2 Samuel 23:9 Next in rank among the Three was Eleazar son of Dodai, a descendant of Ahoah. Once Eleazar and David stood together against the Philistines when the entire Israelite army had fled.
If you were in the battle of your life and everyone else has abandoned you, who would stay with you? How did David lead Eleazar that would cause him to fight as two against a whole army? How did David care in such a way that Eleazar would rather die himself than watch his leader, his friend die and he live? The depth of David’s character and leadership I feel is so underrated. David did not have some angelic experience or burning bush promising victory, he just refused to retreat. There is no guaranteed outcome just two men of war who refuse to retreat. I could be seen as arrogant or wasteful for a king to risk his life for a single battle.
Where do you feel alone in your battle? Where do you feel the odds are stacked against you? What seems to keep sucking your attention and you have so many other things to focus on? Where do you feel alone in the battle?
If you are David or Eleazar, it would be easy to think God has abandoned you for the circumstances you find yourself in. Or at least that is how normal people think. The battle with horrible odds of success and more against him that for him… What if the battle, trial, or pain was actually God’s set up? Set up to fail maybe, 2 against an army sounds like a fairly tale or a bad story with a worse ending…
1 Samuel 23:10 He killed Philistines until his hand was too tired to lift his sword, and the Lord gave him a great victory that day.
Wouldn’t we all like a great story like this to tell our friends and family? We face incredible odds with no chance of success and we worked so hard that we could not stand any longer and we overcame! We all like those stories but we do not like that set up. For a great victory we have to first have a great battle. We do not like the battle. They are messy, they hurt, there are casualties. So again what battle are you facing? Are you trying to pray it away like God doesn’t want it there? What if God has allowed this great battle to be your great set up for a great story of overcoming? No one gives David and Eleazar the credit for the battle, of course it is the Lord who gave them victory. How often did God set up what seems to be an easy loss to actually be a win? Why not you? Why not now?
The God who led you TO it will now lead you THROUGH IT! His character can be trusted and promises are true! Run to the battle and fight until you cannot hold up your sword
Recklessly, obsessively following Jesus
Brandon Sereg
