But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:57-58
In May of 1565, the forces of the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the island kingdom of Malta, which was located between Sicily and North Africa. The Ottoman Empire had been spreading since the fall of Constantinople a little over one hundred years earlier. The defenders of Malta only numbered about 6,500 fighting men, led by 500 members of the Knights Hospitaller. A Turkish armada of nearly 200 ships carried some 40,000 Muslim soldiers to launch the attack. Jean de Valette lead the defenders, rallying his outnumbered troops again and again, and demonstrating great personal courage. For almost four months they held out until the arrival of reinforcements forced the Turks to give up the siege and withdraw. Jean de Valette’s tombstone describes him as the “shield of Europe.”
There are days when it seems that as children of God we are greatly outnumbered by the enemies of the world. There are days when we wonder if it is even possible for us to win the victory. There are days when we are exhausted and surrounded by foes. But there are never days when we are forced to give up. Any surrender that we make is the result of choice rather than necessity. No matter what the circumstances are, we are on the winning side.
Jesus promised, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Though there will be battles every day of our life here in this world, the ultimate battle has already been fought and the ultimate victory has already been won. The reason that we refuse to give up and quit is not found in ourselves, but the in victory that Jesus has already won and shares with us.
