Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2: 0:20

Good to have you back today. This week we're looking at different passages of Scripture that reveal to us, and remind us, christian men, that we were born for battle. Today we're going to look at just one verse from the 144th Psalm. It is entitled my Rock and my Fortress. So let's read verse one Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. So I actually want to read it in the King James Version 2, because I think it just sounds cool. Blessed be the Lord, my strength, which teacheth my hand to war and my fingers to fight.

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So this is one of the 73 Psalms that are traditionally attributed to David. As with many of the Psalms of David, it reflects his experience as a warrior king, and I mean he faced a ton of very difficult adversaries during his time as king. So we have the Philistines, the Amalekites. You know he had internal rebels, and then you know himself, obviously. And the 144th Psalm echoes themes from an earlier Psalm of David, which is Psalm 18. And this shows us that while writing Psalm 144, david seems to be reflecting on the goodness and deliverance of God from his past up through that point in his life. So Psalm 144 is a psalm of personal praise, but it progresses to eventually ask for prosperity and, you know, an end to hostilities and war. And so let me read Psalm 144, 1 again, and then we'll break it down.

Speaker 2: 1:43

Blessed be the Lord, my rock. Who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle, trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. So blessed be the Lord. So blessed is a declaration of praise. And to whom is the praise directed? The Lord. So the foundation, the grounding of the psalm is in praise and gratitude towards the Lord. Then he says my rock. So a rock is a symbol of stability and refuge. Also, it's not lost on me that David, when he was but a young shepherd, used a single rock to kill the great giant Philistine Goliath. So essentially David is giving praise to the source of his steadiness and protection.

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And then back to the scripture who trains my hands for war? So David is a warrior and a man of tremendous skill in battle. But who trained his hands for war? In the context of the psalm, god did. David's violent martial abilities are a gift from God. Also, the Hebrew word for trains here reflects deliberate and repeated instruction and preparation. And what are his hands trained for For war.

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Now, war is typically not a single battle endeavor. So what about individual battles? Let's continue going back to the scripture. And my fingers for battle. So David is prepared for the war the macro and for each individual battle, the micro.

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So what we see just in this one verse is an acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God and also the necessity of human involvement and responsibility. So it's kind of a you know, god can move mountains, but we have to at least bring a shovel, kind of a thing. David did not self-derive his skills and abilities for war, and he is aware of that. Hence the praise, foundation of the psalm. So here are a few things for you to keep in mind today, as it pertains to Psalm 144, verse 1.

Speaker 2: 3:33

You know a verse that I think you should memorize, by the way. Number one the foundation of our prayers should be praise. Now, that doesn't mean that praise is all we do during prayer, but without God there is nothing right. There's no us, there's no you, and that is praiseworthy, to be sure. Number two all of our skills and abilities were given to us by God. So to him be the glory.

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Now, if that statement kind of bristles up against you a bit. It's likely because you've got an ego problem that you need to get in check. And, bro, just hear me, you didn't do the things that you did on your own right. You didn't do them on your own. Your very existence is tied to the God that lives outside of time, space and matter, so don't get a big head about anything. And number three, god did not train our hands for peace and our fingers for relaxation. We were born for battle.

Speaker 2: 4:29

Now, if that statement bristles up against you a bit, I bet it's because you've created a life for yourself where you worship at the altar of convenience and softness. Right, you got some soft hands going on. Well, let me tell you, the world has enough soft, passive, pansy dudes. It's full of men that are willing to abdicate their responsibilities to the women in their lives or to claim victim status when things don't go their way. What we need are warriors ready for battle. God doesn't need you, but he wants you to get in the fight. So what's stopping you?

Speaker 1: 5:06

Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.