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| photo courtesy of morguefile.com |
Too many of us, too much of the time, seek the Lord when we have already lost our battles, or we cry out fox-hole prayers when we have found ourselves in the fierce warfare of battles we perhaps should never have entered into in the first place, not without the Lord anyway, or we do not seek Him at all nor are we open to Him even when He sends messengers to give us directions. Choosing not to study the Bible and to apply the Bible to our lives, and to spend time praying and seeking His face and listening for His voice, these are the most obvious ways many of us rebel against hearing from and following the Lord in the peaks and valleys, the battles and the victories, and yes, even the defeats, of our lives.
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The Old Testament is replete with examples of the difference between seeking and submitting to God as the commander in chief of our lives and defying God and living our lives without Him.
Today, and always, submit yourself to the Lord God almighty through faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, and let the Lord, Creator of the universe, lead you both in your battles and in your victories, and even in and through your defeats. May He be for now and for always at the forefront of your life!
The following is a strong example of letting the Lord lead the way in the battles of life. Notice how David, who would become King of Israel, regularly sought the Lord as he faced repeated battles in a trying time when King Saul desperately sought to kill him and to keep him from becoming King.
1Sa 23:1 Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshingfloors.
1Sa 23:2 Therefore David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.
1Sa 23:3 And David’s men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?
1Sa 23:4 Then David enquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
1Sa 23:5 So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
1Sa 23:6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
1Sa 23:7 And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.
1Sa 23:8 And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.
1Sa 23:9 And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod.
1Sa 23:10 Then said David, O LORD God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.
1Sa 23:11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the LORD said, He will come down.
1Sa 23:12 Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up.
1Sa 23:13 Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth.
1Sa 23:14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
1Sa 23:15 And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.
1Sa 23:16 And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
1Sa 23:17 And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.
1Sa 23:18 And they two made a covenant before the LORD: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
1Sa 23:19 Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
1Sa 23:20 Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand.
1Sa 23:21 And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the LORD; for ye have compassion on me.
1Sa 23:22 Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly.
1Sa 23:23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.
1Sa 23:24 And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon.
1Sa 23:25 Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.
1Sa 23:26 And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.
1Sa 23:27 But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.
1Sa 23:28 Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Selahammahlekoth.
1Sa 23:29 And David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at Engedi.
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