4. A Confirmation of God's Strength Psalm 31:4

Text:  “And the Philistine (Goliath) said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.  Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.  This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.  And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
                                                                             1 Samuel 17:44-47.

Good morning, Divinely empowered Christian!  From the first days of our Christian enlightenment and Spiritual quickening, we have been taught of the Lord the fact that this great Spiritual Battle in which we are engaged, is not OUR Battle, but ‘…the Battle is not yours but the Lords.’  Christian children are taught the lesson in words of well-known hymns and choruses: ‘…The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own…’  Thus, we are confident that He that has Divinely called us to participate in His great Spiritual Battle, will at all times grant us the eventual victory, for ‘…the Battle is not ours but the Lords.’   Hallelujah! Victory in the Cross of Christ Jesus!

“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the Salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.  And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord.”  (2 Chronicles 20:17-18)

As redeemed sinners, living in an increasingly apostate and openly reprobate world, faced with increasing sickness of sin and Sodomy all around us - it is often difficult not to grow personally weary. 

Everything Christian and wholesome is put down - especially in a Satanic inspired multi-media - and all things perverted and lewd, are promoted - especially those practicing it - and our children are indoctrinated to think that this is  ’normal practice’.  Today, in this 21st Century, it is fast becoming just like it was in ’…the days of Noah…’  What a fearful vengeance our Holy Lord must bring upon such gross and vile sin!  Oh the depth of fear and dread that is on its way!  Nations, REPENT!

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man (Jesus) be.  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  (Matthew 24:37-39)

The GOOD NEWS concerning all this ‘doom and gloom’ is that, those of us who are indeed genuine, Spirit-born Christians, can and will endure all the gross evil that comes upon this fallen and condemned world. How?  Because we are ‘Divinely empowered Christians’!  Hallelujah!  We are granted the strength of Almighty Jehovah God!

“The Lord is my light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.”  (Psalm 27:1-3)

Verse 4.  “Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily (secretly) for me.  Israel’s king Saul, and all of his army were being slyly manoeuvred by the Philistines to fight a battle by proxy - I.e. their champion, the giant Goliath of Gath, would fight for a Philistine victory; any man in Israel would fight Goliath to decide the outcome.  This was ’the net’ into which the feet of the young shepherd boy, David, were placed.  However, as our selected Bible text for today teaches us, young David trusted the Lord God to ’pull him out of the net…’:

“Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.  This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.  And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”  (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

Verse 4.  “…For Thou art my strength.  Omnipotence cuts the net which policy weaves.  When we poor, puny things are in the net, God in not.  In the old fable the mouse set free the lion; here the Lion liberates the mouse.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 148)

Thought:  “Those that resolve to follow God’s direction may in faith pray for it. That his enemies being very crafty, as well as very spiteful, God would frustrate and baffle their designs against him: "Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me, and keep me from the sin, the trouble, the death, they aim to entrap me in.’’ In this prayer he gives glory to God by a repeated profession of his confidence in him and dependence on him.”  (Matthew Henry 1662-1714, Bible Commentary)

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