Word for the Church: Exchanging Pitchforks for Slings

This morning, Holy Spirit woke me up with the song "The Battle Belongs to the Lord." It's an older song, and it's one I feel like I've known since forever, but it played as loudly in my head this morning as if it were blasting through the speakers of my CD player.

Later, when I turned on the morning video devotional given by my pastor friend, Mark Driskill, one of the first things he said was this: "The battle belongs to the Lord, y'all." 

And I glanced up and thought: You've got a sense of humor, Lord. I love to see Your ingenious messages woven into my day.

Driving back from dropping my daughter off at school, the Lord brought the story of David and Goliath to mind. It's yet another thing that I've known since forever, and it should perhaps have lost all meaning for me because of its absolute familiarity, but since it's a part of the inspired Word of God, which is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), something fresh stood out to me today.

David approached the place where the Philistines and the Israelites were facing off across a valley. He listened to Goliath spewing his obscene threats against the people of God and the God of Israel, and David started asking: "Why is this even a thing? Why are we -- the people of God -- letting him get away with this?"

David's older brother Eliab, notably -- a part of his family -- comes over and accuses him (falsely) of pride and wickedness. 

David doesn't snap back with an insult of his own (as I would have been strongly tempted to do). He doesn't throw his hands in the air and give up in exasperation, either (which I would also have been strongly tempted to do). He turns his attention back to the problem at hand instead of focusing on his brother who has accused him, poked at him, maligned him, tried to get him to quit what he was doing.

So King Saul hears about David, and he has him brought to his tent. They talk, and Saul essentially asks David why he thinks he can go fight the giant. David explains how he's killed a lion and a bear while he's tended his flock, but the important part of his story is this: "The Lord Who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine."

The Lord Who rescued me...
The Battle Belongs To The Lord!!

David laid aside his offenses and fought the battle that the Lord wanted him to fight. He didn't return to his flocks, the battle his brother wanted him to fight.

See the difference?

As I spent time praying this morning, the Lord gave me a vision of something very interesting. Across a wide and panoramic landscape were multiple bonfires, as far as the eye could see. People surrounded each fire, and were tossing things into them to feed the flames. I thought at first that they were feeding sticks into the fires, but as I looked closer, I realized, no, they're weapons.

Swords, knives, bows/arrows, guns, etc. 

Ephesians 6:10-20, in concert with the song "The Battle Belongs to the Lord" was going through my head at this point. These people were burning weapons. Why were they burning weapons?

I heard Holy Spirit say, These are the offenses. What was going into the fire were offenses picked up by each other and aimed at each other... now being burned. I realized... this is a word for the church. We have got to lay down our offenses against each other, not just lay them down, y'all, but rid ourselves of them as completely as if we were burning them to ashes.

We are in a battle, and our side is pockmarked with the slashes and potshots we've taken at each other. We are weakened because we're fighting the wrong battle. We're looking at our brother, our sister, and focusing on the lion and the bear back home -- which are threats, but they are not the battle to which the Lord Himself has led us.

So lay down the pitchforks and the torches. We are not fighting each other, while the enemy watches the division in the ranks with glee in his heart. This is exactly what he's planned.

Don't buy into it.

The Lord goes before us. Suit up, y'all. Grab your sling. What our Commander is about to do with it is gonna knock our socks off.