Choosing the Battle

There are many enemies around us. There is the enemy of homelessness. There is the enemy of child abuse. There is the enemy of addiction, fornication, and other sins. We as individuals can never battle every enemy. But we must do something. What?

In I Chronicles 14, after Saul’s death and David was anointed King, the Philistines came near and taunted David. There were challenging his reign. Testing him to see how strong his kingdom was.

Isn’t that just like the devil? He flaunts the hurting and the abused in our face and taunts, “Help them if you can?”

David, wise king that he was, inquired of the Lord. Notice that he didn’t rely on someone else to speak to God, but David knew how to contact God directly. We need that kind of relationship with our Savior. With God’s approval, David whipped the Philistines. He didn’t just win the battle. He won big. As a victory celebration, he burnt their gods with fire.

Yet the Philistines returned to taunt him again. Now a lot of us—myself included—would recognized the enemy, remembered our previous victory, and stormed into battle. But David knew that just because the enemy is raging doesn’t mean he should engage him.

Sometimes, God doesn’t want us to fight.

Sometimes, He fights for us.

And sometimes He has a specific battle plan He wants us to carry out.

Such as in this case. Upon inquiring of the Lord the second time, David followed God’s instructions, and waited by the Mulberry Trees—until God gave the signal. David showed trust in God by obeying His command. As a result, he won not only the battle, but the won the war against the enemy.

To many times, we rush into battle without waiting for God’s signal. We don’t give Him a chance to put His battle plan into motion. And when we lose, we think God failed us.

Not so! If we are going to be victorious against the enemy, we must fight only the battles God allows us, and we must follow His battle plan.

Is the enemy taunting you?

If so, inquire of the Lord, and follow his instructions. Invite me to your victory celebration by commenting below.