The Battle is the Lord’s

“For the battle is the Lord’s and He shall deliver you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:47

The classic story of David and Goliath is a parable of good versus evil. Here is puny David, a youth remarkable only for his bravery and trust in the Lord and in his gifts. Then there is the Philistine Goliath, a seasoned warrior of many battles, who in his own words, promised to “leave David’s flesh for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” Goliath was a giant of a man described as a champion whose height was six cubits and a span (9 feet 9 inches or about 3 meters!). Not only that, he was heavily armored with a bronze helmet on his head, a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels (125 pounds or about 58 kilograms). On his legs he wore bronze greaves, and his bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft had an iron point which alone weighed six hundred shekels (15 pounds or about 6.9 kilograms). 

David refused to put on armor because he wasn’t used to it. Where did his confidence come from? He proclaimed bravely, “You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted.” (1 Samuel 17: 45)

We come up against many battles. There is this pandemic which has gone on too long, which even the brightest scientists, policy makers and strategists have not been able to defeat. There is this Global Lockdown unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetime. Aren’t we experiencing the worst recession since the Great Depression, the most uncertainty for the most people in a crisis that is not yet over? And here in the Philippines we are also facing an unprecedented fight between two distinctly different candidates for the May elections. One candidate is extremely well funded, and backed by many seasoned political giants and machinery. The other has volunteers and donations in her camp.

When we are on the side of good, we can depend on the Lord backing us up. The battle is the Lord’s. We may not understand what is happening, we may even think He is sleeping, and not answering our prayers. But in Isaiah 55:8-9, we are reassured by God when He tells us that, “…my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” We need only to trust Him.