lit up another and did the same thing. She was getting a kick out of it. I asked her to stop but she wouldn’t. What happened next was pretty wild.
A fury rose up from deep within me. I knew it was the Holy Spirit and not me. I was well aware that God would only put up with so much abuse of His children and then He’d do something mighty. This time He was going to work through me. I was small, 5ft 3 inches and 115 pounds. The girl was taller and bigger, but that didn’t make one bit of difference to God.
I got up from my seat, grabbed this evil-acting girl by the front of her shirt, lifted and pushed her up against the far wall of the train. “Stop doing that!” She dropped down onto the closest seat and was quiet from then on out. That’s an example of how the Lord of Hosts (also called Lord of Sabaoth) works.
When the title Lord of Hosts or Lord of Sabaoth is used in the Bible, it is in the sense of an entire, indomitable army instantly on the scene to battle for us. The words “Sabaoth” and “Hosts” mean the same thing: an army of strength and might. The motivation is always God’s love for us and His outrage towards His enemy when we are mistreated.
One thing The Lord of Hosts really dislikes is when His people don’t get paid properly. James 5:4 says, “Behold, the hire [money] of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” In other words, the money itself is trying to get to the workers and the workers are crying out to God for their rightful money. This is what happened to me:
I worked the full week and it was pay day. I was going out of town and needed the money, but when it came to getting my check, my boss said he didn’t get paid, so I wouldn’t get paid. I was shocked and depressed. I came home and told my friend. She was very quiet at first and then she exploded.
She opened her mouth and from the Holy Spirit within, she spoke with red hot fury. She was so mad that it even scared me. I tried to get her to calm down but she wouldn’t. We both realized this was the Lord of Hosts and it was like a spiritual army was equipped and ready to go after the spoil. The message from the Holy Spirit was to call my boss and tell him I really needed my money NOW! He complied. He got in his car and drove all the way across town to give me the money. He never tried to pull that again.
The scriptures talk of a righteous anger and that’s where the Lord of Sabaoth comes in. We have been taught in church that’s it’s always wrong to get angry. But that’s just not true. What we need to know is the difference between us getting angry and the Holy Spirit within us getting angry.
Recognizing the difference comes by first studying the Lord of Hosts from the scriptures. Get a Concordance or go to an on-line Concordance and look up the usages of “Lord of Hosts” and “Lord of Sabaoth.” Then ask the Lord to give you understanding and He will.
Jesus himself got angry and overturned the money lenders’ tables when they kept cheating God’s people. But if we choose to ignore the Lord of Hosts’ desire to help, the devil will be glad to throw cigarettes in our faces and keep back our money. We can’t let that happen.
Recognizing and allowing the Lord of Hosts to help us to help others is an important aspect of a mature Christian’s spiritual growth.
Love, Carolyn
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