The Battle Is the LORD’s

“But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand…so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hand.”

– 1 Samuel 17:45-47

Greetings, fellow disciples of Jesus,

The fight appeared to be uneven. The armies of Israel were quaking in their boots at the taunts of the giant before them. Out from their ranks sprung a shepherd—no warrior yet was he. As David faced Goliath, he was confident; not because of his strength or skill with a weapon, but because of the One in whose name he came: the LORD.

The LORD would save Israel that day; not by sword or spear, but with the most unconventional of means. David’s sling and stone was the instrument—but the battle was the LORD’s.

A thousand years later the LORD would again save Israel, and not Israel only, but the whole world. Again, it would be by the most unconventional of means: Jesus’ death on the cross. By His death Jesus won the battle over Sin and Hell and Death—the giants that loom threatening over us. Risen from the dead, He now stands victorious.

Now we who place our trust in Him can stand in confidence, whenever we are faced with towering foes, the attacks of Satan or an accusing conscience. Our confidence rests not in our strength or wisdom or skill, but in the knowledge that the battle is the LORD’s. In praise, we proclaim this truth even as we wait and watch to see how He will accomplish it in our lives, how He will extend His victory into the specific circumstances we face in our lives.

By what unconventional means will He reveal His triumph over His foes? It is not with sword or spear that He clears the field, but with the power of His name. In what ways might He invite you, as He did David, to be an instrument in His hand?

In the confidence that comes from knowing that Lord fights for me,

Pastor Mike