Saturday, September 27, 2008

Seizing Their Spears


“And he [Benaiah] slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Eqyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear.” (2 Samuel 23:21)


        Benaiah was one of the thirty-seven men identified in this chapter as being “David’s mighty men.” They were known for their bravery as well as their loyalty to their king. The previous verse credits this man as having slain “two lionlike men of Moab,” and “a lion in the midst of a pit in time of war.” These were in addition to the feat described in verse twenty-one. In this verse, we are told that with nothing but a meager staff, or rod, he managed to overpower an Egyptian warrior and take away his spear, with which he then proceeded to kill the man.


        This incident suggests to me a truth that is sometimes overlooked. It is possible to seize from this world weapons they have come to believe are their own and use them to fight the good fight of faith. I am aware that 2 Corinthians 10:4 characterizes the Christian’s weapons as being “not carnal”; but to my way of thinking, a gun seized from a terrorist and used to save lives has changed from being a weapon of destruction to an instrument of peace.


        For many years now this world has wrongfully assumed that things such as education, the arts, politics, and film-making were their sphere of influence exclusively; and accordingly, they have used them to lambaste Bible principles and put forward their own secular agenda. But with the phenomenal growth of Christian education, best-selling Christian books, and politicians unafraid to voice their faith, as well as the popularity of movies, if not overtly Christian, at least endorsing Christian principles, we have taken some of the spears this world has been wielding for far too long and drawn blood ourselves.


        We should remember, and teach our children, that whatever profession God may lead us into is a place where He expects us to take the offense in contending for Bible principles, using all the lawful weapons at our disposal. This world may have its princes (1 Cor. 2:6), but God is still the “King over all the earth” (Psalm 47:2).


        Relinquish nothing but sin. 



No comments:

Post a Comment