Psalm 18:34-36 - February 23, 2009

Ps.18:34-36 "36 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. 36 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn." NIV

Every person alive was born into a life of spiritual conflict. Whether we like the idea or not, from the moment that Satan approached Eve a conflict over the souls of men has been taking place. Every one of us is a combatant in a spiritual fight not only for our own lives but for the lives of those we love and for every person who has ever or is currently walking the face of the earth. The good news is God has not abandoned us to fight alone. Instead, he is the captain of the army, the commander in chief! David had a revelation that the battle that he was fighting was not an earthly conflict. Even when he confronted Goliath David knew that his battle was the Lord battle. As he raced to confront his enemy David shouted, 1 Sam 17:45 "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel.” Goliath attempted to get David to focus on the earthly realities, big giant, lots of weapons, you’re too small, you have no experience in battle but David refused to give his thoughts to anything but the victory that was his in God. David had already won this battle in his mind, before he ever confronted Goliath in the natural realm.
The powerful message of this passage is that it is God who trains us for this fight. Throughout this entire psalm David is reflecting on the great conflict he had been through and upon God’s intervening hand. As he does so his conclusion is profound; “It is God who trains my hands for battle!” We are not alone in the fight, nor do we have to figure it out on our own. God is at work to prepare us and train us for war. Every situation that we embrace is God leading us through a process of growth that is intended to enable us to fight greater and greater battles for the glory of God. I Co. 15:57 tells us that through Christ we have the victory. God is working even now in your circumstances to train you how to enter into the victory that is yours in Christ. He is raising up champions to fight his battles in the earth. As David says it is God who gives us his shield of victory.
In addition to this revelation of God’s equipping David recognizes that God is seeking to establish David’s identity both in his own heart and in the hearts of others that he will later influence. He declares, “You stoop down to make me great!” What a confident assertion of God’s plan. Deu. 28:13 promises that God will make us the head and not the tail if we hold fast to his promises and David is living in the confidence of that truth! God is at work to advance his cause in the earth by finding those whose hearts are completely his so that he can fully invest his power in raising them up to be shining lights in a dark generation. He chose men like Moses, David, Job, Abraham, and Daniel and brought them to greatness by training them for the times that they lived in to stand apart from those around them through the lessons that they learned in the presence of the Lord. He prepared them through the process of developing intimacy with them and speaking his perfect words of life over them in such a way that shaped them and molded them for the time when God would set them in as leaders in their generation. Paul spoke to Timothy of this principle and related his responsibility in regard to God’s dealings in I Ti. 1:18 when he instructs his spiritual son to fight the good fight using the prophecies spoken about his destiny as a weapon to build his faith and to direct his steps.