Our battles belong to the Lord.

 Israel and the Philistines were at war - again! They arranged their forces on opposite sides of a valley. This made it risky for either army to begin an attack. By descending one slope, crossing the valley floor and its stream, and climbing up the other side, the attackers would make themselves vulnerable. The result was a stalemate; neither army dared to leave its position.

 

It was the giant, Goliath, who provided a solution. He boastfully challenged anyone in Israel to a one-on-one confrontation. This encounter would decide the battle and the war.

 

The most important detail that the Bible gives us about Goliath is not his size, his armour or his challenge to Gods people. The most important detail is that Goliath “defied" the armies of the living God" (1 Sam 17:26). He treated God with contempt. He mocked the almighty God of Israel.

 

But the LORD had chosen David to be his servant. David represented the power of God and the glory of God. David was God's chosen instrument to overcome an enemy who defied the LORD.  David was an instrument that God chose to showcase his almighty power at work in his Kingdom.

 

David accepted Goliath's challenge, because the LORD sent him. Victory and defeat was in the hands of the LORD. Not in the hands of David or his ridiculous “weapon” – a sling and a stone. It was God who defeated Goliath - not David or his sling. The battle belongs to the Lord (1 Sam 17: 47), and the Lord will give his enemy into our hands, however insufficient our defense may be.

 

To save us from the last and final enemy, God has a chosen instrument – it is Jesus Christ, his only begotten, beloved Son. God defeats the enemy without sword or spear. Of all things, God uses a cross and a grave, a crucifixion and a resurrection to defend us once and for all.

He chose his Son, dying on the cross and arising from the grave, to defeat the powers of darkness.

 

As always, the battle still belongs to the Lord.

As always it is not our weapons that make the difference – but God.

Because the battle belongs to the LORD for the sake of his work, and so does the victory.