2 Sam 8/1 Chron 18: God's Victory Towards His Chosen

"And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went."

2 Samuel 8:6, 14; 1 Chron. 18:4, 13

We live in a culture that is obsessed with victory. Constantly, we are over-satisfied with the Superbowl, the World Series, and the Master's Tournament (well...maybe not that one, who watches golf anyway?), all because we are a people obsessed with victory. We all like to see our team with the gold, because if they do, we feel as if we've done it with them. Ultimately, we're obsessed with victory because God has created us to be a people who long for victory. This plays out in a variety of ways, both in sports and in life. Many times, we do gain the victory in our own lives and we rejoice. Yet often, when we don't gain victory in our personal lives, and we are broken. Oftentimes, we lose the Superbowl of our temptation, we end up with the silver in the World Series of staying true to our convictions, and we bogey on the final hole of our own personal PGA Tour. But what if there was a different pattern for victory? What if rather than winning our own battles, there was someone who could fight for us?

In both 2 Samuel 8 and 1 Chronicles 18, this is exactly what we see. Both of these chapters speak of the same story in scripture, that is, David's victory over his enemies. When reading through the story of David, one quickly finds out that David had it together. David was noted as the greatest king of Israel, and he won almost all of his battles. Oh! And David got the girls too. Yet, amidst all of David's success, we have a great verse said of him that we observe today: "And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went."

This verse is repeated four times in these short two chapters, so we know that it's important. If we were to look at this verse slowly, we would find something quite peculiar. From the surrounding narrative, we find that David is going out and fighting his own battles. He is the one leading the Israelites to victory, and even slaying hundreds of his enemies without any help of his comrades. Yet even amidst the great tellings of David's military strength, the LORD is the one attributed with giving the victory to David. How could this be? Shouldn't David be getting a little bit more credit?

Ultimately, what we find is that the Lord was the one empowering David to win all of his victories. Furthermore, the Lord was sovereign over all of David's victories, causing him to win the battles that the Lord appointed him to win. A close analysis of David's life shows that David was faithful to the Lord his God. Although he did slip up at points (which we will examine soon with Bathsheba), he always repented of his sin and turned to his Savior. Because of this faithfulness, the Lord was gracious to him and blessed him, causing David to win many of his battles. In the end, it was God's power that worked through David, allowing him to be victorious in all of his trials.

Yet, how does all of this apply to us? Well, I find it very interesting that very often, we as Christians attempt to fight our own battles rather than rely on the strength of the Lord. All the way back to the Exodus, the story of the Bible shows how God fights our battles for us (see Ex. 14:14). Yet so often, we as sinful men take up our own sword and spear and go out to battle ourselves, without first putting on our spiritual armor (see Eph. 6) so that we might fight in the Lord's strength and not our own. David knew what it was like to rely on the Lord to win his battles for him rather than win them in his own power. Surely this is an attribute that we ought to see to follow.

In the end, all of this points to Christ, who won the ultimate battle for us. We could not atone for our sin on our own, so Jesus did it for us. Now, our lives of sin are counted as righteous all because Jesus' life of righteousness was counted as sin (see 2 Cor. 5:21). And if Jesus fought our initial battle of salvation for us, why would we forsake him by attempting to fight all of our other battles on our own, as if his initial victory is all that we needed him for? For what Superbowl-winning team ditches their coach right after a victorious season? Rather, let us look to Christ in all of our battles, whether they be temptations, persecutions, trials, or storms. Let us live like David lived, and ultimately how Christ lived, seeking God in every and every battle, knowing that he will gain the victory on our behalf. For the Lord desires to graciously give victory to his chosen ones. Don't try to obtain in your own power what God has desired to grant to you freely. Amen!