Crushing Evil

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

CRUSHING EVIL

2 Sam 22:38-43

38 "I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. 39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. 40 You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. 41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. 42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them —to the LORD, but he did not answer. 43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.

NIV

More of the song of David, and in this stanza, he is making the point that he was  actively aggressive against his enemies, with the strength of the LORD. It is the Lord who made his adversaries bow before his feet. Yet David said that he beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; that he pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets. We do not have the kind of earthly or human adversaries we face in battle, although, over the years, as a nation, we have engaged in wars against each other. Our nation has faced other nations that had evil intentions, and our nation, the men and women of the armed forces overcome them. But our adversaries are spiritual, and the only way we can stand our ground is because the lord arms us with strength for the battle. In fact, He dresses us in his armor and He is our shield. We can crush the evil that stands in our way, or comes at us in some devious manner, with some scheme of deception, thinking we will not notice the evil spirits standing before us. The evil adversaries try to get us to become prideful, or have hurt feelings, or be selfish, and so many attitudes and behaviors that are not pleasing to the Lord. Those evil spirits are at work trying to destroy us, even destroy the church, but we have the strength of the Lord, and we have been given the Holy Spirit, who gives us or manifests His gift of spiritual discernment, and we see those evil schemes and their deceptions. We are then able to crush them as fine as the dust of the earth. We can trample and pound them like mud in the streets, all because the Lord has armed us with His strength for the battle. In Fact, the Lord causes those evil spirits to turn their back on us and run for the hills, to take flight, and we can and will destroy them as we know and have the truth of God. We cannot be sure if those evil spirits, those demons ever cry out for help, but we know there is no one to save them; they are all doomed. But that is why they are so bent on bringing down, causing us to be cast away from His presence, but serving ourselves above all else, submitting to self, giving in to evil. However, they have already failed, for we stand in the presence of our Lord and He has given us strength, arming us with all his power and authority over evil. Because of Jesus, we have won the battle as we have crushed evil.