The Enemy is too strong for me.

Deliver me from my persecutors,

For they are too strong for me! Ps.142:6b

This is David’s starting point. Without acknowledging that many of his enemies are beyond his strength and capabilities, he will try to fight with his weapons and in his own power. Declaring that the enemy is too strong is not surrendering to discouragement; neither is it meant to suggest that David is giving in to passivity and resignation. David knows that he will need to engage this enemy, but by acknowledging its surpassing strength, he is positioned to allow God to equip him with the weapons and tactics that are suitable. The weapons He may choose may seem inadequate for a Goliath-sized opponent who was far stronger than the young shepherd boy. David’s sling and stones were perhaps even in his own eyes inadequate, but the God he knew was no match for Goliath, not even close. 

Later in David’s life, we read in Ps. 143:3 David’s assessment of the strength of his enemy. 

For the enemy has pursued my soul;

He has crushed my life to the ground;

He has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.

The enemy is too strong. David turns to the God who is and always has been and always will be stronger. It is to this God that he asks, “Train my hands for war and my fingers for battle.” 

It is okay to acknowledge that the enemy is too strong. Like David, this admission positions us to receive God’s training for the battles we face.