Read 2 Sam 10: 6-19
The children of Ammon hired the Syrians to fight with them...33,000 to be exact. (I wonder what their wages were...oh, yea, the wages of sin are death. They got paid in full.) David sent all his mighty men. The children of Ammon lined up before the gate of the city and the Syrians spread out in the fields. Joab, David's leader, chose the best men to fight the Syrians and sent the rest of them to fight the Ammonites with Abishai, his brother. The battle started and before long the Syrians were running from the Israelites. When the Ammonites saw this, they ran also. The king of the Syrians met David's men on the other side of the Jordan river and the battled again. David slew 700 chariots, 40,000 horsemen, and killed their leader. When the Syrian king saw that there was no hope, he surrendered and they became Israel's servants. The Syrians were very foolish. They fought in a battle that wasn't theirs for a fee they never got. They started our free men and ended up slaves. Proverbs says that if you meddle with strife that doesn't belong to you, it's like taking a dog by the ears.
My pastor use to always say that sin will take you farther than you meant to go, keep you longer than you meant to stay and cost you more than you meant to pay. How true for the Syrians. They ended up making peace with the Israelites and vowing never to help the Ammonites again. At least they learned their lesson. It would be ashamed to go through all that and not come our learning anything. Are you fighting someone else's battle? If you are: STOP! You only have enough ammo and energy for your battles. And the good thing about your battles is that you don't have to fight them; God will for you. He just requires you to give him the battle and become His servant. Why does that sound so easy yet is so hard to do?
Lord, we can't do anything in our own strength. Help us to stay in our formation in your army. It's the safest place to be.
1 comment:
Good post, Ginny. I hear the word "boundaries."
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