Spiritual Battle

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me. He will send help from heaven to rescue me, disgracing those who hound me. [Interlude] My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness. I am surrounded by fierce lions who greedily devour human prey—whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows, and whose tongues cut like swords. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens! May your glory shine over all the earth. My enemies have set a trap for me. I am weary from distress. They have dug a deep pit in my path, but they themselves have fallen into it. [Interlude] My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises! Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth. [Psalm 57]

It occurred to me today that David's 'battle with Saul' was a spiritual one. That would explain why David refused to raise his hand to the LORD's anointed to actually kill Saul himself.

As the chronological arrangement of the Bible plays out, Psalm 57 could only have been about David's issue with Saul. But instead of naming Saul, David uses metaphors... Or were they?

If we consider what Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, would write hundreds of years later, we might revert back to understand what David, led by the Word of God was thinking:

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. [Ephesians 6.12]

And Paul also wrote:

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. [2 Corinthians 10.3-5]

These two scriptures in the New Testament give us insight into the reason David refused to kill Saul. David's wording in the 57th Psalm about "fierce lions who greedily devour human prey—whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows, and whose tongues cut like swords" reveals David's insistence on leaving Saul unnamed, but identifying the spiritual beings behind Saul's actions. Does that make sense? Those spiritual beings were "mighty powers in this dark world" Paul would later describe.

David's Psalm also gives us an identifying image of Jesus' battle on earth. Jesus' death, although reeking of defeat in terms of "human reason," accomplished a spiritual and eternal victory that we enjoy thousands of years later. How do we know that? Because Jesus forgave the flesh-and-blood-proponents of His crucifixion on the spot by interceding with God on their behalf:

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” [Luke 23.34a]

As we can begin to see this, we will realize our usefulness in Kingdom work today.

How many times have we identified earthly opponents by name to God? Maybe a President or government leader? Maybe a difficult family member or coworker? Using the example of David, we might do well to keep their names out of our mouths and instead put our tongues to work against the unseen spiritual forces wreaking all the havoc! And then, we might follow Jesus' example of forgiveness for the flesh and blood participants who have been deceived.

How amazing God's Story is! How great is His love and mercy for us in providing so much information in His Word by which we might learn and to grow!

Father thank You for David's example and Paul's later explanation. May our battles be in the spiritual realm and our hearts always reflect Yours for mankind.