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The life of David has been inadvertently brought to the front of my mind lately. My church did a Sunday school mini-series on him, Warrior Hearted Mom is doing a Psalm challenge and everywhere else I look I see songs & phrases inspired by his life. Something has been weighing on me heavily and I want to share it with you. Memes, songs and t-shirts seem to reiterate the concept that “the battle belongs to the Lord” but I would like to explore what that looks like together. In fact, I’d love your feedback on this!

The phrase “the battle belongs to the Lord” is arguably the most referenced take away from the stories of King David in scripture, followed closely by his "being a man after God’s own heart”. It is a biblical phrase and a comforting one and when we look at life’s challenges and hardest moments, it bolsters us to sing that we fight on our knees because God does the conquering.

In a similar vein, I recently read a quote on instagram that said something like ‘if it’s God’s will, it will come easily.’ I think the author was trying to communicate that we shouldn’t bust through doors that God isn’t opening. Good advice. But are these completely Biblical attitudes toward “battles”? Let’s visit the moment we are introduced to this phrase in 1 Samuel 17:

46 This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down {and cut off your head}! Then I will give [the] corpses of the army of [the] Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God [who is] for Israel.

47 And all of this assembly will know that Yahweh does not rescue with sword or with spear, for the battle [belongs] to Yahweh, and he will give you into our hands!"

48 {When} the Philistine got up and came and drew near to meet David, David {ran quickly} to the battle line to meet the Philistine.

Is it any wonder that David is such an iconic example of great faith?! It’s an amazing heart that runs quickly into battle against any giant! What strikes me about this passage and others in which David says the same, is that he wasn’t exactly on his knees. I don’t doubt that David handled his battles prayerfully, but he also picked up the weapon he knew best and ran (ran!) into battle with a man roughly twice his size who was backed by a massive army.

David’s faith was not in his sling; it was very evidently in his God. It appears that even though God defeated the Philistines, he also wanted David to act on that faith. I’ve just been wondering what it looks like to act on our faith that God does the conquering.

I’m making a generalization that is obviously not true in every single situation, but it appears to me that this “battle belonging to the Lord” concept is promoting a prayerful inactivity. I really did try to find a better word, but here are the synonyms for inactivity: idleness, indolence, laziness, lifelessness, slothfulness, shiftlessness, lethargy, inertia, slowness, sluggishness, stagnancy, doziness, listlessness; immobility. Ouch. The more eloquent the word, the more painful to read. On the other hand, scriptural language comes to mind like prepare your mind for action (Luke 12:35, 1 Peter 1:13), fight the good fight (1 Tim 1:18, 6:12; 2 Tim 4:7), resist the enemy (Eph 6:13 and the entire armor of God passage; James 4:7, 5:6). In particular, this passage from 1 Peter 5:

8 Be sober; be on the alert. Your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

9 {Resist him}, steadfast in your faith, [because you] know the same [kinds] of sufferings are being accomplished by your community of believers in the world.

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, [after you] have suffered for a short time, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, [and] establish [you].

I understand that often our battle is somewhat intangible because it is spiritual in nature. I admit that prayer and faith (and the entire rest of the Eph 6 armor) are incredibly powerful even though they appear less aggressive because they are not as physical in nature. Less physical is not the same as inactive. In fact the descriptions in the verses above imply the exact opposite of slothfulness, indolence and stagnancy.

So what does it look like to trust completely in God (and not our doctors, country, guns, money, comfort, culture, autonomy or ability to keep things under control)? While we certainly don’t want to disobey God by forcing our way through places we need not go, aren't their times when the right thing just isn’t that simple? I mean, in my experience, (which is not a source for truth, I know) it seems like most of the times when I’ve had a choice between an easy path and a very difficult one, the uphill climb was the right one even if just for a time.

My friend Bob Goff says this in his book Love Does, “I used to think God guided us by opening and closing doors, but now I know sometimes God wants us to kick some doors down.” David didn’t pull up to the Philistine battle and look for the open door. He busted down the one he knew for sure was God’s will. How did he know? Because God had been telling His people He would give them the land and that they should to drive the abominations out for generations!

For generations, we (God’s people) have had a canonized scripture that we call God’s Word. It doesn’t tell us everything, but it does tell us what we need to know about the Father’s heart. We know God cares deeply about His plan for redeeming this world, freeing the oppressed (spiritually & physically), showing love and righteous hearts. None of those things sound like they can be accomplished from a place of stagnancy or even prayerful inactivity. (I fully recognize that there is a time for waiting on the Lord in prayer.) I dare you to read Isaiah 58, where God tells Israel exactly what he expects with their offering if their hearts are for Him, and tell me how many of those things can be accomplished if we stay in our prayer closet.

I have been very challenged by this thought about David’s sling and stones. My closest friends have been hearing about it for at least a month. So, here are some questions I’m asking myself and I challenge you to do the same:

Is this easy because it is God’s will or because it isn’t?
How am I actively pursuing what God cares about?
What does it look like to pick up my sling & stones, knowing that the battle belongs to the Lord?

What do you think friend? Do you have thoughts about this “battle belongs to the Lord” concept? Do you have other filtering questions we could ask ourselves?