How to Fight Your Battles

How to Fight Your Battles:

I woke up this morning thinking about the story of David and Goliath. When I got into the office I looked up 1 Samuel 17 and read this famous account with new eyes. I would like to share with you a few things I found to be meaningful. 

First, a brief recap, the Israelites are at war with the Philistines and they agree to each send out their best warrior to fight. Whoever wins that fight wins the war and takes the other nation as slaves. The Philistines sent out Goliath – a giant of a man, upwards of 9 feet tall – a tried and true warrior with the armor, weaponry and scars to prove it. Nobody wants to fight Goliath so day after day he comes out and makes fun of the Israelites and their God. Then David, a young shepherd boy, arrives on the scene with food for his brothers. He sees what is happening and volunteers to fight Goliath on Israel’s behalf. You can read the account to see how he convinced King Saul to send him out when Saul himself was too afraid to fight the giant. But I want to focus briefly on 3 points in the story (preachers like 3s):

The first is a comment struck me that David made to King Saul in 1 Samuel 17:32, “Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 

David is concerned that men’s hearts are failing because theyfear the giant more than they believe in the Lord!David says, “Let me show them how great our God is!”

The first question is, is there a giant you fear more than you believe in God?

But there’s a second point to be made here. A popular quote from AW Tozer is getting around these days. He said, “A scared world needs a fearless church.” Our word as the Church, the Body, the Bride of Christ should be “Let no man’s heart faith because of the coronavirus. Look and see how great our God is.” But we do not overcome by being ignorant and risky – or by miraculously surviving the coronavirus. We overcome but showing them the peace we have in Christ.

Let me direct your attention to another moment in this story. In 1 Samuel 17:43-45 David goes out to meet Goliath in battle and the giant arrogantly declares, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts...”

The Philistine has weapons and strength and height and experience in battle but David has something greater, something more intimidating – the name of the Lord. My dear friends, my church family – if you come in the name of the Lord there is nothing that can threaten you! And again, I don’t mean you won’t suffer physical threat, I mean no matter what does happen here your battle, your victory is already won. 

The key to all is motive. The message here is not, “You get whatever you want if you do it in the name of the Lord.” The message is, “God is on your side when you are fighting for His will.”

In verses 46-47 David declares why he is doing this, “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”
As you travel through these troubling times may you act and live with confidence in the name of the Lord – may your greatest concern not be yourself, but that people would know that the Lord saves! No matter how things go for you and yours, may people not lose heart but rather see Jesus in your behavior. 


  


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