https://odb.org/2025/05/26/from-the-deadly-sword
Psalm 144:1–2 (NIV): 1 Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
2 He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
As soldiers, it is unavoidable dealing with death when at war. I would think most of us alive today never faced war, whether as civilians or soldiers. I, for one, was born after WW2. But in WW2, many Chinese in Malaya were masacred by the Japanese and their genealogy died with them although those who survived likely were those given away as babies to Malay parents and thus are now fully assimilated as Malay Muslims in modern day Malaysia.
But for some, participation in war is inevitable because the nation is at war, like Israel today against the Hezbollah and Hamas and Iran or Ukraine and Russia. More and more young men and women ended up on the battlefield as conscripted soldiers to fight for their country, and many will lose their lives doing so. In a war, the bombs and the bullets are real and are designed to kill just like the swords and arrows of the ancient world. David, for one, had blood in his hands from the time he defeated Goliath with the sling to the countless battles he fought, leading Israel against her enemies. A soldier on the field can show no mercy as if you don’t kill, you will be killed. It’s your life against the others. It is not a sport like badminton where if defeated, you can go back and train and fight another day. If you are defeated, it means you are dead, and the Indo-Malay word tewas aptly describes this macabre condition.
Fortunately for most of us, when we read Psalm 144:1-2, we can spiritualise it. If we read on in Psalm 144 to verses 9 to 15, we see David imagining a time when the young may live well, with barns filled with every provision, sheep in the fields by thousands and tens of thousands, oxen drawing heavy loads, no more captivity, no more cry of distress on the streets, as blessed is the people whose God is their LORD.
We are living in verses 9 to 15. We are not directly involved in war. Our nation is at peace. Yet as servants of Christ in the Kingdom of God, we are nevertheless soldiers for Christ in the spiritual sense, doing battle in the spiritual realm against principalities and powers of darkness in the high places (Ephesisns 6:12). ESV For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
We will not have blood in our hands. We don’t use real swords or arrows or guns and bullets, but the power of prayer in Jesus’s name, pushing back the influence and the deception of the devil so that more and more hearts and minds will be open to the Word of God and His salvation. We lessen the power of darkness over people, breaking bondages and strongholds, allowing the supernatural power of God to penetrate through from the heavens into the natural, healing the sick and pivoting lives to the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Onward Christian soldiers! Marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus, going on before.
Have a good week ahead, everyone! May the LORD our God and our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit bless us with the wisdom and knowledge to do our best in our work, bless the work of our hands, that God may be glorified in all that we do! Amen!
Ronnie's Thoughts 