For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
There are many questions we would like to ask God when we see him and one of them usually touches on the violence in the Old Testament, particularly in Joshua during the conquest of the surrounding nations. These verses from David that celebrate the Lord glorify the Lord for the way he used David to slay his enemies. We will want to ask him about it but we will do no such thing. We will simply worship him for his glory and holiness. We will have no choice.
In fact, we have no right to ask God anything because verse 30 says, “This God – His way is perfect”. The enemies of Joshua and David were not just their enemies but the enemies of God himself. When David killed Goliath, it was because he mocked God and trod on the land God promised to Israel. The battle is the Lord’s, we are merely his soldiers in the chaos of war that is this world. Of course, we got it wrong with the Crusades and the Inquisition but that was biblical ignorance. Now we know the Lord, that he fights for us!.
Dear Lord, thank you for the cross, the bloodiest battle in the war against Satan. We praise you for the victory and that we would be warriors. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church