The Enemy At The Gate: A Promise Made

God was never closer to them than he was in Higher Ground.

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You may have thought that with all the discussion of the enemy that God was absent from Oliver and Shane’s situations in Higher Ground. The truth is God was closer to them than perhaps he had ever been. Not only did he establish Shane and Oliver’s connection on a level the enemy couldn’t touch, but continued to act as a “long-distance operator,” guarding and protecting their relationship throughout their time apart. He was also the God of their wildernesses, placing breadcrumbs along their paths to make a way out, and back to each other. But the most profound demonstration of His Glory and Goodness in Higher Ground is how He used the wilderness to re-purpose the weapons the enemy formed against each Oliver and Shane to grow them individually, and ultimately bring them into the “Promised Land.”

Promise

I once heard in a sermon, in the context of Jesus’ birth, that when God brings a promise into the world it alerts the enemy, so He often weaves the promise together piece by piece behind the scenes until the time He ordained to fulfill it.

Unbeknownst to Shane and Oliver, their relationship was one of those promises, which God had been quietly weaving together on a deep level throughout the course of the series, solidifying that bond in Lost Without You. By praying for, or about, each other in the wilderness, they came into agreement with God, and their acts of faith became an unseen "key" that unlocked a new space both in their relationship with God, and with each other, signified by the chapel they found themselves in. When Shane tripped into Oliver’s arms, eventually leading to their first kiss in Higher Ground, it was God revealing that promise to them in a tangible way. He promised them not only each other, but a completed first date. At the same time, however, the kiss also alerted the enemy.

The fact it alerted the enemy means something. It means that God established, revealed, and added a weapon so powerful to Oliver and Shane’s arsenal with that kiss that the enemy had to make sure they never used it again, or had the chance to realize its true power. They certainly couldn’t have knowledge of the true source it was connected to, hence the events that ensued designed to divide and conquer the couple by both physically separating them and targeting their faith. The enemy couldn’t usurp God promising Oliver and Shane to each other, but he could rob them, temporarily, of a completed first date.

In Of Porches and Pews I surmised that by surrendering their relationship in prayer in Lost Without You, Shane and Oliver also surrendered responsibility for sustaining their bond, establishing themselves in a manner reliant upon faith. Faith, of course, being the “confidence in things hoped for, the assurance of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1) Through their surrender, God "took responsibility" for sustaining Oliver and Shane’s relationship---the “not seen” component of it---because, "two hearts, joined by a Greater One, can withstand anything."

It was this surrendering of their faith which the enemy took advantage, targeting each Shane and Oliver in ways that caused them to not only temporarily part ways, but assume a false sense of control by attempting to make the “unseen” element of their bond something tangible. Not only did this taking of control turn each Oliver and Shane away from God, but disrupted them in such a way that they didn’t hold onto---and perhaps even forgot---God’s promise to be the permanent steward of their “not seen” bond and to “complete their first date.” As a result, they exhausted their energy---and even their faith---carrying a burden that was never theirs to carry.

Even as the enemy tried to convince them otherwise, God still firmly guarded and protected the bond he established as Oliver and Shane entered the wilderness, faithful to fulfill the promise He made to reunite them and finish what He started.

God Of The Wilderness

God made sure Oliver and Shane had “all the facts” about their bond through that kiss before the enemy had a chance to confront them. Even so, because He gave us free will, it was still Oliver and Shane’s choice to “know what they [had]” and resist the enemy. Still new, however, this space God created in their relationship---and the new level of connection it contained---was untested. Unfortunately, Shane and Oliver also lacked the proper tools or understanding to defend “what they [had].” The enemy took advantage of these blind spots in each Oliver and Shane’s lives rooted in their pasts, using them to pervert their faith formulas and set them off course.

God recognized these gaps in Shane and Oliver’s arsenals. He knew that what hasn’t been tested can’t be trusted, and that when one doesn’t realize what they have, they can’t fervently defend it. In the wilderness, God prepared Oliver and Shane to both recognize their bond, and to defend it. Furthermore, their test proved that their bond could be trusted and, ultimately, that they could trust God with it.

What the enemy meant for harm, God used to do an immeasurable amount of good, growing Shane and Oliver so that they might be prepared to experience the blessing set before them in all its fullness when the time came. We can best understand their development by placing it in the context of their faith formulas.

Oliver's Arsenal

The original faith formula looked like this:
God → Faith → Confidence in what we hope for → assurance of what is not seen

To set Oliver off course, the enemy began attacking Oliver’s “assurances of things not seen” resulting in:

Faith → Confidence in what [Oliver] hopes for → comes from controlling what he can see/outcomes [Oliver’s standard of assurance]

In operation, Oliver created his “assurances of things not seen” by relentlessly pursuing whatever it took to keep Shane---and by extension his hope---alive. It resulted in an “insanity cycle,” where Oliver created his hope by keeping his commitment to “handle things,” finding Gabe and eventually trying to find Hattie, a cycle that eventually proved exhausting and ineffective as a long-term strategy.

At the same time, however, God was using the opportunity to teach Oliver how to be a better man. In her absence, Oliver learned Shane’s true value in his life and the lives of those around her on a both a professional and personal level. It wasn’t long before Oliver was admitting that, in her absence, the professional pursuits in the DLO were less successful, saying things like “It has taken us a month what [Shane] might have accomplished in a day.” One the porch, Oliver immediately volunteered to take responsibility for Shane when he committed to “handle things” like the squeak in her swing, and the rose bush, in her absence. In this way, Oliver practiced being part of her daily life in ways that were practical. His repeated attempts to re-create Eleanor’s recipe for a perfect kombucha smoothie, which Oliver previously admitted knowing “how much it meant to [Shane],” demonstrated his desire to connect with her heart in things that she likes and generally enjoys on a personal level. What’s more, Oliver’s experimenting taught him to work on things until he achieved the right balance, a key to the art of compromising.

Concurrently, God was leaving breadcrumbs for Oliver to chart his path out of the “insanity cycle” and into the promise God set before him. God created for Oliver the recognition of what he had with Shane through highlighting the professional and personal hole created by her absence. But more than recognizing the void, Oliver had to be equipped to defend against recreating that void once Shane returned to him. To do this, God utilized the community of men by which he was surrounded, primarily Joe, Norman, and by extension, Gabe, to teach him how to fight for Shane and their bond.

It was Joe’s offhand comment about “What if Mr. National Security has no intention of releasing her?” that gave Oliver the ammunition to make that powerful argument to Shane during their interaction at Langley. But it was Norman confronting Oliver on the rooftop---using Gabe as comparative point---that highlighted for Oliver the fact he was “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” ultimately calling on him to do something different. When Norman gently placed his hand on Oliver’s shoulder, he didn’t suggest what Oliver do next outright, but allowed Oliver to exercise vision, make a decision, and act on it. We saw this in his decision to go after Shane at Langley. The emotional and honest interaction that resulted was evidence of Oliver’s increased vulnerability, developed and visible---but rarely verbalized---during his separation from Shane.

His “insanity cycle” broken, Oliver was prepared to deal with the feelings that fueled the cycle, setting the stage for his return to the DLO.

Shane’s Arsenal
To confuse Shane, the enemy took advantage of her indecision between “faith” and “sight,” which looked like this:

God    Faith ←→ Sight

In operation, Shane attempted to make her faith tangible by trying to find Hattie and writing letters to Oliver. Despite “faith” and “sight” being the antithesis of one another, and the enemy attempting to bombard her with temptation to put her faith in the wrong thing, God used Shane’s confusion to create clarity.

On a professional level, Shane’s pursuit of Hattie demonstrated for her that she would much rather put her skills to work “delivering old dead letters” than fight cyber warfare. At the same time, she reaffirmed her connection to Oliver in this way, knowing that he had promised to find Gabe, their simultaneous searches increasing the likelihood the couple could be reunited.

Shane’s letters to Oliver demonstrated the way she resisted the enemy, as well as revealed her process of becoming more cognizant of what was on her heart, reaffirming what---and whom---was most important to her on a personal level.

In addition to her letters, Shane also learned how to guard and protect her heart, a lesson visible in her wardrobe. After Steve attempts to get close to her without a jacket early on, each time we see Shane afterwards, she has adopted layers and retained a more utilitarian look overall, more or less “saving herself” for Oliver.

Access...

...DENIED.

When she returns to U.S. soil, it’s clear in the Department of Defense lobby that Shane has undergone some “unseen” adjustments and refinements made manifest in her wardrobe. The black and red floral print dress not only echoed the dress she wore on her date with Oliver, but featured a distinctly feminine structure that indicated a deeper shift towards reflecting her true self. Still guarding and protecting her heart, she also sported a blazer.

Where the enemy meant to create distraction and confusion through “sight,” Shane chose to hold onto “faith.” By doing so, Shane allowed God to create clarity and reveal what was most important to her on an “unseen” level, giving her the tools to explore, develop and express those values and desires at the same time. Shane had already made the internal decision to pursue “faith,” she just needed the tools to pursue and declare that externally.

Having shown Shane what to fight for, God was able to reveal to her how to fight for it. Through Oliver’s not-so-“hypothetical” scenario, God forced Shane to confront the possibility that she might not have all the facts she needed to make the decision whether to stay or go. From their interaction, God also presented Shane with a fact---“[Oliver] can’t lie to [her],” and the “fact” she still needs to make her decision---if Steve could lie to her. When Shane discerned the answer through her confrontation with Steve, Shane finally had the tools she needed to outwardly declare the choice she had already made internally.

Clear on what and whom was most important to her, and armed with the tools to outwardly express those desires and values, Shane returned home.

As the true, sole steward of the “not seen” element of their faith, God took even their faulty faith formulas---what the enemy meant for Oliver and Shane’s harm---and acted as their “long distance operator,” protecting and even growing the bond He established during their separation. More than that, He forged their path out of the wilderness by revealing and transforming the blind spots they fell victim to in the first place, instilling in them the tools to defend and grow their bond in the future. Oliver and Shane’s individual journeys uniquely prepared them for their reunion, which we see play out in the DLO.

Later this week, we’ll see how God finished what He started with Shane and Oliver, defeating the enemy and bringing them into the “Promised Land.”

Getting There,
~C

The Enemy At The Gate: The Setup | Insanity Cycle | Breaking The Cycle | Letters From War | The Choice | A Promise Made | A Promise Fulfilled | Unlocked