11/28/54

Scripture: (Read Psalm 37: 1-11, 35-40)

There is a well-known work of art which pictures a globe, and atop the globe sits a maiden, blindfolded, with a harp in her hands; the strings of the harp or lyre are all broken, save one; and upon that one string the maiden appears to be playing. The name which the artist gave to this creation is “Hope.” To people full of the zest of living, it appears a sorry picture of hope. But a careful examination of the idea bears in upon one the notion that there is a good deal to be said for the artist’s point of view. So long as there is left one string upon which to play, there is hope. “While there is life, there is hope.” And hope sustains life, often renews and reinvigorates life. When hope surges back into a life that has been beaten down and all but crushed, that life again becomes adequate to face life’s contingencies.

There is an ancient story in Scripture recorded in the first book of Kings. Ahab is generally regarded as a Hebrew ruler of bad repute. He spent a good deal of his evil life visiting trouble and death upon others. But there is a spot in his life made bright by the grace of God. The story has to do with a desperate battle in Samaria where Syrians fought against Israel. By the time it was over, the field was strewn with fallen pavilions, wrecked chariots, abandoned lances and shields, and bodies of the dead. Ben-hadad, the King of Syria, was a powerful and insolent ruler --- and an inveterate foe of Israel. He had some 32 kings lined up in his sphere of influence to pay him tribute. With that much tribute money coming in, Ben-hadad could finance quite an army -- and did.

One of the neighboring kings who had not yet lined up with Ben-hadad, was Ahab of Israel. So Ben-hadad’s army set out to subdue Ahab and put Israel in its place. The Syrian army invaded Israel, and laid siege to Samaria, encamping outside the walls of the city and surrounding it in great force. Ahab took a good look at the seemingly hopeless situation and gave up all thought of resistance. To the insolent Syrian king who sent a demand for Ahab’s treasure, his wives and his children, Ahab sent answer: “O King, I am thine, and all that I have!” But the mighty Syrian was not satisfied to humiliate Ahab and all the Israelites; he sent a second message, in which it was to be proved that he overplayed his hand, demanding that, at a fixed hour, the city of Samaria be given over to pillage by the Syrian army.

This was too much, even for Ahab. He called a council of elders to see, as it were, “What reinforcement he might gain from hope; If not, what resolution from despair.” With practically one voice, the elders of Israel urged Ahab not to yield to this demand of Ben-hadad: “Hearken thou not, neither consent,” said they. Ahab was a weak and thoroughly wicked king, but he did have left a degree of respect for himself and his people. He told Ben-hadad that, although he had consented to the first demand, he would not yield to the second. “This I will not do!” Every man should have a “this far and no farther” in his character. Even Ahab had it.

When his refusal was brought to the Syrian king, Ben-hadad was beside himself with rage. He sent back to Ahab this threat: “The gods do so to me and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me!” To this wicked threat, Ahab made a wise answer. It was one of few wise things that Ahab ever did or said. He sent his reply in the form of a proverb that is just as good today as it was in the days when it first fell from resolute lips: “Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself, as he that putteth it off.” In other words, he was saying to Ben-hadad, “You will have to batter down our walls first, before you start handing out any handfuls of Samaritan dust to your soldiers.” This exchange of threats and taunts and boasts, before battle was to be joined, seems to have been in important part of psychological warfare in those ancient times and places.

Well, the story continues: “And behold there came a prophet unto Ahab, the king of Israel.” Ahab had been accustomed to the visits of prophets. They had often come to warn him and denounce him for his sins. He had a bad record, and his wife, Queen Jezebel, had a record still worse. And they had almost exterminated the prophets of Israel. But now a prophet came to encourage and strengthen him in the stand he had taken. Even though Ahab and Jezebel had all but exterminated the prophets of Israel, and the worship of God, it would appear that God held no grudge. For when the worst of men takes a stand for truth, God gives him help at that point. As Clarence McCartney puts it, “When a man stands on the side of the angels, the angels stand on his side.”

The prophet and Ahab were standing together on the walls of their besieged city. The prophet said to Ahab, “Hast thou seen this great multitude? Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will deliver it into thy hand this day and those shalt know that I am the Lord.” King Ahab still had his misgivings. At the foot of the mountain, all around the city, lay the encamped hordes of the enemy. Ahab saw their standards waving in the breeze. He heard the neighing of their horses and the rumble of the chariots as they wheeled into position. He could see the light reflected on helmets and shields and lances --- hosts of them, as armored soldiers maneuvered. It is no wonder that, when the prophet said: “Hast thou seen all this great multitude? Behold I will deliver it into thy hand this day,” Ahab asked, “By whom?”

The prophet answered that the victory would be won by the soldiers of the princes of their provinces -- all told 7,000 men. and the astonished Ahab said: “Who shall command the battle?” The prophet said: “Thou!” Well, with this assurance Ahab mustered his little army of 7,000; they fell upon the Syrian camp at high noon when the enemy captains were drinking themselves drunk in their pavilions; and they beat them with a great slaughter. [I Kings 20: 1-21].

Dr. McCartney suggests that there are several truths, all related, that are suggested by this battle outside the walls of Samaria, and the hope that brought it to a conclusion favorable to the Israelites. First, there is the truth that life is a battle, a struggle if you will. Second, it is your battle. And third, it is the Lord’s battle.

1) John Bunyan spoke of life as a pilgrimage, but a pilgrimage that is more than a mere journey -- a struggle. More often, the “seers” have spoken of life as a battle, a warfare against hardships and evil, which is not over ‘till life is over. In this warfare, some are like recent recruits who know little of it except the music of bands, the passing of flags, parades, and the cheers of bystanders. Others are in the midst of the warfare, standing on the battle line, uniforms torn and grimy, faces blackened and weary and determined. Still others are nearing the end of the battle, their armor dented by the blows of the foe. They will soon be recalled from the front. But for all, life is a battle, appointed unto the sons of men.

Thomas Hughes, in Tom Brown’s School Days, speaks of the influence of Arnold of Rugby on the boys at school; how he impressed upon their minds the fact that they are entering life as a battlefield, that “it was no fool’s or sluggard’s paradise into which he had wandered by chance, but a battlefield ordained from of old, where there are no spectators, but where the youngest must take his side, and the stakes are life and death.”

2) The warfare cannot be undertaken for you by anyone else. There have been times in history, in American history, when, as in Civil War days, a drafted man could be released from service by paying the sum of $300 for a substitute. But in this battle of life, no substitute payment, no love or sheltering, no intercessory prayer by others on your behalf can deliver you from the struggle.

You recall that Absalom, the son of king David, had participated in an armed rebellion against his father’s rule. A battle had to be joined, and when it went badly for Absalom’s side, he fled - riding through the woods until he was caught in the thicket. King David’s forces, finding him there, slew him, and sent word to the King. David had been worried about the young man, for rebellious as he was, Absalom was yet his own son. When word came to him that the youthful rebel was dead, David wrapped his mantle about him and went up the stone stairs to the chamber over the gate, lamenting as he went, “O Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son, would God I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son!” [II Samuel 18: 9-33].

David was wishing for the impossible, - that he might have taken Absalom’s place in the battle, that he might have borne the disappointment of defeat, the fright of flight, and that he might even have died in the tangled thicket for the young man. But that is always impossible. No father, no mother, no husband, wife, son, daughter, brother, sister, or nearest friend can fight another’s battles. Even the Son of Man had to fight his battle alone. He deeply yearned for fellowship and companionship in that dreaded struggle, and he asked for three disciples to watch with him. But it was not granted Him. He had to drink his Cup and fight His battle for himself. [Matthew 26: 36-46].

But the fact that every person must fight his battle himself, ought to teach us sympathy for one another.

If every man’s internal care

Were written on his brow,

How many who our envy share,

Would have our pity now!”

In this battle of life, every man is his own commander-in-chief. Ahab asked, “Who shall command the battle?” The prophet answered, “Thou!” It is for each one of us to “lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us” as Paul says. [Hebrews 12: 1]. All men are beset with sins. With one it may be a bad temper; with another a slanderous tongue. With some it may be a diseased imagination, or pride, or laziness, or jealousy or covetousness, or lust of power.

And there are also the adversaries of sickness, of frustrated hope or ambition, of unhappiness in the home or the burden of loneliness or sorrow. Whatever the adversary that faces you, the battle is yours. “Who shall command the battle? Thou!” No one will, or can, for you.

3) But be this remembered also. The Lord stands with those whose battle is for the right. Ahab, in the particular battle against the Syrians, for which he was responsible, was assured that when he took the command, the Lord would be with him and give him the victory.

One of the World War II heroes was Field Marshall Montgomery. When asked, as a young officer, what he would do when confronted with a certain military situation, (and the problem was described to him) he answered: “I would first pray about it, and then I would fight.” That is what we ought to do in our battle of life. Seek the help and guidance of God; then, knowing that He stands wherever he leads us to stand, fight the battle which it is our lot to wage.

Nineteen and a half centuries ago, the Almighty sent His Son to the earth to fight his own battle and, winning that one, to stand with us in ours. No hope is so vital as the hope of those who, having put their trust in Him, go forth to meet their own adversaries.

The beginning of another advent season reminds us again of the hope that came into the world, and that remains, powerfully, in the lives of people ever since, who rely on His way as their chief weapon against the evil adversary.

For the battle, though yours, is the Lord’s as well. And He will win the victory.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 28, 1954.