1 Samuel 17:47 - The Battle is the Lord's
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

1 Samuel 17:47

New King James Version (NKJV)

47 Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands."

When David spoke these words he was not only speaking to Goliath, and the Philistines, but he was also addressing the Israelites. They had cowardice in the face of Goliath’s challenge and they needed a hero. David arrived at the army encampment with supplies and food for his brothers who were in the military forces. He overheard Goliath mocking God’s people and making threats. David took up the challenge of this Philistine with courage and boldness that came from the Spirit of God.

David's faith in God was uncompromising. He had spent years alone and isolated in the wilderness tending the sheep. This proved to be an intense training period for him. He learned to trust God beyond all others. David’s encounter with Goliath was not the first confrontation he had with danger. As a shepherd in the desert, he experienced two separate incidents where he had to risk his own life to protect the sheep in his care. Once a lion attacked his sheep and another time it was a bear. In both incidents God protected those sheep by using David, just as he would use him years later against the Philistines, against Goliath and then again as King of Israel and a warrior for the people of his kingdom.

David's words were not hollow, nor were they idle threats. They came from a place of solid trust and confidence in the Lord. They were faith filled and birthed from the throne room of heaven.

This verse is prophetic as it transcends through time.  Exactly what David said, came to pass and the Philistines were indeed delivered into the hands of the Israelites.

Not many Christians would have stood as David did against those who challenged God. At any time he could have put down his weapon which was a slingshot and five smooth stones and returned to his flock of sheep. He could have said it was not his fight, but to David the enemy of God was his enemy. His heart was God's heart. It wasn’t about whether he could bring down the Philistine; it was about trusting God to do it through him.

The point to remember in this verse is that the battle is the Lord's. Regardless of what He does to get the victory it is always He who gets the victory. This is true today. God promises to shield us under His wings. He promises to walk through the dark times with us and to strengthen us in times of trial. In every battle we go through it is the Lord who must be at the head of the battle so that He takes the full force of the opposing wind; otherwise, we will be wiped out and defeated.

Challenge: What are you facing today? Choose to stand under the protection of God and let Him take over the situation. Believe that He has the answer.

God bless

Marni

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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.