Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– 1 Samuel 17:47
The Lord Goes Before Us
God even told the ancient Israelites that “the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Before Moses’ death, he told Joshua and all of Israel, “The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said” (Ex 31:3). Jesus’ and Joshua’s name both “Jehovah is Salvation” and both take their followers into the Promised Land, and God has already crossed over, ahead of us, and it’s Jesus, there waiting for us! The Author and Finisher of our Faith.
Outmatched
When David was facing Goliath, he had absolutely no fear, while everyone else in Israel was afraid of the giant. Over 3,000 years ago David demonstrated his trust in God by saying “the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand” (1st Sam 17:47). The sooner I get that into my head, the sooner I’ll drop the sword, or stop trying to fight this in my own strength. It just doesn’t work.
Let God Fight
The saying, “Let go and let God” is fine, but I think God wants us to work cooperatively with Him. It was like when Jesus told the man to wash the mud from his eyes which Jesus’ had made from spittle (John 9:6). The man could have said, “That’s ridiculous…that’s only spit and dirt! How dare you put mud in my eye,” but the man was in no position to be prideful because he was totally blind. He let Jesus do His part, but then Jesus expected the man to do his. God can work in this way in any of us.
Conclusion
It truly takes a ton of pressure off you when you understand that it is the Lord Who fights for us, and goes before us, and will never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5), but Jesus warned us that we can do nothing by ourselves (John 15:5), and “nothing” is not a little something. It is zero, however, we can do all things in Christ (Phil 4:13). If we learn that, we’ll drop the sword, and stop trying to fight all our battles on our own.
