Readied Swords
Swords of all types from several recent movies seem to be a must item on many gift lists in our day and age. Mainly used for decoration or maybe for play sword fighting, it seems like almost everyone (that is, in the young man category) has one. This was not so in the days of Saul and his son Jonathan when they fought against the Philistines. The Bible records that the Philistines had gathered themselves together in great numbers against Israel (1 Sam. 13:5), and Israel found they were not only heavily outnumbered but also their arsenal was seriously lacking.
The Bible shows that the Israelites had become totally dependent upon their Philistine neighbors for all of their blacksmithing needs (13:19, 20). This may not have seemed to be a problem in a time of peace, but time has its way of changing circumstances. Such was true for Israel. The Bible says, “So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found” (13:22). Only the leaders of the people were prepared. Truly, the children of Israel found “that they were in a strait” (13:6) or in an extremely difficult and dangerous situation.
We as Christians have a sword. It is the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17) or the word of God. It greater and sharper than any sword that has ever or will ever be forged by man, for it has the ability to slay the inner man in order that new spiritual life may occur (Heb. 4:12; 2 Cor. 10:4-6). Like Israel, we too can become dependent on others to do the “sword sharpening” or all of the studying of God’s Word for us. Each individual child of God is responsible for sharpening his or her sword (2 Tim. 2:15). We each, however, need to be prepared to use God’s Word. Like the noble Bereans (Acts 17:11) and the members of the church at Jerusalem who were scattered abroad preaching the word (Acts 8:4), let us each ready our swords that we may be prepared in the day of battle.
Email This Post
Print This Post
Filed under:
Devotional, Michael Carter
on July 15th, 2006
