Fight for Future Generations

One generation shall commend your works to another, 

And shall declare your mighty acts. (Ps.145:4)

Are the battles that I have written about against internal and external foes actually worth fighting? Would it be so bad to leave these strong enemies unconfronted and quietly live out peaceful, God-honoring lives away from the fray? Afterall warfare is dangerous and exhausting and perhaps it is not worth the fight for the seemingly slender territory to be gained. Even David must have wondered the same thing. What if he gave up on the anointing that he had received from Samuel to become Israel’s king and returned to the simple life of being a shepherd, or if he relented in inviting God to examine his internal landscape and settled for just being good enough, what would it really matter? God would surely raise up someone else to accomplish His will.

But David sees something else beyond the gains for his own soul or for his kingdom. He sees that these battles have implications for generations to come. The baton of faith is meant to be passed from generation to generation. The fight is not just for us, but for them. Our children, the next generation, are watching to see if we will fight the good fight of faith because He is worthy and they are worth it. 

In Ps.145 David foresees the response of a next generation who love and follow God with a whole heart. He speaks of them in this way; “They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds.” and “They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness.” (Ps.145:6,7) The bold faith of the next generation is inextricably linked to David as he declared to them the greatness of his God who trained his hands for war and his fingers for battle. 

I will close this series of posts with a few reflection questions. But I also would like to thank you for taking your time to read these musings. As I have said, this is not an exhaustive study on spiritual battles. There are a lot of training principles elsewhere in scripture. May these add additional thoughts to fuel all of us as we take our stand against our adversaries in God’s way.

What battles are you facing?

Do you believe that God is greater than the opponent you face?

Do you trust in his unfailing love for you despite the difficulties you are facing? 

Is it your inclination to run to the battle lines?

If so, have you let him train your hands for war and your fingers for battle? 

Are you seeking God, submitting to his will and waiting on his instructions? 

Are you being led by his Good Spirit for his glory and name’s sake? 

Is it your inclination to shrink back from the battle and seek comfort and security?

Are you seeking God, listening for his instructions, willing to do his will?

Are you letting his Good Spirit lead you for his name’s sake, to glorify him?

Have you considered how fighting your battles in God’s way will impact future generations?

Have you shared your battle stories with others and boasted about what God has done?

Worship him

    I will sing a new song to you, O God;

Upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you. (Ps.144:9)

Worship is war. This verse is sandwiched between David’s plea to “stretch out your hand from on high and rescue me” and “rescue and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a hand of falsehood.” Things on the battle fronts are not going well and yet David sings a new song to God. Perhaps the Holy Spirit instructed him to do so. Perhaps he used music as a familiar pathway to draw near to God and to express his heart to Him. Either way it is quite stunning for David to pull out his harp and compose a song at such a perilous time. Though there are moments in our battles that require the utmost urgency, most do not. It requires exercising faith and trust in our God who can fight our battles in his way and in his time, to pause and worship. 

Indeed we see God lead King Jehoshaphat to employ worship as the chief weapon when faced with a coalition of three invading armies. In the account of Jehoshophat preparing to face these external enemies, we see many of the same training principles that David wrote about.

When he first hears that these armies are advancing we read, “Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.” Then he stands in the assembly of all the people declaring to God in prayer, “In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.” He humbly acknowledges in front of all the people that these enemies are too strong for them. “We are powerless against this great horde. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” Then we read that God answered by the Spirit coming upon Jahaziel to prophecy. “Thus says the Lord God to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s’.” Jehoshaphat’s first response to this word is to fall down before the Lord and worship. The next day he speaks to the people saying, ”Believe in the Lord your God and you will be established.” Then he appoints those who are to sing to the Lord this song as they approach the enemy for battle:

Give thanks to the Lord,

For his steadfast love endures forever.

Not only did Jehoshaphat appoint singers, not only did he request that they sing this song, but he placed them as the vanguard of his army. Worshipers were the front-line troops! “When they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush… and they [the invaders] all helped to destroy one another.”

In this example, worship and praise are both Jehoshaphat’s response before the battle and his weapon in the battle. “Tomorrow go out against them and the Lord will be with you.” Worship affirms that the battle is truly the Lord’s. (all quotes from 2 Chron. 20:3-23) 

Worship helps us to remember who God is. Worship lifts our gaze off of our adversity. Worship clears the clutter of fear and confusion. Worship opens our ears to His will and His direction. Worship trains, equips and fights.

Receive his Provision and Protection

He is my steadfast love and my fortress,

my stronghold and my deliverer, 

my shield and he in whom I take refuge,

who subdues the peoples under me. (Ps.144:2) 

This is the verse immediately following the acknowledgment by David, that it is God, his rock, who trains his hands for war and his fingers for battle. But notice how many times he uses the word, my. I count six. God is my rock, my steadfast love, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield. How would it be different if David substituted the words a or the for the word my? So very different because it would no longer be personal. Battles are best fought, not with concepts but with a Person. David grew to know God personally as he let him lead him. He got to know God intimately when he ran to him for refuge, when he asked him for wisdom or when he bared the depths of his soul before his God whom he grew to know and trust. 

How would it be different for you if you proclaimed this verse over the internal or external struggles you face? In the magnificence of who God is, he delights for each of his blood-bought children, to call him, my God. When waves of accusation come at me, he is my shield. When confusion clouds my ability to know what to do, he is my refuge and deliverer. When I have experienced setbacks, he is my rock and fortress. When I have messed up, he is my steadfast love. I can proclaim that this is who God is even before I experience him in these ways. In that way, my faith is strengthened and he is honored as who he is and always will be.

Bring honor to God’s Name

For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life!

In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble! (Ps.143:11)

Why do I want to win my battles? Why do I want to overcome fear? Why do I want to parent my children well? Why do I want to see justice in legal battles? Why do I want righteousness laws in our country? Why do I want to win an argument and silence my adversaries? Is it for me? Is it for God’s honor? Is it both? Who gets the credit for a battle won? These are tough questions that I have asked myself many, many times. David has someone else in view when he cries out, “Preserve my life!”, “Bring my soul out of trouble!” He is asking for help for his own sake for sure, but he wants his victories to showcase his God. In the preservation of David’s life, God is revealed as healer, protector, deliverer, compassionate. In bringing David’s soul out of trouble, God is revealed as righteous, truthful, merciful, forgiving. 

In training our hands for war and our fingers for battle, under whose banner do we serve? Is it the banner of pride that says, “I am right and you are wrong” or that says, “ I am the winner”? Is it the banner of comfort that says,” Everyone likes me and everything is to my liking”? Is it the banner of self that exalts my determination, my wisdom, my courage, even my self-righteous ability to be a “good” Christian? 

How much sweeter to vindicate God’s magnificent name. As God shows up, we get to boast in Him. I recall a time long ago, we were traveling with 4 of our 6 children who were between the ages of 7 and 2. We had stopped at a rest area to give everyone time to get out of the car and a passerby commented favorably on the behavior of our children. “How do you get them to behave so well?”, she asked. Well I went off and described my approaches to discipline, blah, blah, blah. She left and I felt sick. I had not once acknowledged how the Lord had fought for me, with me, for them. I had not mentioned how often I had come crying to him and he heard my cries and helped me. I purposed in my heart after that repulsive experience of waving the ugly banner of self-sufficiency, that I would run under the banner of his name and boast in him. 

David concludes Ps.143 with these words, “I am your servant.”  As his servant, David’s deepest desire was to bring honor and glory to his God. Under whose banner do you serve?

Be led by the Spirit

Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground. (Ps.143:10)

The Holy Spirit, God in us, is able to lead us in our external and internal struggles. This truth is evident throughout scripture. In Zechariah 4 the angel imparts the word of the Lord to Zechariah the prophet for Zerubbabel the governor, who was up against the external challenge of rebuilding the temple. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” (Zech.4:6)  Zerubbabel was instructed through this prophecy to let the Holy Spirit be the general contractor for this difficult task. Paul shares a similar exhortation to the church in Galatia, as they were being tempted to accomplish inner transformation through their own efforts. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Gal.5:16) For both internal and external struggles, David appeals to the “good Spirit” for direction.

 The Spirit is the Helper that Jesus repeatedly spoke of to his disciples in his final conversations with them before his arrest. ”And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.” (Jn.14:16)  “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (Jn.14:26) “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth… for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (Jn.16:13,14)

And the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ reminded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the coming Holy Spirit through whom they would receive boldness and power to be his witnesses.

In our battles, God is not only for us, he is within us. This is why Jesus said that it was better for them if he left since then by his death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit would be able to come. The apostle Paul writes in Phil.2:13 that, “it is God [Holy Spirit] who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” 

All of this is great news! How is it made real in our lives? David uses a simple three letter word – let. Let acts as the release valve that dispenses what the Spirit wants to impart on our behalf. We need to give the Spirit permission. We need to ask. Let suggests trust, let involves faith and a willingness to yield. David not only uses the word let but he trusts that the Spirit is good. All of the principles that I have shared thus far could be summed up in letting the good Holy Spirit lead, direct, remind, instruct, reveal truth, convict of sin, give boldness and courage.

Whether we feel these things or not, we can rely on the truth of God’s word that all that  God promises through the Holy Spirit is available to those who have put their faith in Jesus. Ask God, the good Holy Spirit, to help you.

Submit to His will

Teach me to do your will,

For you are my God. (Ps.143:10)

What is God’s will regarding the battle you are facing? Jesus wrestled with the very same question in the garden as he pleaded with his Father, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.” (Mt.26:39) Jesus dreaded the cost he would incur in his epic battle to free humanity from the wages of their sin by paying it all in full by his own death. Nevertheless Jesus said that he would submit to the Father’s will. How does God want to use our fingers and hands to accomplish his will? 

If it were up to us, all battles would be waged and won in a decisive, timely, tidy and victoriously glorious manner. Illness would be miraculously healed, adversaries would be silenced, relational rifts would be reconciled, inner wrestling would be soothed, and all of these done quickly. Though we know that these are possible, we also know that this is not always the case. What is God’s will as he trains our hands for war and our fingers for the particular battle we are engaged in? Are my desires, even my expectations for a particular outcome surrendered to and in keeping with His will?

“ Keep teaching us to desire and submit to your beautiful will, for you are our God and you alone are God.” This is how I might paraphrase this verse to emphasize that instruction in God’s will is a process and that God is God. God being God means that his will is higher, deeper, purer, more excellent, more far reaching, more to be desired than my preferences. His will is beautiful in ways that I can not fathom. His will cares for my desires but is not held hostage to them. Keep teaching us therefore to discern and desire Your will.

Run to Him for Refuge

Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!

I have fled to you for refuge! (Ps.143:8)

While we might imagine that David was always the first to run to the battle lines to confront his enemies, this was not necessarily the case. “I have fled to you for refuge” recounts David. The word refuge is a word for covering, concealment, engulfing, hiding.

Fleeing for refuge reminds me of a mother hen with her little brood of chicks, who happily scamper in her vicinity until a shadow passes and then without a moment’s hesitation, they run under the hen’s outstretched wing until the threat is gone. This is what is depicted in Ps.91:4, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.”

Sometimes it is best to hide. One does not always need to take an offensive approach to confronting an enemy. One tactic in battle is to hide, to seek refuge and where better than under the outstretched arms of our God. Part of our training in war and in battle is discerning when to pull back and seek refuge. This is not a retreat of cowardice but of wisdom. If we don’t know what to do, it is better to hide ourselves and wait upon the Lord for his instruction and help than to stand up to the enemy, only to find out that we are all alone.

Bare our Souls

For to you I lift up my soul. Ps.143:8

God is compassionate. In our ongoing struggles, he does not scold us when fears, doubts and emotions may arise. David leads by example through his Psalms on how to express a full range of soul responses to difficult battles.

 The soul is often said to encompass one’s mind (thoughts), one’s will, and one’s emotions. David expresses to God all that is going on within him at all these different levels, without pretending to think or want or feel something that isn’t authentic. He brings his whole self into the light of God’s gaze. Some of what he brings to light is human: natural fears, confusion, anger, doubts. Some of what he brings out of his soul into the light is sinful: blaming, vengefulness, rebelliousness, lies.

In my battles within my family, particularly when parenting children, much of my soul came to light, whether I wanted it to or not. Often what came to light was natural confusion, “I don’t know how to help this child” or natural fear, “I don’t know how to care for this need” or natural doubts,” I don’t feel equipped to parent this child well given my background…” But also when I lifted my soul to God’s holy gaze, other things came into the light; sinful anger, sinful controlling, sinful judging, sinful cowardice, sinful impatience, sinful pride. The children didn’t make me sin. Sin residing within was exposed. Before facing an external enemy, it is important to see and confess those hidden sins. These are enemies within our own souls.