“But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said, “We want a king over us. Then we will be like he other nations, with a king to lead us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:19-20 NIV)
I’m in the hard press of a seven week Old Testament Survey course. Lay that alongside our impending cross-country move and I’m working ahead feverishly on my course weekly assignments. The result is me thinking about Old Testament all. the. time.
Last night I crawled into bed after finishing a quiz at 10:30pm and I couldn’t turn my brain off. Samuel and Kings were still making impressions on my grey matter.
One passage of yesterday’s text eclipsed it all for me: this bit about Israel clamoring for a human king that could fight their battles. And they picked Saul. We see the flaw in human selection starkly when the Israelites faced the Philistines and specifically in the showdown with Goliath in the Valley of Elah. Big bad Saul was hiding in his tent, too scared to face Goliath in battle and willing to send a child, David, out against Israel’s greatest adversary. Understand that subjugation was on the line here, meaning the losing nation would serve the winning nation and Saul, the people’s choice for king, was more than happy to send little David into the ring on his behalf. Meanwhile, Goliath was yelling brazen insults about the Israelite God.
Consider David for a moment. He wasn’t much to take in; small, ruddy, utterly overlooked by his family. Sure he had been brave in a field full of wildlife dangers, but was that enough to be king? What we need to understand is that David was God’s selected heir because of his worldview. David inherently understood that the Lord would fight the battles for Israel if they would trust in Him alone. David somehow knew that God just needed a willing vessel to work through, and that allowing Goliath to rail against Yahweh in an open field was wrong and had to be dealt with immediately. We see in scripture that David didn’t go out against Goliath in his own strength, but in the name of the Lord God Almighty, and he knew it. David trusted that God would defend His own honor when a man was willing to go toe to toe with an enemy of God. David knew that Israel and it’s king were nothing without God, and that’s what qualified him as the country’s next leader.
“All those gathered here will know it is not by the sword or the spear that the Lord saves: for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”
(1 Samuel 17:47 NIV)
I’ve been to the Valley of Elah. It’s actually a beautiful place and a little tough to imagine the throngs of Philistines and Israelites gathered there to duke it out for subjugation. Maybe it’s because I stood on that ancient, sacred soil that I have begun thinking about my own battles and wondering, am I like Saul or David? Am I looking for a hero or am I fully trusting that God will defend His reputation through any willing vessel?
There’s a song that’s been popular lately; “This is how I Fight my Battles” and honestly, it irked me a bit at first because I felt like the song didn’t fully answer the question it asked. We fight our battles as David did: with absolute trust in God’s ability to defend His reputation and His people in one fell swoop. We fight our battles with immediate obedience when He tells us to take the field.
There’s another song, a much older tune that lays out this strategy for us. Let us pray the along with John H. Sammis today:
When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the sky,
But His smile quickly drives it away,
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way,
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet, we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way,
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go,
Never fear, only trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way,
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.