The king of the Ammonites had died. David sent a delegation of men to the funeral because the king had previously done a kindness for him. The advisors of the deceased king's son accused the men of being spies.
The son believe the lies and treated David's men badly. He cut their clothes off short and cut their beards. It was disgraceful conduct. David was, needless to say, upset.
The Ammonites took it one step further. Since David was so upset, they decided to attack him before he could attack them. They hired extra soldiers and gathered outside the gate of Jerusalem.
If I were going to do what they did, I'd never have gathered to attack in the first place, but there's no accounting for some people's choices.
With multiple armies outside the gates, David sent his army out, too. The hired Arameans saw the army and fled. The Ammonites saw the Arameans running, so they fled, too.
That fleeing seemed remarkable to me, so I checked the Hebrew. Newc is the word translated as "fled" and it does, indeed, mean they turned and ran.
As I've read through the exploits of the armies of Israel recently, I've been surprised by how often the army showed up to do battle only to have their opponent flee.
In 2 Samuel 5, the Philistines heard the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees and fled. I read that and wondered what kind of army they thought marched in trees instead of on the ground.
In 2 Kings 7, the same thing happened. The Aramean army showed up, but left in the middle of the night because they heard the marching of a mighty army.
I wonder how different this nation would be if we understood that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
How often would the enemy of our soul flee before us if we simply showed up for battle, dressed in our full suit of armor, instead of cowering before him?
I can't even remember what the project was now, but there was so much resistance that a friend said, "God must be planning to do something or the enemy wouldn't be trying so hard to stop it. What are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna do exactly what God told me to do. Why waste all this warfare?"
Resistance from the enemy is not the time to stop. It's the time to press in, work harder at righteousness. It's the time to rejoice, because he knows his kingdom is in danger.
Just as a review, let's look at the spiritual armor we have available:
Girdle of Truth
Breastplate of Righteousness
Boots of preparation of the gospel of Peace
Shield of Faith
Helmet of Salvation
Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God
The only offensive weapon we have is the Word of God, but we can't wield the weapon if we don't know the Word. That's why in-depth, dig-it-out-for-yourself Bible study is so critically important. It plants truth deep in our hearts so we'll have it when we need it.
It's important to realize that neither indignation nor outrage are part of our spiritual armament. Those emotions may be popular today, but, if I read Scripture correctly, they are useless against the evil one.
Today, let's stop cowering before the enemy and his minions. Let's put on our battle gear and stand, with all the love of Christ in our hearts, before our enemies.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength; And your neighbor as yourself." Luke 10:27 nasb
"Our battle is not against flesh and blood..." Ephesians 6:12 nasb
#spiritualwarfare #MondayMeditation #armyofGod
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In case you missed it, here's the link for yesterday's post: A Heart Like King David's
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