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.

Good to have you back again. This week we are looking at Psalm 136 as we focus on God's steadfast love and mercy. So each day we're looking at a different section of the Psalm. Today we're transitioning from the focus on God's provision and God providing liberation to God providing inheritance. And we'll do that by looking at verses 17 through 22. I'll read them here. To him who struck down great kings for his steadfast love endures forever, and killed mighty kings for his steadfast love endures forever. Sahan, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever. And Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever. And gave their land as a heritage for his steadfast love endures forever. A heritage to Israel, his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever. Now, when you think about the great kings and rulers in history, I'm pretty sure that Sahan, king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan or Bashan, or however you say that, would not have been on your list, right? That's not something that you've heard a whole lot of people talk about. You likely thought of people like, you know, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Richard the Lionheart, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Henry VIII, I mean, so on and so forth, you can think of so, so many more. And even thinking in a biblical lens, you'd probably think about King David or King Solomon. But regardless of their modern day name recognition or lack thereof, in their days, Sahan and Og were very powerful and formidable men. And one thing that we can guarantee is that all these men, and you can, of course, name a bunch more men like this from history, but all these men were able to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies. So many of these men individually were formidable warriors, you know, in a one-on-one sense. They commanded large, intimidating militaries. They took over huge swathes of land, and some of them, you know, entire continents. They killed thousands, if not millions, of people. Many indiscriminately murdered civilians, many ruthlessly enslaved those that they did not wish to kill. And Sahan and Og also had in common that they opposed the people of God, and God had them both delivered into the hands of Israel. So you can read more about Sahan's fall in Numbers 21. But I do want to draw your attention to something subtle but awesome that we see in Numbers 21 in reference to Og, king of Bashan, or Bashan, starting in Numbers 21, verse 31. Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites, and Moses sent a spy out Jazzer, or sent to spy out Jazar, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edriel. But the Lord said to Moses, Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people and his land, and you shall do to him as you did to Sahan, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. So they defeated him and his sons and all his people until they had no survivor left, and they possessed his land. Again, go back, do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand. So in every epoch of human history, there have been kings and rulers that have ruled using fear as a weapon, and yet even the most powerful and most dominant kings pale in comparison to the God of the Bible. So what can we learn about God from this? I mean, the first thing is that victory become just flat out belongs to God, right? It belongs to him. He's not shocked or surprised by kingdoms rising or falling. Again, he exists outside of time. He's already in the future and knows what will happen. So we should try our best to not be shocked as well. And the second thing is the odds are never too bleak for God. So there's not a scenario where God's ability to overcome is stamped out by a seemingly superior enemy. I mean, just think about the book of Judges where it talks about Gideon's 300 men defeating the Midianites. I mean, think about the shepherd boy, David, you know, a teenager killing the Philistine champion Goliath, as recorded in 1 Samuel. And this certainly applies to us as well. We have things in our lives that seem insurmountable. I mean, it may be a thorn in our flesh, it may be an abuse that we've suffered, perhaps a betrayal, an unexpected death of a loved one. I mean, you can just keep going. These things may seem overwhelming and all-encompassing, but we can't count out God's intervention because we've seen him be faithful time and time again, not just in history, but also our lives. And the third thing is that God is faithful to his covenant. So throughout the biblical canon, we see God make many covenants and promises to his people. And has God ever missed on a promise? No. Has God ever reneged on a covenant? Absolutely not. And how long do his covenants and promises last for? Forever. They endure forever. As well, his steadfast love endures forever. Come back tomorrow so we can wrap up the week.

Stay sharp.