“The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David.” (New International Version, 2 Sam. 5:6)
Shortly after David became king over all of God’s people, the “Glory Days” of Israel, the time of testing came. David set out for Jerusalem with one thing in mind: Victory! The issue was, Jerusalem was home to the Jebusites. These Jebusites were very confident that David would fail. However, David wasn’t just confident of his victory, he was certain that he would be victorious. David’s “nevertheless” mindset brought Israel the victory. Failure was never an option for him. To David, the only outcome was victory, at all costs! And that is what happened!
We must understand that this victory came from God through David’s faith (2 Samuel 8:6). Without the Lord, there is no victory! Praise God that we serve the same victorious God today as David did! Maybe we aren’t going to war physically like David. However, we are certainly in a spiritual war today (Ephesians 6:12). Sometimes the battle seems insurmountable. Sometimes we seem to be outnumbered! This certainly was me this past week.
For my whole life, I’ve always been okay with defeat. Unfortunately, this carried over into my discipleship. However, something happened that made me realize that being okay with no victories is unspiritual and sin.
I remember last week I was given the task to oversee that the Way Bible Talk, the bible discussion group I lead, sets up 50 personal bible studies! It was a little intimidating at first, and I felt a little faithless. After all, this was nearly twice as many as we had the week prior. However, I remembered this passage of scripture and how David had victory, despite the odds. So I rallied the group and told them that we must have a victory, no matter what! Very encouragingly, by Sunday, we were victorious as we had 51 personal bible studies set up! God brought the victory through the hard work of the incredible Way Bible Talk.
With God, we can be victorious through any battle, challenge, obstacle, or trial. As long as we keep our minds, hearts and faith in Christ, we will always be victorious!
And to God be the glory,
Joshua Foxworthy
Campus Intern
