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 STRENGTH IN THE TIME OF VICTORY
Preached by Dr. Gene Scott on March 23, 1980 Through God we shall do valiantly; for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. Psalm 60:12 OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO 2ND SAMUEL 7. Today we will look at a man of God in his time of victory. David was at a time in his life when his kingdom was finally established, and God delivered a covenant to him and reminded him of his beginnings. David had simple beginnings and some hard times. God called David “His servant,” and declared through the prophet Nathan, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: and I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.” Then came a promise for the people David had been leading: “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime.” God went on to give David an amazing series of promises. David was in a time of rest. The kingdom was now united and the battles were seemingly over. He could have euphorically settled down at his palace in Jerusalem and said, “Thank God that is all over!” Here is the man who had been hunted like a partridge in the wilderness, and abandoned by his people. Back in 1st Samuel, David was hiding in the cave of Adullam and though he was God’s anointed king, the only people who would gather with him were described as “every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented.” Those were the days when David wrote in his psalms about young lions he could hear roaring in the wilderness outside of his cave. There were times when he was not sure God’s promises would ever be carried out. But back in 1st Samuel 16, God had anointed David king, and though everyone was against him, God was for him. There will always be battles. David went through many battles and can be a source of strength to us in our battles. There were many events in his life that made him wonder if he would make it through. Well, he did. Now David sat on the throne with his kingdom established, and it was at this point that Nathan delivered God’s promises to him. David was not willing to just settle on his lees. He had subdued the immediate kingdom, but God’s people were still surrounded on all sides by enemies. Philistines were to the west, Moabites were to the east, Syrians were to the north and the Edomites were in the southeast; all around them were enemies. We read in 2nd Samuel 8, “And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines.” Names always mean something in the Bible. They are always placed there for a purpose, and they describe character and conditions. Metheg means “the bridle” or “the bit” and ammah means “the mother city.” Metheg-ammah was the bridle of the area. It was a key city of the Philistines. The Philistines were one of the oldest enemies of God’s people. David started out by killing Goliath of Gath, the Philistine giant who was cowing Saul and all of God’s people. Now David captures the bridle of the Philistine territory. You control an animal with a bit and bridle. It means that the tide had finally turned for David, and instead of reacting defensively, he literally took the reins from the hands of his primary enemy. “And he smote Moab.” Moab descended from Lot, the children of compromise. The Moabites represent the greedy ones who always try to get the best of both worlds. Abram came back from Egypt with Lot hanging onto his coattails and appropriating the benefits that flowed from a man of faith. Strife came between their herdsmen, and Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between us, for we be brethren. Choose where you will go and I will take the rest.” Lot lifted his eyes and saw the plain of Jordan, and it looked to him like the Garden of Eden and the land of Egypt, a little of the best of both worlds. He thought he could have his cake and eat it too, by being in the Promised Land and also close to Sodom. The Moabites were a ruthless bunch. On one occasion David left his parents with the Moabites while he was in exile, and some Jewish scholars say that the Moabites were responsible for the death of his parents. The Scripture says that David took those Moabites and “measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive.” In that cruel, Old Testament frame, he laid them on the ground and slew two out of every three of them. He let one third of them live and they became his servants, and brought gifts. “David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates.” Zobah was one of the capitals of Syria. That is near Babylon, a four-month journey from Jerusalem. He smote those Syrians all the way to the river Euphrates. “And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots.” Back in Deuteronomy 17, God had given an order to His people that they were not to trust in horses; they were to trust in Him. When David defeated the Syrians and took their horse, he hamstrung the horses because he did not want his people, who were so prone to turn from God, to start relying on horses instead of relying on God. So David was carrying out God’s orders. “And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.” It is a bloody chapter. “Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus,” beyond Mount Hermon to the north. “And the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. . .And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding much brass. When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer, then Toi sent Joram his son unto king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer, and smitten him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And Joram brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass.” Why do we study these Old Testament chapters? Because Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 1:20, “all the promises of God in him,” that is, in Christ, “are yea, and in him Amen.” We have the right to claim by faith all of the promises in God’s book. Faith is simply hanging your body on a promise of God, grabbing it tightly and continuing to hang on until it becomes yours. I will let you in on a secret. Sometimes I grow weary of hanging on to the promises. I may grow weary, but I will still hang on to God’s word. In that sense, I identify with one of David’s “mighty men” who stood in a field and fought until his fingers clave to the hilt of the sword. His tenacity was such that the other men had to pry his hand from the hilt of the sword when the battle was over. We are rebuilding a work of God, so we are entitled to claim the promises of God from those books that are concerned with a people who were rebuilding for God. God’s word is ours to claim. “Joram brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass: which also king David did dedicate unto the LORD, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he subdued; of Syria, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men. And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants.” The Edomites were the descendants of Esau. Esau had sold his genuine spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. The book of Hebrews warns us that we should not be like that profane person Esau. Spiritual profanity is defined by a Greek word that means “not discerning the true nature of spiritual things.” The spiritual interpretation of Esau in the book of Hebrews is that he preferred to have something that tickled his taste buds and made him feel good now, rather than to persevere to the full spiritual inheritance that God had promised. The children of Esau therefore typify people who have no spiritual discernment, people who would sell and profane their birthright. David, now established in his kingdom, was surrounded by Philistines who were just unadulterated enemies, by the compromisers of Moab, and by those who had no spiritual discernment in Edom. But David was victorious over all of them. The Philistines were subdued and he took the reins out of their hands. The compromisers became his servants and brought gifts. And the spiritually non-discerning ones became his servants and brought gifts. We read in 2nd Samuel 8:6, “the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.” This is the man who had to hide in a cave though God had chosen him to be king. This is the man who had to feign madness at Gath in order to escape, letting his spittle run down his beard and scrabbling on the gate. This is the man who fled and was hunted as an animal. But David was faithful. He had learned to say, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord.” He had learned to say, “The Lord is my strength; whom shall I fear?” David’s day finally came. It always comes to the people of God who are faithful. It is not an easy route, but victory does come. This is our promise: “the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.” And again in verse 14, “the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.” I want you to claim that promise with me today. Lift up your heads. You are God’s people, and God is not finished with His work. I want us to put the future in the past tense and say “We made it through this year!” In his time of victory, David did what he always did: he poured out his heart to God and he wrote a psalm. We will look at two psalms that he wrote around this time, after Nathan had delivered the prophecy and David began to subdue the surrounding enemies. This message applies to every individual, because the same God cares for you. We are to cast our care on Him, because the New Testament says that our care is His constant concern. Psalm 2 begins, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed.” They are not very smart, are they? “They say, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” Do you know what goes on in heaven while we are being harassed? “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” Many people are shallow in their theology and would criticize a pastor for deriding the enemies of God. Isn’t Christianity being Christlike? And isn’t Christlikeness being Godlike? Yet God sits in the heavens and laughs, and shall have His enemies in derision. “Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath.” Love and wrath are not mutually exclusive. You just have to direct your wrath in the right direction. These people were the proper objects of wrath. “Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” A Godlike pastor will be displeased with the things that displease God. What is God’s conclusion? “Yet have I,” God speaking, “set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” David becomes so identified with God’s purposes that this becomes a Messianic psalm, and a prophecy concerning the Son of God is woven into it. But it is also a prophecy that each of us can claim, because we become sons of God by faith and we are begotten in Him. We are His children and God will not forsake us. “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” The church has a right to reach into God’s book and claim this promise. God’s word says He will arise when His people take pleasure in the stones and the dust while rebuilding His broken-down walls. God says, “Ask of me,” and I am asking today. “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for they possession.” I expect this ministry to circle the globe. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling…Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Centuries earlier, Abram did not own a square inch of the land, and his compromising nephew Lot had taken the best part of the land. At that point, God said to Abram, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art. Arise and walk. Look as far as you can see and wherever your foot touches, I will give it to you. And if you can count the stars and the sand, that will be the number of your descendants.” Abram did not have a child. But he started walking. Now under David’s reign, for the first time after all those centuries, the boundaries that God gave to Abram were finally possessed. David had been beaten down and rejected. He was brought to the brink of failure time and time again, until his own faith broke and he said at one low moment, “Saul is going to kill me.” He now has subdued the whole kingdom that God had promised His people, and he can declare in this psalm, “Blessed are they that put their trust in him.” David also wrote Psalm 60 around the same time that he wrote Psalm 2. See this man of God pouring out his heart in a declaration of faith, before the total victory is an established fact. “O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again. Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.” This is David praying for God to restore His people. Some people say, “I don’t know how to pray.” Let me tell you that the best prayers are already written for you here in the Bible. “Thou hast shewed thy people hard things.” It has been tough, hasn’t it? I am sure that many of you have wanted to quit a few times in a weak moment. But I am sure glad you stayed with it. “Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.” The word translated “astonishment” may be translated by the word trembling. “Thou hast made us to drink the wine of trembling.” That is an honest outpouring of how we feel in our battles. But then David shifts his focus. It used to take him a psalm or two before he would turn from his circumstances to God. Now that he is a little older, it takes him only three verses before he shifts his focus and remembers God. “Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee.” One of the Lord’s names is Jehovah-nissi, meaning “The Lord our Banner.” It was given at a time when God gave His people great victory in response to prayer and faithfulness. Now David remembers, “Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah,” or “think of that.” We have become a living banner. Pause for a moment and think about our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. It is a symbol and a reminder that all through the night, in the worst of the battle, that flag was still there. Likewise, we are a banner of faith, and God has preserved us through it all. In the midst of discouragement, we have to remind ourselves that we are a banner. It is not just a matter of one person deciding to give way because he feels like he cannot take the pace anymore and the sacrifice seems too great. God has assigned you to be a part of building up His work. God’s name is at stake. God’s honor is at stake. God’s church and His promise to preserve it are on display before an onlooking world. “Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee.” We are His emblem, His witness, a living epistle read of men. “That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me.” We are God’s beloved. Do you know that? We have a tough job, but we have a right to say to God, “That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me. God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver.” Now comes Moab, the compromisers: “Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe.” God will pour out the dirt from His shoe on them. “Philistia, triumph thou because of me.” The Revised Standard Version says, “over Philistia I shout in triumph.” It means that the Philistines will become a constant exhibit of God’s triumphant work. “Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom?” Who is going to make this possible? I want you to understand that David’s mindset is no longer, “Are we going to make it?” Suddenly a declaration of faith breaks out. It is like the third vision of Zechariah, where the prophet was stopped by the Lord Himself from measuring the boundaries of the city. The message was “You are not just building a city. God’s blessing is going to spill out to the suburbs, and blessing will know no boundary as it flows from this place.” Who is going to do it? “Who will lead me…Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? And thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies?” David had known the times when it seemed as though God had forsaken him, but now the psalmist declares, “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.” All of that was an introduction. I ask you now to turn back to 2nd Samuel 8. Victory is around the corner, and there are three points I want to make to guide us in the days ahead. The first point comes from the hamstringing of the chariot horse. I believe that David returned to the state of mind that he brought on the scene when he conquered Goliath. He said the Lord had delivered him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, and that He would do the same against the Philistine. When David went out against Goliath and was mocked by him, David said, “I come in the name of the Lord.” In a time of great victories, when David was in a position of power, he committed himself to continue to trust in God, just as he had trusted in God when he was in a position of weakness. That is why he hamstrung all the chariot horses. He wanted God’s people to remember that their strength still had to come from God. I do not want us to settle on our lees. This church shall continue to be Faith Center, and God must always be our strength. The second point is that we learn from David how to act in time of victory. Watch what David does in verse 11, as they brought in the silver and gold: “David did dedicate unto the LORD, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he subdued.” The proceeds are the Lord’s and we had better use them right. This is God’s inheritance, not ours. The third point is that David gave all of the credit to God. Even though he was God’s instrument, when the victory came, Psalm 60 says, “Who will bring me into the strong city?...Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off?...Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.” Many times I have said that if God’s work fails, we are to blame if we have not done our part, because God has committed the assignment to us. But when victory comes, it is still the Lord’s doing. Our best would not have been enough. We will make it in His strength. The message is simple and direct. We had better make sure that we do not rely on anything other than God. We rely not on the strength of horses, but on the strength of God, and everything that we receive must be dedicated to God and stay that way. “To God be the glory, great things He hath done.” In that frame we can claim the promise that the Lord will preserve us whithersoever we go. Let’s put the future in the past tense and say it together one more time: “We made it through this year!” Reprinted with permission from Pastor Melissa Scott | December, 2022 Wingspread | November, 2022 Wingspread November, 2022 Wingsprea | October, 2022 Wingspread | September, 2022 Wingspread | August, 2022 Wingspread | July, 2022 Wingspread | June, 2022 Wingspread | May, 2022 Wingspead | April, 2022 Wingspread | March, 2022 Wingspread | February, 2022 Wingspread | January, 2022 Wingspread | | Year 2019 Wingspreads | August, 2016 Wingspread | 2016 Wingspreads | 2014 Wingspreads | 2013 Wingspreads | 2012 Wingspreads | 2011 Wingspreads | 2010 Wingspreads | 2009 Wingspreads | 2008 Wingspreads | 2007 Wingspreads | 2006 Wingspreads | 2005 Wingspreads | 2004 Wingspreads | 2003 Wingspreads | 2002 Wingspreads | 2001 Wingspreads | August, 2001 Wingspread | November, 2001 Wingspread | December, 2001 Wingspread | 2000 Wingspreads | 1999 Wingspreads | 2015 Wingspreads | Year 2017 Wingspreads | 2018 Wingspreads | Year 2020 Wingspreads | Year 2021 Wingspreads | Year 2022 Wingspreads | Year 2023 Wingspreads | | Return Home | Current Wingspread | Wingspread Archives | Contact Us | |
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