Warring, Winning, Worshipping
David, a famous character of the Bible, is known for the story of his fight with Goliath and his sin with Bathsheba. When you read his whole story, though, throughout 2 Samuel, you may find that there are a ton of stories about David with which we are not as familiar. Most of them are battle stories.
I read story after story after story of armies, attacks, raids, conquests, and ambushes. It seems like David was always fighting.
It makes me wonder. Because so often we do everything to escape our battles, thinking that a godly life is one that is free from struggling and fighting. But then I look at David and I wonder. What if we as Christ-followers are called to engage in intense spiritual warfare rather than shy away from it. What if we are called to embrace rather escape our suffering? What is we are called to fight rather than resist?
At the Passion conference this past year, Francis Chan spoke and said something that I will always remember. He was talking about those times when you see a person that you have not seen in a while. You might want them to say something like, "Hey, you are looking good!" You don't want to hear, "Wow, you look really tired" or something like that. But Chan said that he doesn't want to look "good" or "nice" or "fixed up" of "having-it-all-together". With teeth clenched, he said, "I want to look like I've been through a war!"
Never does Christ call us to a comfortable, easy-going life. Yes, He calls us to full life, an abundant life (John 10:10). He calls us to a spirit-filled life overflowing with the fruit of love, joy, peace, patient, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And He calls us to green pastures and still waters (Psalm 23). But this doesn't mean that we don't fight, but rather that all this occurs in the midst of the battle.
David fought a lot, but he also won a lot. He experienced victory after victory after victory because the Lord was with Him. The same is true for us. It is not miserable to be constantly fighting and struggling because we can also constantly be winning, achieving victory after victory for the glory of Christ.
And the best news of all is that we are free to worship in the midst of our battled. Like Jehoshaphat and the Israelite army in 2 Chronicles 22, we can march into battle with praise on the front lines. Because of who God is - Lord over the battle and Lord over our hearts - we are free to worship Him even in the middle of our battles, our sufferings, our struggles.
I look at the life of David and also the lives of Joseph, Nehemiah, Job, Ruth, Paul, and so many other Bible-time and modern-day heroes of the faith. From them I gain a new perspective on life and all its trials. I no longer want to run from them. I want to embrace instead of escape the suffering. In Christ, we are always warring, always winning, always worshipping.
I read story after story after story of armies, attacks, raids, conquests, and ambushes. It seems like David was always fighting.
It makes me wonder. Because so often we do everything to escape our battles, thinking that a godly life is one that is free from struggling and fighting. But then I look at David and I wonder. What if we as Christ-followers are called to engage in intense spiritual warfare rather than shy away from it. What if we are called to embrace rather escape our suffering? What is we are called to fight rather than resist?
At the Passion conference this past year, Francis Chan spoke and said something that I will always remember. He was talking about those times when you see a person that you have not seen in a while. You might want them to say something like, "Hey, you are looking good!" You don't want to hear, "Wow, you look really tired" or something like that. But Chan said that he doesn't want to look "good" or "nice" or "fixed up" of "having-it-all-together". With teeth clenched, he said, "I want to look like I've been through a war!"
Never does Christ call us to a comfortable, easy-going life. Yes, He calls us to full life, an abundant life (John 10:10). He calls us to a spirit-filled life overflowing with the fruit of love, joy, peace, patient, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And He calls us to green pastures and still waters (Psalm 23). But this doesn't mean that we don't fight, but rather that all this occurs in the midst of the battle.
David fought a lot, but he also won a lot. He experienced victory after victory after victory because the Lord was with Him. The same is true for us. It is not miserable to be constantly fighting and struggling because we can also constantly be winning, achieving victory after victory for the glory of Christ.
And the best news of all is that we are free to worship in the midst of our battled. Like Jehoshaphat and the Israelite army in 2 Chronicles 22, we can march into battle with praise on the front lines. Because of who God is - Lord over the battle and Lord over our hearts - we are free to worship Him even in the middle of our battles, our sufferings, our struggles.
I look at the life of David and also the lives of Joseph, Nehemiah, Job, Ruth, Paul, and so many other Bible-time and modern-day heroes of the faith. From them I gain a new perspective on life and all its trials. I no longer want to run from them. I want to embrace instead of escape the suffering. In Christ, we are always warring, always winning, always worshipping.
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