Word of Encouragement (02/01/2024)
He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 36 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great. 37 You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip; 38 I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, and did not turn back until they were consumed. 39 I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise; they fell under my feet. 40 For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me. 41 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, those who hated me, and I destroyed them. 42 They looked, but there was none to save; they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them. 43 I beat them fine as the dust of the earth; I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets. (2 Sam. 22:35-43)
In v. 43, David testifies, “I beat them fine as the dust of the earth; I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets.” How was he able to do this to his enemies? He said in v. 40, “...you made those who rise against me sink under me.” Now, he describes how completely he destroyed the enemies God had brought down for him—“as the dust of the earth” and “like the mire of the streets.”
“The dust of the earth” is often associated with humiliation. Yes, Adam was made of the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). This marks the humble origin of man: as far as his physical body was concerned in its material makeup, he was not much different from the beasts of the field (1:24); it was the breath of life, which God breathed into him, that set him apart from the rest of the creation. After the Fall, God condemned him to die and return to dust (Gen. 3:19). This affirms dust as a symbol of ignominy. This was further demonstrated in God’s judgment on the serpent: “...on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:14).
The idea of humiliation is amplified in the imagery of “the mire.” Isa. 57:20 says, “But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.” It is connected to the pit of destruction in Isa. 40:2: “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”
It is obvious that David delivered a devastating and humiliating blow to his enemies. But it is helpful to remember that this was hindsight. We know how things can look in one moment and so different in the next. Think about the time of waiting for the test result to come out after a biopsy—how anxious and fearful one feels. Then, the result comes back negative. What a difference it makes! We can imagine, then, the different states of David’s mind before a battle, especially when he found himself hopelessly outnumbered, and after winning the battle against all odds.
What I am trying to say is that, if we don’t feel as confident and triumphant as David in this verse when we go through an ordeal, it is only natural. But the difference in our mental state between before and after God’s deliverance may become less drastic as our confidence in God grows through experiencing God’s faithfulness toward us repeatedly. Let us not forget that we are more than conquerors already in Christ’s victory over sin and death and we will partake in the completion of His triumph on the last day. The. Let us persevere as we give thanks to God in advance for our final victory, which is ours in Jesus Christ