The Christian’s Secret Weapon

1 Samuel 4:7-8
The Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “We’re in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert."

One of the most important reasons for reading the Bible is to learn what God is like. What we know about God’s character, and personality greatly influences how we relate to Him. It determines how much we can trust him to help us when we’re in trouble.

Samuel 4 tells the story of how the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant in a battle against Israel. The Ark represented God's presence and power. The Jews had carried it into the battle for that very reason. After losing the battle the day before, they decided they could only win against this stronger and better-equipped army if God fought for them. When the Philistine army found out that the Ark had arrived in the Jews’ camp, they were terrified. They realized that they would have to battle the God of Israel. This was the same God who had delivered the Jews from Egypt using terrible plagues. They knew they were in deep, deep trouble.

Both Israel and the Philistines knew they same thing about God. They knew about his awesome power. The Philistines understood that they faced an army whose most important weapon was their God. And, Israel knew they could win the battle only if God would use his power to fight for their side.

God’s power has helped Israel miraculously win many battles over the course of history. Once they acknowledge God for who he was and turned from their sin, God would fight the battle and the victory became theirs.

We often battle powerful enemies like fear, depression, sorrow, and peer pressure. These are powerful enemies. How can we possibly win? In the same way the armies of Israel defeated superior powers and weapons. We win by tapping into the power of God who promises to be our Defender. As we admit that we are weak and ask for his help, we release the power that God used to create everything in the universe by just speaking it into existence.

That power is the most important weapon we have in our battle against sin. Let’s do like the Israelites did and ask for God’s presence to help us in our battles. Let's depend on God and not ourselves. Let's understand the power that is behind the name--God. Let's realize that the only power we need is that of the Lord's. Let's admit that we can't do battle by ourselves but that we need the power of God. God is powerful, let's rely on that!