One morning while getting ready in my hotel room to head off for another day of outreach on a college campus in Tokyo, the room began to shake. Yes, shake...back and forth for what seemed like an hour, but was in fact less than three minutes. I felt like a small pebble being shaken back and forth on a gold miner’s sifting tray! As I was standing at the time, I should have run for safety under a doorway (what you are supposed to do in an earthquake), but instead, I spent the whole time just trying to keep my balance so I would not fall over. We were on the 27th floor and Japanese hotels are built to sway back and forth in an earthquake so they won’t crumble (thank You Lord for Japanese architecture!). When it was all over, my roommate and I panicked and ran down 27 flights of steps, breaking a little glass box on every floor to get to the lever to open the emergency door locks. At least we kept our wits enough to not go down the elevator . . . though it would have been a lot easier!
This story popped into my mind when I read Ephesians 6:13 this morning. “Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” I was not prepared for what to do in the case of an earthquake in Japan. Actually, though earthquakes are relatively common in Japan, being an optimist, it never crossed my mind to find out what to do in case this “day of evil” came.
Are we prepared?
Satan is constantly scheming ways to “knock us down.” He will do his best to shake the ground underneath us and push us off balance. Paul tells us to be prepared by putting on the armor of God. “Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). Yes, through His armor, we will be able to stand our ground and not give into the lies and temptations of the enemy.