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Back to: Spiritual Warfare 204
Spiritual Warfare 305
Bob Neumann, 12/2004
To comprehend the level of attacks that will befall the TRUE SAINTS OF GOD in these END TIMES/LAST DAYS all we need to do is look at David.
Psalm 18 speaks of a two way relationship between David and HIS LORD. It speaks of David’s revelatory knowledge of GOD. It also speaks of what HIS GOD does for him… and through him.
You have to remember that King Saul was the KING after the People’s HEART. When the people went to THE PROPHET SAMUEL and demanded a king like the pagans had, Samuel thought they were rejecting his work. Only GOD corrected Samuel and explained that what ISRAEL was rejecting was GOD’S PLAN. David was the man GOD intended to bring ISRAEL to the level they failed to reach under Joshua and THE JUDGES. King Saul started with an anointing and prophesied. When Saul decided when and where to ignore GOD’S WILL, he fell and was given a SPIRIT to torment him.
Now GOD “sent” that spirit unto Saul. David’s music held it at bay, until Saul started taking David’s popularity personally. And we all know how Saul ended.
So back to Psalm 18 and the next turn it takes…..
33 He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
The “hind” is an archaic term for deer. David is given swiftness and sureness of foot. Attributes quite useful in close combat. But then he speaks of BEING SET on THE HIGH PLACES. Here we have a classic double image. THE HIGH PLACES were a major place of idol worship. Of ASTROLOGY and DIVINATION. Of unholy rituals and debauchery to appease the “other gods” YHVH ADONAI had warned Moses and the children of Israel while still in the desert. It was this “worship of other gods” that brought trouble and misery to GOD’S COVENANT PEOPLE. In Rev 13 we are told that the FALSE PROPHET that “looked like a lamb” but had “the voice of the dragon” will strive to get the WHOLE WORLD to worship THE BEAST.
Here David is set upon THESE HIGH PLACES….you may ask why?
The HIGH GROUND is the choice to fight a battle. Forces the enemy to attack running uphill. Places David in the superior position in several ways.
34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
All of this is so David could make war…against GOD’S enemies. Both in the natural world and the world of the SPIRIT. The terminology of “teacheth my hands to war” is most interesting. Easily you can take it that David was “taught” how to handle weapons. Sling, sword, bow and arrow were ancient weapons David would use. Yet the image of “to war” speaks of strategy… of command leadership…which brought David to a place people recognized. Yes, David was a great warrior, killing his thousands and ten thousands.
Yet in the caves men came to him out of their own troubles and became the core by which the ARMY OF ISRAEL was established. The ARMY that David led to victory, that was the foundation that Solomon used to expand THE KINGDOM. No earthly army wanted to fight it, so they married their daughters to Solomon and established agreements for peace and trade. In the second part of verse 34 we have the aspect of supernatural strength to go with speed and maneuverability. Now these alone should have sufficed to assure David victory. Only David knew better.
35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
Long before Paul penned his letter to Ephesus David understood the images Paul passed down to us…and added to it.
We are all given the SHIELD of GOD’S SALVATION… but DAVID acknowledges it is GOD’S RIGHT HAND…HIS MESSIAH…that holds him up. How did David see that a thousand years before the CHILD WAS BORN and THE SON GIVEN? Simple…RHEMA.
Now Verse 35 ends on a different note…YOUR GENTLENESS has made me great.
David’s revelation of the GREAT AND TERRIBLE GOD is also a revelation of THE SHEPHERD and THE FRIEND….of THE ONE WHO CARES FOR DAVID….in spite of his sins and failings.
36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
First impression is this is sort of where we started….hind’s feet….only it is not. Steps here is not where David places his feet…but on WHAT… STEPS are the means of climbing… going up…. Add to that David says that it was done so that his feet would not slip makes this important because it places David going UP. As in “LET US GO UP TO….” ….which is always the GOAL David desires, dreams of, sings about…THE HOUSE OF HIS GOD. Which is a strange way to end this section. Or maybe it is not. It all depends on what our purpose and reason for our belief systems is derived.
What we desire to be….in HIS TIME.
selah
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