Word of Encouragement (01/03/2024)
For you are my lamp, O LORD, and my God lightens my darkness. 30 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 31 This God--his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (2 Sam. 22:29-31)
David gives another reason that it is so great to have God in our lives: “For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall” (v. 30).
These descriptions have a military overtone. David may be reflecting on the countless battles he has engaged in and the way God has helped him. It’s hard to think of any situation more dangerous than the battlefield. How urgent must have been his need for help as he found himself in these life-and-death situations, facing the enemies that were bent on killing him! But God has preserved him through all the battles he has fought, so he can offer this praise to God.
David has often found himself outnumbered and outmatched. What do you do in such a situation? You can run. But there are times when running away is not an option. You may be cornered, and you may have no choice but to fight against all others in a kamikaze fashion. But that was not the case for David. When he was in the right frame of mind, he knew that he could always call on the LORD his God. The immediacy of the problems we face may seem most real to us. But the Bible assures us that more real than our immediate problems is the existence of God and His presence in our lives. In the beginning, before the heavens and the earth came into being, was God (John 1:1-3). The spiritual, though invisible, reality of God is more ultimate than the physical reality: “For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).
So, David was able to face Goliath the giant without fear just with his slingshot and five stones, saying, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Sam. 17:45). So, he could confess, “For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.” When you capture a glimpse of God through the eyes of faith, everything else loses its stature and weight down to insignificance.
If David could count on God to help him on the battlefield where life and death are on the line, can we not expect Him to aid us in far less serious situations? In fact, God has delivered us from something far more serious than the battles David had fought—the eternal torment of hell for our sins, which required nothing less than the sacrifice of His Son. All our temporal problems pale in comparison to the seriousness of our sin problem. And He who did not spare His Son to save us will not withhold anything to protect us until He completes our salvation on the last day. All we need to do is call on Him in times of trouble, and He will rise to deliver us and help us accomplish His good purpose.