The Day-Long Battle

I feel compelled to offer some profundity on this, the day of my birth.

Uh.

...

Just kidding. I is smart, I is kind, and I is important. I is an entitled Millennial. And I never really lack for an opinion on something. Anything, actually. If I don't know about it, I'm great at making something up. It's one of the first things they taught us as a history major. Why do you think so many of us become politicians?

Wow. These rabbit trails. Moving on.

I was very intrigued by our devotions this morning in the weekly Monday meeting. They focused on 1 Samuel 30:8,17.

8 - "and David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?' 'Pursue them,' he answered. 'You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.'"

17 - "David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled."

Now, you're probably thinking, what the heck? Where could this possibly be leading? Is she proof texting now?

Bear with me.

First, context. David is in exile. He's been fooling the Philistines (who really should have known better) into thinking he's on their side. Finally, someone has some common sense and tells David's patron with the Philistines that it's probably not a good idea for the guy who killed Goliath to be fighting alongside them. So David and his posse are sent back home. In the meantime, the Amalekites have pulled a Colonel Tavington and burned David's home and captured his womenfolk. Needless to say, he's pretty torn up about it, and his gang isn't very happy either because their womenfolk have also been taken. So we come to verse 8, in which David inquires of the Lord about what he should do.

Lesson #1 - Even if it seems like the obvious thing to do, ask God first. 

Of course you're going to go get your women back. At the very least, you're gonna want your stuff. (Hey, I'm being practical. These were different times.) Even the guy in The Revenant (at least in the real story) didn't care about being left behind. He just wanted his stuff back. So naturally, you'd expect them to go after the Amalekites.

But David wanted to be sure. "Is this what I'm supposed to do, Lord? Will it even work?" David knew that, sometimes, the obvious course of action is not the correct one, so he calls on the One who isn't going to lead him astray. He doesn't get stuck in the revenge mindset, either.

Lesson #2 - Sometimes you have to do something even if it might fail.

David asks two questions here. Should I go? Will I succeed?

This is important. If the answer to both is yes, it's a no brainer. If the answer to both is no, it's also a no brainer, albeit harder to explain to everyone else. But let's say God told him to go, but also told him that he wasn't going to prevail against them. You can't not go. But suicide missions really don't generally go over well. Most people want to know they are going to accomplish something with a profound impact on the future. Cassian Andor was willing to follow Jyn Erso to Scarif even though he knew they were all probably going to die because getting the plans for the Death Star meant fewer planets being blown up. (Spoilers. Sorry.)

But could you do the right thing even if it leads to certain death?

Fast forward to verse 17. David has pursued the Amalekites, left some guys with the luggage, found an Egyptian slave, and now conducts a raid of his own.

Lesson #3 - Don't let the size of the enemy discourage you.

David started out with 600 men. He left 200 behind with the supplies because they were exhausted. (More on that later.) So he's attacking a force of unknown size with 400 men. Well, I say unknown because we don't have a total figure, but we do know that there were quite a few more than 400 because that's the number that escaped, and when the Bible says they killed everyone except 400, it generally doesn't mean they killed 1 and 400 got away.

And don't talk to me about them being distracted and caught unprepared. That may be the case for the first few they encountered, but the rest of the Amalekites are going to catch on pretty quickly that there's a problem.

But David was assured a victory, so he didn't bother to worry about how many he was up against. When God is on your side, the enemy doesn't stand a chance!

Lesson #4 - Just because you're assured a victory doesn't mean it will be easy.

This is really what caught my attention. David has done everything right - he inquired of God, he did what God told him, he's certain that he's going to win.

But he still has to fight.

Do you know what phrase I hate more than just about any other?

This too shall pass.

I hate it. It's trite. It's true, but it ignores everything you're experiencing at the moment and reducing it to the distant memory you will someday have. It completely disregards the emotional, physical, mental anguish you are currently enduring.

David knew he was going to win. But it still took him a full day to achieve his victory. The Amalekites didn't just fold up when he arrived and say, "Yeah, you got us. Good one. Here's your stuff and womenfolk back. Our bad."

No. They fought. They fought hard. It's entirely possible that some of those 400 men with David didn't survive.

See, we know what happens in the end. God wins. But there is a real battle being fought. And with every battle, there are casualties. Which leads to

Lesson #5 - Your definition of victory may not be God's version of victory.

If you watch Doctor Who, then you know that the Doctor always wins in the end. He's the hero. That's how it works in TV land. But the way he wins isn't always pretty. Sometimes people die. Sometimes his companions die. Sometimes he dies. Winning doesn't always mean we get everything we want. There have been countless wars that ended simply because one side lost a little less than the other. The winner tends to write the history books, after all.

There is a pitched battle going on for people's souls. Satan counts every soul he snatches away from God as a victory. Sure, we know God ultimately triumphs in the end. But his victory is made all the sweeter with every soul we win.

And some things are going to happen that won't look like victories. People are killed every day because they are Christians. In the world's eye, this looks a lot like defeat. 400 young men escaped from David and lived to fight another day. Douglas MacArthur would have thrown a fit.

We can't just write people off as acceptable losses. "Well, God wins in the end, so it really doesn't matter if I invite my neighbor to church/support missionaries/read my Bible. I said the prayer, I'm good."

Seriously, don't say these things in my vicinity. You will not like what happens next. Seriously. Go read John 8:31.

Lesson #6 - Everyone plays a part. And sometimes you just have to endure.

David recovers his womenfolk and goes back to pick up his 200 men. He's concerned about them, but a few jerk faces in the 400 throw water on everything and magnanimously offer them their kinfolk but no spoils of victory as they didn't actually fight.

Seriously, I empathize with these 200 guys. They had just completed a 50 mile trip back to their city (probably on foot), discovered all their stuff missing, marched another 15 miles to Besor, saw what was ahead of them, and simply couldn't go another step.

The road goes ever on and on...

They offered to stay with the stuff that everyone else left behind so they could travel light. And they may not have even expected anything from the raid (minus their women and children). But these malcontents didn't even let them get a word in edgewise. "This is our victory," they said. "We decide who gets to keep the goods."

But David brings them back to reality. "Y'all better check yourselves before you wreck yourselves," he says. "This wasn't our victory. This was God's victory. We would be nowhere without Him, so stop tooting your own horn. Also, these guys performed a valuable service and allowed us to go into battle without worrying about even more stuff. They had our backs. Also, I'm going to be King. So shut it."

I'm paraphrasing, but I'm pretty sure that's how it went down. 

Look, I get it. In my human self, I'd want a little recognition. I just marched 50 miles, suffered emotional heartbreak, marched another 15 miles, had to make a pit stop, marched even further through a wadi, fought a battle for a day, lost some buddies, and marched back across the wadi to find everyone else fully rested and standing around. I'm owed a little compensation. 

Seriously, though. What's wrong with spreading a little good will? It reminds me of the movie Entrapment (which I never thought I would use as an illustration, but whatever). Sean Connery asks Catherine Zeta-Jones a very important question. "What would you do with eight billion dollars that you couldn't do with four?" Honestly, it's not like you're getting poor hanging out with David. Why do you need to be stingy?

I really hope you're catching the parallel to missions. It's not something I want to have to spell out every time, but I will. Just say the word. 

So I hope that fulfills the profundity clause. That's a lot to learn in 31 years. And that's just from one chapter of the Bible. 

I didn't even have to make anything up.