INTIMIDATED NO MORE
What is your greatest challenge right now? By that I mean, the issue that worries you
and bothers you because you have no idea what to do to make things turn out the
way you want.
It may be an embarrassing failure that you
are afraid will happen again. It could
be a temptation so great that you cannot see how you can resist it. It might be an attack mounted against you by
someone who seems too powerful to defend against. Perhaps it is a monumental task which far
exceeds your abilities and threatens to sink you.
Life can be very intimidating
sometimes. As followers of Christ, we do
not have to be intimidated…He is on our side—and that is enough!
THESIS: When we live
with confidence in God’s promises and power instead of in fear of our failures
and defeats, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
As the new king of Israel, David comes to
terms in 2 Samuel 8 with the amazing truth that he no longer has to be
intimidated by the powerful enemies of Israel.
With a strong confidence that he is doing God’s will in God’s way, he
allows the Lord to take command of his circumstances and then watches in
amazement as the Lord brings victory after victory in battles that he never
thought would be possible.
I. A STRIKING DIFFERENCE
--Something
happened in David’s life that changed him and made a striking difference in the
way he saw his place in God’s plan.
--After
years of knowing God’s promises to him, he now takes action based on those
promises and his life and leadership are radically transformed by the Lord.
A. BEFORE:
INTIMIDATED AND FEARFUL
--Throughout
the last half of 1 Samuel, we read about a man who feared for his life and was
being intimidated by King Saul on the one side, the Philistines on another, the
leaders of Moab on yet another and fighting through his own insecurities above
everything else.
--God
had chosen and anointed him to be king, but David would not allow himself to
live his life as if God could be trusted.
B. AFTER:
CONFIDENT AND BOLD
--Now
we find a different man—more confident and bold than he dared to imagine he
ever could be.
--What
had happened? He had inquired of the
Lord, trusted God’s answers and seen His power work in mighty ways to confirm
all that He had said.
--In
other words, by taking God at His word, David learned that by patience and
obedience, his entire world could be turned upside down!
--The
contrast cannot be missed! …the before
and after picture of a man who discovered what life can be when we trust the
Lord!
II. AN AGGRESSIVE ATTITUDE
--Fresh
off the victories he had enjoyed over the Philistines right after he ascended
to the throne of all Israel, David consolidated his gains and recognized that
the Lord was indeed on his side.
--And
even though he had not gotten off to a good start in leading Israel back to
worship (the incident with the ark and the ambition to build a temple himself),
David was a quick learner and humbly submitted to God’s design.
--His
joy was full when He recovered God’s ways (with the ark) and discovered God’s
will (for the temple).
--With
those valuable successes under his belt, David realized that God would not be
trifled with, but also that He could be trusted without hesitation.
--Therefore,
we can see a transformed man aggressively pursuing a course of action that only
the Lord could cause to succeed…and David was firmly convinced that God would
prevail if he, David, would lead forth in the name of the Lord.
A. A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY FOR THE CONQUEST
--2
Samuel 8 records the results of David’s strategy to take control of all the
land God had promised Abraham that He would give to his descendents, Israel.
Gen. 13:14-15, 17 And the
LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes
and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and
westward; 15 for all the land
which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever…17
“Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it
to you.”
--So
David developed a strategy in keeping with God’s promise…not a bad example to
follow, don’t you agree?
1. The West –The
Philistines (8:1)
2. The East –The
Moabites (8:2)
3. The North/Northeast –The Syrians (8:3-8)
4. The South/Southeast –The Edomites (8:14)
--As
you look at a map of the region, David successfully took over the land God had
promised Abraham hundreds of years before!
--The
conquest was complete in every way and the conquered became the conquerors
through the power of the Lord!
This entire episode is an exciting one because it is an Old
Testament picture of our triumph through our King, Jesus Christ. The presence of sin all around us threatens
to overwhelm us, but when Christ reigns in our lives, we become the conquerors
instead of the conquered!
Rom. 8:37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us.
B. A COMPLETE CONTEMPT FOR GOD’S ENEMIES
--The
striking difference in David of which we have already spoken can best be noticed
in the way he went about accomplishing this monumental task of securing the
peace for God’s people.
--Instead
of treading with fear and trepidation because of his insecurities and
uncertainties, David now had confidence that he was simply fulfilling God’s
purposes, completing God’s promises by obeying.
--Those
who had once defied the Lord God now trembled before David because they knew
that his power was great…and his contempt for them was equally great!
Psa. 2:1-6 Why are the nations in an uproar, And the peoples devising a vain
thing? 2 The kings of the
earth take their stand, And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD
and against His Anointed: 3
“Let us tear their fetters apart, And cast away their cords from us!” 4 He who sits in the heavens
laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5
Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury: 6 “But as for Me, I have installed
My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
--Like
playground bullies cowering at the arrival of their target’s big brother, the
strutting nations were silent before the people of God when He showed up.
--And
He showed up when finally there was a leader in Israel who took Him at His Word
and acted with all the authority and power of His might name!
Psa. 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your
enemies a footstool for your feet.”
--David
had no intention of negotiating away his position of strength because he knew
that to do so would compromise the calling and character of his role as king of
the people of God.
C. A SEVERE JUDGMENT AGAINST EVIL
--Further
still, we see David taking a severe stand against the polluting presence of
those who had for so long enticed and intimidated Israel into forsaking their
unique identity as God’s holy people.
2 Sam. 8:2 And he defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making
them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one
full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, bringing
tribute.
--The
Moabites were descendents of Lot and had long been responsible for introducing
compromise and corruption to Israel.
--On
a more personal note, David had entrusted his own parents to safe-keeping
during his flight from Saul.
1 Sam. 22:3 And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the
king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until
I know what God will do for me.”
--According
to some traditions, his parents were killed in Moab giving rise to the
explanation that perhaps some part of his motivation for his severe treatment
of Moab may even have been to seek revenge.
--In
either case, his justice was swift and severe as two thirds of the people were
slain while the remaining third lived the rest of their lives as David’s
servants.
Because we have a somewhat limited perspective on the
devastating nature of evil, we tend to treat it lightly. We have a difficult time reconciling a gospel
of love and forgiveness with what the Bible refers to as a hatred for sin and
evil. Consequently, we find ourselves
recoiling in horror when evil meets justice.
Pacifism creeps in to replace divine
judgment as the prevailing point of view and sin and evil get a free pass. Those who are judged harshly are the ones who
act decisively against evil.
In our own circumstances as a
nation, the evil atrocities done by Saddam Hussein against his own people and
against Iran and Kuwait has often been viewed as far less problematic than US
and international efforts to remove the threat of future destruction of life he
has posed for decades.
Prov. 17:15 Acquitting the
guilty and condemning the innocent — the LORD detests them both.
--David
knew that Israel’s preservation as a pure and holy people would always be
threatened if the Moabites were allowed to operate freely next door with their
constant bombardment of Israel with corruption and the constant threat against
the security of her southern borders.
--This
evil next door had to be dealt with severely to protect the people from falling
prey to such a threat.
III. AN UNCOMPROMISING TRUST
--David
finally came to realize that following the Lord meant that he had to trust Him
without hesitation and without doubt.
--His
trust in the Lord had to be uncompromising and his heart had to be undivided.
--Therefore,
in this chapter we see him at his best—seeking the Lord and humbly walking in
His ways according to His will.
--Three
specific examples can be observed:
A. AVOIDED THE SECURITY OF ARMED MIGHT
--With
the degree of success David was enjoying on all fronts, it would have been easy
to fall into the trap of thinking that the might of his army and the skill of
his military leadership deserved the credit.
2 Sam. 8:4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand
charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred
of the chariot horses.
--What
did David do with this incredible military gain?
--God
had warned Israel in the days of Moses not to accept as their king anyone who
would build his might on the strength of mere military forces—godless nations
do that and His people were to be distinctive in that they trusted in the Lord
for their victories.
Deut. 17:16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for
himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD
has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”
--David
had come to understand the dangers involved and made it his practice to take
nothing from the enemy or develop anything from his own armaments which would
lead him to depend upon any power other than the Lord’s.
Psa. 33:16-17 No king is saved by the size of his army; no
warrior escapes by his great strength. 17
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it
cannot save.
Psa. 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the
name of the LORD our God.
--David
took great pains to protect Israel from his own ego and protect himself from
too high an opinion of his own ability and power.
B. DEDICATED THE riches from his success
--With
each conquest, more of the spoils of war came into David’s possession.
2 Sam. 8:7-8 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of
Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.
8 From Tebah and Berothai, towns that belonged to Hadadezer,
King David took a great quantity of bronze.
--From
the tributes brought from the kings of neighboring lands who feared David, came
more bounty.
2 Sam. 8:10 Toi sent Joram his son to King David to greet him and bless him,
because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him; for Hadadezer had
been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold
and of bronze.
--But
with all the riches he was amassing as he gained control of the land, David did
not keep it for himself but dedicated it to the Lord.
2 Sam. 8:11 King David also dedicated
these to the LORD, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the
nations which he had subdued:
--Since
it all had come from the powerful hand of the Lord, David made sure that he dedicated
it to the Lord and did not store up all these riches for himself.
C. ENJOYED THE POWER OF GOD’S HAND
--Throughout
this season of conquest, David acknowledged that the battles and the bounty all
were won by the powerful hand of the Lord who was his strength and help.
2
Sam 8:6, 14 …And the Lord helped David wherever he
went…and the Lord helped David wherever he went.
--Sometimes
we lose sight of the fact that all we have and all we have done came from the
mighty hand of God as His power worked in and through us for His glory and our
good.
--David
was careful to see that God got both the glory and the credit for all that He
did on his behalf.
1. He Made a Name for Himself (cf. 8:13)
--As
David’s reputation grew, so did the danger of turning away from the Lord and
believing more in himself than in the power of the Lord.
2. He Reigned with Justice and Righteousness
--But
because David was focused on the Lord, he was able to keep his head about him
and not let his good reputation blow up into a massive ego.
a. He Kept Dedicating the Bounty to the Lord
b. He Kept Ruling with the Values of the Lord
2 Sam. 8:15 So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice
and righteousness for all his people.
--Therefore,
God’s hand was upon David with favor and blessing during this wonderful period
of his life.
Why is this passage so important to us today? Because we can overcome just like David did
because Christ now gains the victory for us.
IV. AN ULTIMATE CONQUEST
--What
David experienced as king of Israel, you and I can experience by handing over
our battles each day to our eternal King, Jesus Christ.
--Whatever
struggles face us, whatever temptations entice us, whatever enemies threaten
us, whatever weakness worries us…the battle is the Lord’s!
--David
went for a long time before coming to the throne and claiming the victories God
had promised all along…he went from running from enemies to ruling their
kingdoms!
--And
he did it by trusting entirely in the Lord…and so can we!
--Through
Jesus Christ, our Eternal King, we gain the ultimate victory and can conquer
every foe, defeat every enemy, and take possession of the inheritance He has
promised us as His people!
--Does
the state of the world cause you concern?
Remember what David discovered and what God has promised:
Psa. 2:8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine
inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.
This
entire chapter is an exciting account because it is an Old Testament picture of
our triumph through our King, Jesus Christ.
The presence of sin all around us threatens to overwhelm us, but when
Christ reigns in our lives, we become the conquerors instead of the conquered!
Rom. 8:37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us.
--When
Christ reigns in our lives, we are no longer intimidated by the constant
challenges on every side…for the battle is not ours but the Lord’s, and in His
name we will overwhelmingly conquer whatever comes our way!
February 6, 2005
Providence Baptist Church
© David Horner
2005
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