The term spiritual warfare nearly always evokes strong responses ranging from séances to noisy exorcisms where demons are identified and called forth or cast out. Would you be disturbed to discover Christ-followers engage in spiritual warfare on a daily basis? Sure the battle ground or intensity of engagement varies but one learns to accept warfare as a natural part of life. Sometimes we lose battles and other times even intense prayer does not bring immediate deliverance. When this happens we know God has a bigger purpose in mind as in the case of the there Hebrews in the furnace. Knowing and fearing our weakness takes us to the place where the Psalmist found himself as “a bottle in the smoke.”
To fully understand his predicament we have to think of bottles as they were then not clear glass or plastic to which we are accustomed. Back then bottles were made of skins, for the most part. Smoke has a drying effect so one would not have a good bottle and continuously expose it to smoke, after it is fully cured. A bottle left in the smoke would become warped, dry and too brittle to hold liquid. Now we can all attest to being left in the smoke too long. Our prayers go unanswered fond hopes gets crushed, our emotions get brittle and our capacity to contain the living water diminishes. Here our writer fears not just his personal strength but dreads the possibility of becoming unfit for the service of his LORD.
If you are in a tough spot right now, you may want to read this along with this section of our study. 1 Peter 5:10, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, (es)stablish, strengthen, settle you. I believe this verse will do nicely if we are talking about being “quickened” or made alive after our time in the smoke.
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