Fighting the Same Old Battle? Yeah, Me Too

"Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted."

II Sam. 21:15

Do you think that was written with a heavy sigh?  "Once again...." 


I picture God picking up His pen at night after I'm curled up in bed asleep, writing in His diary....  "Once again there was a battle between Valerie and...."



No, I'm not revealing to you my personal big battles in life.  Insert your name and fill in the blank with your personal battles.  We all have a couple.  The things we really struggle to overcome on almost a daily basis.  The big temptations.   The struggle that absolutely exhausts us, disgusts us, frustrates us.  Where we beat ourselves up and think "Why, oh why can't I stop doing that???"


The original Hebrew word for "exhausted" is "uwph."  It is "to cover, faint, to flee...  Beth Moore describes it as "the overwhelming desire to run and hide."  She continues, "The word even sounds like something you might say at a glimpse of an old enemy."


One of the things Beth learned through this passage is that

 "God will always lead us to victory, but He will lead us His way.  We may not always follow Christ to victory, but He is always leading."

You know what's really convicting here for me?  Skip ahead a little to 2 Samuel 23: 8-39. 
David had 37 "Mighty Men" to fight with him.


How many "Mighty Men" do I have?  You?  I tend to keep to myself, to fight the battle all by myself.  I don't have a select group of "Mighty Men" to help me and I don't really trust very many people to put on that list.  Do you have "Mighty Men?"  Could you be a "Mighty Man?"

2 Corinthians 2:14-17:

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.To  the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?  Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God."