Verse by Verse

We find some fascinating stories of trust and faith in the Bible. Today, we're going to look at a couple of verses in the Psalms that illustrate just that. Faith in God and his promises. Notice these words of King David in Psalm 20 verses 7 through 9. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stand upright. Save, Lord. May the king answer us when we call. In these few verses, we find David comparing our trust in the human weapons of warfare versus trusting in the promises of God. A fair comparison, since the 6000 year history of civilization shows that violence, warfare, and battles are what mankind has all too often resorted to in order to get his way.

One of David's earliest displays of faith in God's protection was in first Samuel chapter 17. In this account, young David fought with the mighty Philistine, Goliath, a man that stood over 8 feet tall with his armor and spear being more than a normal man could even lift. As we know the story, Goliath challenged any man of the army of Israel to fight with him, and as the scriptures say, when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. I'm sure any one of us would be petrified at being challenged by such a monster of a man, yet we see that David showed his faith in God by challenging the Philistine giant. And amazingly, David's skill with a sling coupled with God's divine hand resulted in Goliath being slain by David.

But we might ask, was fighting, warfare, and taking the lives of others in battle God's will for Israel or for David for that matter? We should understand that David was a man of his times. He was born to Jesse years after Israel entered the promised land. As the bible records, Israel was a carnal nation that sadly developed a history of all too often departing from God and his promises. It's also important to note that while the Bible shows that God allowed his people to engage in warfare, war was not what he intended as a way of life for his people, or for all of mankind for that matter.

Yet, it is clear that God used the carnal nation of Israel in driving out the Canaanites from the promised land. Let me illustrate. Let's consider what Jesus said about divorce. In the 19th chapter of Matthew, when Jesus defended the sanctity of marriage by saying, what God has joined together, let not man separate, the Pharisees asked, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away? But Jesus brought clarity to the question when he answered, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

The same can be said of warfare. Because of the hardness of their hearts and lack of faith, God allowed the Israelites to fight most of their own battles. But from the beginning, he had intended to fight for them. And given that David was born into this time in Israel's history, he became the human leader of an unconverted nation. Though it was God himself who gave King David victories in battle, this is not a precedent for Christians in the modern world, as death and destruction are never the ultimate goal in God's plan.

In fact, the good news is that God's plan will ultimately bring an end to violence and war. And we see that although David was considered a man after God's own heart, he was not allowed to build God's temple because God said he had shed much blood, first Chronicles 22 verse 8. But back to David's comments in Psalm chapter 20. Within the context of the wars in which Israel became engaged, David's comments in verses 7 through 9 showed his ultimate faith was in God, not in man, nor in man's implements of war. While David was a valiant and brave warrior, his comments in the Psalms show that he placed his real faith and confidence in God.

That is why most of his life, David prayed fervently to God for his deliverance and that of the nation of Israel. These comments of David in Psalm 20 are meant to give us hope, confidence, and conviction in God's promises to care for and protect his people in the face of danger and the trials in our lives.

Verse by Verse is a companion podcast to the daily bible verse blog, which you can find on the Life, Hope, and Truth Learning Center. Check out the show notes for more.