Mighty Warriors

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

MIGHTY WARRIORS

2 Sam 23:8-17

 

8 These are the names of David's mighty men:

Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter. 9 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered [at Pas Dammim] for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, 10 but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead. 11 Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel's troops fled from them. 12 But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory. 13 During harvest time, three of the thirty chief men came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. 15 David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" 16 So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. 17 "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.

NIV

Three mighty men who accompanied David and who did great acts of valor. How is it even possible for one man to strike down eight hundred men in one encounter? How is it possible for another to stand his ground against an army of men, striking them down until he could not let loose of his sword? Then the third was able to stand in the middle of a field of lentils and defend the whole field against an army of Philistines. Can we even imagine how mighty these three men were? How could we even come close to being that victorious over an enemy? However, that is exactly who we are when we are in Christ. Yes, it is God who goes before us, and stands guard behind us, and it is He who fights the battle for us, delivering us from the clutches of death. Yet, the Lord has told us to get dressed in his full armor so that we can take our stand against the dark forces of evil. We would never contemplate going out of our home undressed, walking about without any clothes. We would have never even thought about facing the day as a soldier without the proper attire and a weapon to defend ourselves from or attack an enemy force. Why then would we spend a moment's delay in getting dressed in the armor of God, for the forces of evil are all around us? Because we have the full armor of God on, we can stand our ground in the middle of an open field. We can take hold and never let go of our sword, the mighty word of God, and strike down an army of evil, even in one encounter. However, if we do not get dressed and we leave our sword on a shelf, we will never be able to stand our ground. This passage ended by telling us that such were the exploits of the three mighty men. We can testify to our exploits as one of the mighty men of faith in the Lord’s service and how we stood our ground in the face of overwhelming odds. We can witness the strength of the Lord, and in his armor that protects us against any and all of the forces of evil. We are the mighty warriors of God.