Perceived strength can be one’s own worst enemy. After all, it leads people to think that they are more powerful and capable than they really are.
During times of battle, believers commonly find themselves to be underdogs. Faith, however, refuses to retreat and trusts God to overcome superior foes.
Throughout man’s sordid history, people have mocked, rejected, and forsaken the Lord. They have chosen to look to gods that cannot save or help.
There are times when we attempt to do the right thing only to have our motive judged as impure. In such times, we can learn much from David's example.
At times, God called people to enter into war with the goal of killing their enemies. The Bible clearly distinguishes between this type of killing and murder.
The Bible consistently identifies the Lord as a jealous God. As the Creator, He deserves man’s undivided allegiance. As the most High God, He is worthy of man’s unadulterated worship. It is often in this vein that the Bible speaks of God’s jealousy. He warned Israel not to make or bow down to any graven images (Exodus 20:4-5; Deuteronomy 5:8-9; Psalm 78:58) because He was a jealous God and would have no choice but to judge such infidelity. The same was true of any false god (Deuteronomy 32:16) or sin (1 Kings 14:22) which man allowed to come between him and his Creator. God is perfectly just in His jealousy since man was created for God’s pleasure (Revelation 4:11).
Far too many believers today are guilty of a very dangerous practice of usurping authority that does not rightfully belong to them. As an apostle, Paul was given an elevated level of authority. As expressed in his writings, Paul understood that his authority differed from that of the other believers in Corinth. It is important to recognize that the apostles’ authority ended with their deaths. Believers only have the authority given to them in accordance to the holy scriptures. Unfortunately, many well-meaning Christians attempt to claim authority that belonged only to a special group of men that lived during the church’s infancy. This authority was given to them in order to confirm the word (Mark 16:14-20). Authority today resides within the word itself.
The world often accuses faithful believers of being arrogant or simply narrow-minded because of the believer’s unwavering certainty concerning the things he believes. Although there are times when believers reveal an unchristian arrogance, the godly believer is simply certain of his beliefs because he is certain of the authority substantiating those beliefs. According to Titus 2:15, the believer canand should “speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority.” Why? Because the Bible is the word of the God that has all authority and it offers to the believer that level of authority. It is not, therefore, arrogance which causes a godly believer to be unwilling to waver on what he believes, but faith in the written word and words of his God.
Without a just and righteous cause for anger, it does not have a godly basis. Although Jesus was giving this admonition directly to the Jews concerning their kingdom, the principle remains just as accurate and applicable today. Many of the modern versions remove the phrase “without a cause” claiming that the so-called best manuscripts fail to include it. In following this faulty “scholarship,” they corrupt the verse and create a contradiction between Matthew 5:22 and Ephesians 4:26. Young David was no doubt angry as he heard the blasphemy from the lips of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:22-25). He was not going to let these words go without an appropriate response. When he asked about fighting the Philistine, others became angry and accused him of ungodly motives (1 Samuel 17:26-28), but he retorted, “Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17:29).
A man’s thoughts serve as the foundation for his actions. If a man fails to be sober minded, he will likely fail to behave soberly. The Bible likens a sober mind to one that has girded loins. When a man would gird his loins, he would tie off his garments in such a way to assist him during work or when he was running. A man’s mind is best prepared to work properly when it is girded up with sobriety. This sobriety keeps a man humble by keeping him from thinking “of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Romans 12:3). Pride hinders a man’s ability to work for the Lord, but sobriety girds up the mind with humility. It is very important for this sobriety to begin taking root in one’s youth (Titus 2:6).
