How to Fight Like David
Are you fighting a battle? I mean: is there some difficult ongoing situation in your
life: one that you simply cannot ignore any longer? There was in mine: for me, it
was my struggling marriage and my husband’s addiction, and as I am reading
today in I Samuel, a very familiar story, I saw something I had missed:
David has just been anointed the next king of Israel, but no one knows this
except his family and David, the youngest of 8 brothers, is still living the life of a
shepherd. So, all seven of David’s brothers had to pass before Samuel only to be
rejected by him in favor of David. The oldest three brothers were in King Saul’s
service. And currently, there was a standoff between Israel and the Philistines.
Not only that, but they had a champion who was nine feet nine inches tall: and his
name was Goliath. He came out each morning for 40 days to taunt Israel. One
day, David’s father sent him with supplies to check on his brothers and this is
when David comes into the story, and I had some observations on how he fought
this battle.
Identify the real problem. David heard the Philistine, and he asked the men
who were standing with him: ‘what would be done for the man who kills this
Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?’ He confirmed it by asking again,
and his oldest brother was annoyed. He accused David of things that were not
true, and could have been a distraction, but David refused to see his brother Eliab
as the real problem. Sometimes people will try to discourage you from what God
has prompted you to do, and you will end up in fear, like them, and never move
forward! For me, I had to be brave and step away from my marriage (for a while).
But I was in the Bible every day, and I knew it was the right thing to do. God will
do something amazing for those who trust Him, but not for those who cave to
fear. King Saul and his men had lost their courage and were terrified at the words
of the Philistine. (I Samuel 17:11).
2. Stop spreading discouragement. David said, ‘Don’t let anyone be discouraged
by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine.’ But Saul replied, ‘You can’t
fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth and he has been a warrior since he was young.’
(I Samuel 17:32,33). This is what happens when we look at what we can see
without consideration for what God can do! Discouragement. And it spreads like
wildfire. For those of us who want to walk with God, we must retrain our brains
when Satan sends us thoughts like this: ‘You can’t do it. It will never work. The
odds are against you.’ Stop agreeing with him that you cannot do what God says
you can do! I used to agree with Satan that I couldn’t change. That my marriage
would never be any better. But in a moment of clarity and desperation, I opened
my Bible and ‘something like scales fell off me eyes’! God opened my eyes to His
goodness and His love for me. And then I knew that I could do the next right
thing.
3. Remember what God has already done for you. And tell others! Saul no longer
had the Holy Spirit in him, and so David had to tell him how God had already
delivered him. He had killed both lions and bears who were trying to get his
sheep. ‘Your servant has killed lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine
will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.’ Then
David said, ‘The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of
the bear will rescue me from this Philistine.’ (I Samuel 17:37). Lions and bears
with his bare hands?? He knew that God had supernaturally defended him, and
he trusted that God would do it again. And we can do the same! For me, when I
moved out, God did a number of things that led to my husband’s healing: he
prompted him to fast and pray. He led him to different counselors who helped
him recognize the trauma that happened to him as a child and what to do with it
in order to live a healthy life. Our son asked him to go on a retreat with him, one
that he has asked him to go on many times with no success. But this time he
went! And God met him there too! I began to see such a change in him that I
never dreamed was possible. We dated, and I fell in love all over again. We have
been back together for two years now, and I still am thanking God for the
miracle(s) that He has done in our marriage! He has been so good to us! The odds
were against us! But God! We need to remember God’s answers to our prayers.
We need to write them down and be careful to remember what God has done.
4. Don’t revert back to trying on your own strength. When Saul decided to let
David do this, he had his own military clothes put on David. David tried to walk in
them, but he was not used to them. So, he took them off. ‘Instead, he took his
staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in his
shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.’ (I
Samuel 17:40). David rejected the tools he was not used to: and stayed with what
God had helped him with in the past. Sometimes we intend to trust God with our
situation but try to take matters into our own hands anyways. I did that for a long
time, until I realized I could not fix our problems. God was the only One who
could. I just needed to get out of the way and watch His deliverance!
5. Proclaim the Lord. David announced to Goliath that he was trusting God for his
success, before God delivered him. We need to proclaim Him too! Give Him the
glory before and after our deliverance. And this is something we do all the time now,
because God has worked an amazing miracle in my husband’s life, in my life, and
in our marriage. We both love God so much more than we ever did before: and it’s
the one who is forgiven much who loves much! The odds are strongly against
those trapped in addiction, but God shines more when we know that we have
been delivered. And that is what happened! He healed my husband, He healed
me, our marriage, and is healing our family. It is an amazing thing to see the joy in
our family in contrast to where we were a few years ago. He took our ashes and is
making something beautiful, and He’s not done yet!
6. Run quickly toward the battle. Once we decide to trust God and watch His
deliverance, we can face our enemy without fear. ‘When the Philistine started
forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine.
David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on
his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the
ground. David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered
the Philistine and killed him without having a sword.’ (I Samuel 17:48-50). Our
enemy can be a person, or a situation, or a decision we need to make. When I was
no longer motivated by fear (and this was only because of reading the word of
God), then, and only then, was I able to see God’s deliverance. When my husband
relapsed the last time, I knew I needed to do something different. I knew I had to
move out (a scary thought) and yet God filled me with peace. Even though my
husband had not yet been delivered, I had peace. And then, months later, when
he was delivered, we were given the gift of starting over. You can face your battle
too when you lean on God alone. And then watch Him deliver you!
