AP

1 Samuel 18:14   In everything [David] did he had great success, because the LORD was with him.

In the light of Biblical theology generally, there is nothing very significant about this statement in itself.  Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” and the Apostle Paul tells us: “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:11-12).  I like being reminded whenever I sing Henriette Auber’s old hymn about the Holy Spirit, that “every virtue we possess, and every victory won, and every thought of holiness, are HIS alone.”  Therefore, it is not surprising to read that David’s successes were always because “the LORD was with him”.

What IS significant, however, is that DAVID HIMSELF also acknowledged this truth.  In the previous chapter we read how he had said to Saul, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”, and to Goliath himself, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.  Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

Are we serving the Lord in true humility, always aware of our total dependence on him for ALL things?  Are we able to say with the Apostle Paul, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)? And, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take [my handicap] away from me.  But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” (2 Corinthians  12:8-9)?
– Bruce Christian