Winning the Battle

 DEVOTION

1^ST SAMUEL

WINNING THE BATTLE

1 Sam 30:9-20

9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind, 10 for two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men continued the pursuit. 11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— 12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?" He said, "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and the territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag." 15 David asked him, "Can you lead me down to this raiding party?" He answered, "Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them." 16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 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. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's plunder."

NIV

The LORD told David to pursue the Amalekites, and he would have success, and that is exactly what happened. Of course, we are not surprised by this because whenever the LORD speaks about something we are to do, and we do it, we have success. David indeed had to fight the Amalekites from dust to the evening of the next day, which would have been a full day of battle, but he was successful and retrieved all the women and children, including his two wives. We might have to do battle for some time until we overcome whatever we are fighting against. But, we will have success as long as we first ask the Lord what we are supposed to do, just as we learned from David, as he asked the LORD if he should pursue the Amalekites. If we attempt to win in the flesh or gain some ground in the world, we could become successful in the standards of the world. But if we are to do battle against the forces of evil, we had better seek the counsel of the LORD. We know it is the will of God that we battle the war that wages within us. Although He has declared us holy and blameless in His sight, we are not flawless. Although He removed our sin as far as the East is from the West, we are not without sin. Yet, he does want us to overcome those areas in our lives where we miss the mark. True, we may not commit those heinous crimes against mankind, but we still may battle jealousy, envy, pride, gossip, lust of the eyes, or self-degradation, or think too highly of ourselves than we should. Sometimes we just fail in our relationships with others, saying what we shouldn’t or responding in the wrong way. But we know the Lord would want us to pursue holiness and righteousness, which is only found in Jesus. Therefore, we always need to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and if we do, we will succeed in our quest to overcome the enemy within and the enemy of the world we battle. Ultimately, we will win the battle and have complete success as we step into the presence of our Lord.