Today is Veterans Day which always brings back a lot of memories of my years in the military. This morning, I was thinking about basic training. There was a day when we had to run the obstacle course. Some of the course involved running with a field pack up and down hills and over a small river. But the very first obstacle was to scale a small wall about three or four feet high. We were instructed in exactly how we were to get over that wall. But one of the men in our flight, who had been a track runner in high school, proceeded to leap over that obstacle not knowing there was water-filled mud hole on the other side. You can imagine the result. He was wet and muddy the rest of the day. Military training was not only intended to get us in shape but to help us face obstacles correctly.
In Psalm 18: 29-30, David recalls the way God delivered him from all his enemies, the battles he faced, and the victories he won, not because of his military skill but because his God was with him. He says, “For by Thee (God) I have run through a troop." Whether he had met his foes in the open field or had to leap over a battlement to get to them, God had been with him and had sustained and protected him no matter the obstacles he had faced. The same is true for you and me in the daily battles we face. Because God is with us, we are able to run through a host of troubles or difficulties and scale impossible hills of trial. With the power of faith, we can stand like good soldiers and face without fear what lies before us. But in our victories, we must be very careful to give honor to and lay all our laurels and accolades at the feet of the One who gives us the victory, Jehovah. Each and every battle must be faced in the faith, grace, and power of God Almighty, for as David testified: “By Thee I have run through a troop and leaped over a wall.”
Let us never forget we prevail over our trials and problems of life not by our might, nor our power or skill, but by the might, power, wisdom, and knowledge of God.
“As for God, His way is perfect: the Word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him.” Psalm 18:30.
