It’s Not Your Battle, Because It’s Not Your Purpose
When I was seeking answers to the question, “Why would God fight our battles?”, I was reminded of a sermon I had written on Samson several years earlier, and that is when everything became clear. In a single moment I was freed from anxiety, fully and completely.
When I wrote the sermon, I read the story of Samson (Judges 13 – 16) about 20 times or more, researching and understanding the depths of it, I found that Samson was a very selfish, self-centered, arrogant, a-typical rich kid, who had no friends. He was a liar only devoted to himself. It appears the only purpose God served in Samson’s life was for God to serve Samson! I got the impression that Samson had little concern about serving God or fulfilling his vows, and seeking what he desired moment by moment.
You see before Samson was born God gave him a purpose. In Judges 13:5, an angel tells Samson’s mother,
“You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
Judges 13:5 (NLT) Emphasis added
But Samson disregards his vow, and his God-given purpose to deliver Israel from the Philistines. Throughout the story Samson does whatever he wants to do, eat what he wants to eat, dates who he wants to date, and marries who he wants to marry. He even gives his parents unclean food, honey from a bee hive that grew inside of a dead lion, showing he had no concern about their own religious convictions. Regardless of religious doctrine, this sounds incredibly disgusting, and I can’t help but wonder who would do such a thing – eating honey out of the skeleton of a dead lion and giving it to his parents?
Despite Samson, God accomplishes what He wants from the onset. God gave Samson his purpose before Samson was born, just as God gives us our purpose. We didn’t stop on the way out of the birth canal to select our purpose from a vending machine. No, our purpose was predetermined by God long before birth.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
Psalm 139:16 (NLT)
Each of our purposes belong to God, and that is why it is God’s battle. It is God who sets out to accomplish something in our lives, so it is up to Him to make sure we make it through each barrier in our lives in order to accomplish His mission. Never worry that you may fail at the mission, because that is not up to you, and God is not keen on losing. Think of it this way, why would God give us a purpose and then not ensure it is accomplished? It is not logical. It is God who ultimately loses if our purpose is not achieved. My confidence is that God, the being who created life, the heavens and the planets, will make sure I achieve what He set out for me to achieve, as long as I am in His will.
Being in God’s will is critical in how God achieves your purpose in your life. You see, Samson had God’s purpose, but he operated outside of God’s will and suffered for it. What would be the outcome of the story if Samson aligned himself with God’s will? How different would the story be if Samson embraced his purpose and raised an army to defeat the Philistines rather than lust after Philistine women? Either Samson didn’t embrace God’s purpose, or he did and he took it for granted that the purpose would be accomplished and he would be a great hero. Maybe Samson was spiritually arrogant.
Regardless, God used Samson’s self-interests to achieve His own purpose. Rather than be a great leader, holding the respect of men ready to conquer the Philistines, Samson ultimately became a mole, infiltrating the Philistines. But he didn’t even do that job so well, because he was at war with them, and the Philistines sought to kill him. Ultimately they succeeded in capturing him and humiliating him.
In my story I want to be the hero, not the train wreck that Samson experienced. My only choice is to be in God’s will. But how do I know I am in His will?
We find ourselves in situations that either we put ourselves in or is an answered prayer from God. We find ourselves wondering how we got there because the conditions are so poor. When I was in the height of my anxiety and stress I clung to the Word more and more, because I knew that was my best hope. Either God would deliver me or I possibly faced a life time of medication. I had to have faith that I was where God wanted me so that I could learn something and be changed, and that is exactly what happened.
Rather than the time being wasted with anxiety, fear and stress, it became a strenuous clinic to build my confidence in the Lord like never before. It really was boot camp, or more aptly, a mental and spiritual Ranger School. Ranger School is known to be the toughest training for the armed services special forces. Now I look at the words “hope” and “faith” and think that I will never use them again. Instead I will use the word “know”, because I know God will see me through EVERY situation. I know God will NEVER put me to shame. I know God is working with me and through me to achieve what He set out for me to achieve. I know when I think I have it figured out on my own and not subject myself to Him, that I am adding time to the effort before us. And, I know God does not mind waiting.
Why doesn’t God mind waiting? Because I know God loves and adores me, like any father adores his children.
We must subject ourselves to Him through praise and worship, staying in His word, and having confidence in KNOWING our current situation is OK as long as God is at the wheel. You know you are aligned with His will when you live a life in subjection to God. This may sound demeaning, and if it does, then you currently do not understand this deeply enough to know how liberating it is to being subject to God and no other person or no other vice.
What a relief it is to know that God has a vested interest in our lives, and that it is in God’s best interest to see us through each battle. It became clear to me that we have our roles, and God has His. Our role is to stand firm and not run away from the difficult times in our lives, and God’s role is to see us through each battle in order to realize His goal.