The Battle – I’d Rather Be David

Battles are both the bane and the glory of our existence.  We adamantly abhor them when they’re forced on us by vengeful adversaries who mean us all the harm they can muster up, or when they randomly befall us through indiscriminately cruel circumstances over which we have no control.  On the other hand, we rather bask in them when there’s something gallantly heroic about them, or they serve to right a great wrong.  Indeed, battles are both the bane and glory of our existence.

Battles as Daily Challenges

The battles that we fight come in all shapes and sizes.  Some are nothing more than things we would define as the day in and day out challenges of living out our lives.  We’ve come to see these battles as a natural and acceptable element of life and living.

Battles as Battles

But then there are those things that have little or nothing to do with the natural course of life and living.  There are these acutely harrowing moments either forged on the anvil of our poor choices, or violently struck on the revengeful anvil of someone or something else.  These are those events that are not about pressing through to the next thing, rather they are about surviving so that we can get to the next thing.

Battles of Justice

Then there are also those battles that we choose to engage in.  It may be that we have witnessed a searing injustice, or that a line has been crossed that should never have been crossed.  Any number of these things enflame our ire and prompt us to step into the fray.

Battles of Calling

Or we may sense some innate calling that’s compelling beyond any of our best efforts to resist.  There might be a compulsion borne of some deep inner essence that whispers that we were born for such a moment, or that the entire purpose of our existence is to wage the singular battle before us.  Of warrior stock or not, we may feel an irresistible call to a battle either large or small.

The Goliath’s

Superiority

It seems that in fighting these battles of ours, we’ve developed a mentality of superior warfare.  There’s something in our construct that envisions what superiority is, whether that’s sheer numbers, or the extent of our resources, or timing, or any of an innumerable number of things.  This is more akin to a Goliath mentality.

Clearly, wisdom would dictate inventorying such resources as held up against whatever foe we face.  Yet, could it be that the calculations that we’ve devised to determine what battles we will fight or not fight have entirely removed our convictions, our calling, our sense of injustice, and the whole notion that we were raised up to lay ourselves down?  Would it be reasonable to conjecture that any instrument of war, regardless of how devastating, only takes on life when those who hold those weapons are driven by deeply core convictions that bring us to the battlefield?   Have we taken passion and conviction and calling, which are the most potent resources of war, off the battlefield?  And if we are not driven by those things, is the battle really a battle at all?

The David’s

Battles of Conviction

In that sense, I would much prefer to be David.  I would prefer to know my weapon well and be practiced in its use.  Yet, I would want the heart behind the weapon so that the nature of the enemy and the weapons arrayed against me do not hold the power for me that they might otherwise hold.  I certainly don’t want to be foolish or naïve and thoughtlessly take on an enemy without careful consideration.  However, neither do I want to winch in fear or call a battle lost that is winnable because my core convictions undergird the weapons that I possess sufficiently to overcome when others would think I could not.  I much prefer to be David.

Our Battles

It may be wise to survey the landscape of our lives, as well as the far greater landscape of the lives around us and ask whether we’ve fought battles or run from them.  And whether our choice has been to fight or flee, where were our convictions and what role did they play or not play in those decisions?  For a life that has forsaken conviction is a life lived in hiding, deaf to purpose, and robbed of victory.  I would much prefer to be David.

February 23, 2015