The Israelites moved forward in an
orderly fashion and God was pleased. As we spoke last week, He is a
God of order and works through order. Obviously He can work through
chaos too, as He is almighty, but we learn right through the Bible
that 'order' is one of His characteristic and therefore He prefers
order in everything He does.
Good, so now we are back to where
the Israelites are moving and a wonderful phrase struck me.
'Whenever the Ark set out, Moses
would cry, "Arise, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered! Let
them flee before You!" And when the Ark was set down, he would say,
"Return, O Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel!" Numbers
10:35
Isn't it beautiful? Moses
proclaimed God as King and proclaimed that His enemies are defeated
and he also claimed and ask God to be with them, because without
Him they were nothing. The power of the tongue and the power of
prayer are amazing. This statement reminded me of the time when
David approached Goliath. Now I am sure I don't have to relate the
story to you, as this is one of the first stories they teach the
kids in Sunday school! But in short, David was just a boy who used
to look after sheep, who was about to take on the giant warrior of
the Philistines in order to rescue Israel from them. If he was able
to defeat Goliath the Israelites will win the war, and if he
didn't, the Philistines would have won the war. So it was quite an
important task that he had on his young shoulders.
But he did something amazing. He
didn't approach Goliath with trembling hands and shaking knees or
even with a sword. He didn't make excuses for himself or try and
hide behind the army; no he approached Goliath by proclaiming the
might of God! He walked confidently up to Goliath and proclaimed
God's victory. Listen to this:
'You come to me with sword, spear
and javelin, but I come to you in the Name of the Lord Almighty -
the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the
Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head.
And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and
the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God
in Israel! And everyone will know that the Lord does not need
weapons to rescue His people. It is His battle, not ours. The Lord
will give you to us!" 1 Samuel 17:45 - 47
Wonderful! How beautifully said.
Notice that he gave God all the glory and didn't take any for
himself, because he knew that without God, he was nothing. Without
God by his side he knew that he would certainly die. He proclaimed
God's victory and that God will be with them.
We need to learn from these two
great men. We need to approach our 'enemies' by proclaiming God's
Word and by proclaiming His victory. We need to speak a positive
outcome as well as what God has placed in our hearts. That is the
most important part of any victory we want to claim for ourselves.
We need to realize that on our own we amount to nothing, but with
Him, we amount to everything. He is the One walking in front,
leading the way. Proclaim Him as God and King of your life and walk
in spiritual victory with Him.
Father thank you for all the
victories You have won for us. Thank you that You are there with us
and ready to go into 'battle' with us. Without You we might as well
stop, but with You there is overwhelming victory! We praise You and
bring Glory to Your Name! We love You. Amen