2 Samuel 21:15-22 – God Equips His Servants To Fight His Battles
The first thing we want to focus on is how God equips his servants to fight his battles. Look at the final verse of the chapter. Speaking of the giants who were killed, it says: ‘These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants’. We’re told that they fell by the hand of David, as well as by the hand of his servants. But how many of these giants did David actually kill? The answer is zero. Yet because David is the king, and those fighting are his servants, then the victory is credited to him as well as them. Is that not even more the case with us, and with our king, Jesus Christ? ‘Apart from me’, he tells us, ‘you can do nothing’. Does that mean we are to do nothing? Not at all! In his parables, Jesus condemns those who would bury their talents in the ground. Just before he ascends back up to Heaven, he commissions his church to take the gospel to all nations. So we’re not to sit on our hands. Far from it! There can be a defeatist attitude that says: ‘Well people are so hostile, and we’re just so small, that’s there’s just no point’. When we know from the story of Gideon that bigger numbers can be more of a hindrance than smaller numbers. When we have examples like Jonathan, who’s rallying cry was: ‘Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us, for nothing can hinder the LORD from saving by many or by few.’ A defeatist attitude is particularly unworthy of Christians who live at a time when the Lord Jesus has poured out his Spirit on the church to equip us for witness. So we’re not to sit back. We’re to expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. But at the same time we’re to remember that all our ability to do so comes from him. Whatever he calls us to do, we can do it ‘through Christ who gives us strength’. Just as we are to ‘work out our own salvation’, knowing that ‘it is God who works in’ us. And whatever we achieve, our mindset must always be that of the Apostle Paul’s: ‘it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me’. So any good we do is to be attributed to God. Not just because that’s the humble Christian thing to say, but because it’s actually true! Because apart from him we really can do nothing. But the fact that it’s all attributed – at least partly – to David in the end, doesn’t stop these men going out and fighting. And as the one who had trained and equipped them, David rightly shares the honour. David is the one they’re fighting for. And that’s true in a far greater way of what we do for Christ. He isn’t just our leader. He doesn’t simply equip us and encourage us. He actually works through us. He could do it all without us – but he’s chosen to use us.
Question
- Why does David get the credit for the victories?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would do everything for Christ.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.