Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Go Attack! The LORD grants success...

Now they told David, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors."  Therefore David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?"  And the LORD said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah."  But David's men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?"  Then David inquired of the LORD again.  And the LORD answered him, "Arise, go down to Keilah for I will give the Philistines into  your hand."  And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow.  So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.  (1 Samuel 23:1-5 ESV)

David saw an opportunity to fight on behalf of his people, but asked of God before he went out.  The Lord's response is: Go, attack and save Keilah.

David's men have fear.  So David asks again and the Lord assures him of victory.  So David strikes the Philistines with a great blow, saving Keilah.

What stood out to me from this, is that sometimes God sends us out to attack, but sometimes we aren't for sure if God will grant us success.  We all have friends who are strong Christians, who have been killed of war, or disease, so we do not always know how a mission will end up.  Generally speaking, I have the expectation that God will grant me success on a mission that he has sent me to do, knowing that God may have a different Commander's intent than what I am aware of.

My observations:

1. God sends us on missions; the Great Commission that applies to everyone, and specific missions that he gives each man or woman according to His purpose
2. God can chose to grant success or failure in these missions.  Knowing that God ultimately has His purpose in mind, and our greater good, he may chose the mission success to be defined differently than we would like.  Example 1, in the past, I chose to define success with how many people came to Bible study, but God seems to be worried more about the Laborers being trained than numbers (Matthew 9).  Example 2, I went to Sapper Leader Course, and God gave me the strength to complete the 28 days of training, but chose not to give me a tab.  God's purpose was a little different from mine.

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