Continuing my 2020 Lenten Journey- with personal thoughts and commentary by Martha McDuff Wiggins on the book “Lord I Want To Know You” by Kay Arthur.
Day 34
Jehovah-sabaoth, The LORD of Hosts
‘Wit’ is a noun meaning mental sharpness and inventiveness; keen intelligence. It can also mean a keen sense of humor. Personally, I believe the two go hand in hand. At least in this family they do, lol. And, it’s been handed down from generation to generation. The LORD must have a great sense of humor! He most definitely has keen intelligence as He is Omniscient. He knows all! (If you have a sense of humor, He is a Know It ALL!)😁🙃
Have you ever been at your wits’ end? At the very limits of your emotional or mental capacities? Have you ever been so completely exhausted you can’t put one foot in front of the other? Have you ever been so lost you had no idea which way to turn? Have you ever been in a fight and felt you were out numbered? Some might say yes, and that’s when you tighten up your suspenders, roll up your pant legs, and ball up your fists. But, what if that isn’t possible because you are running out of time? Or you can’t see the demon you need to fight?
In the Bible, the Hebrew word ‘host’ is usually translated as ‘army’, but can also mean a great number or a multitude. Jehovah-sabaoth is both! He is the largest, strongest army there can ever be. His army is filled with His own mighty, battle tested angels!
When you seem to have no other recourse for deliverance, when you find yourself failing and powerless, you will come to know the name of Jehovah-sabaoth, The LORD of Hosts. It is the name David called upon when he faced the Philistine giant, Goliath, saying: “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted” (1 Samuel 17:45).
David defeated Goliath with one rock from a puny slingshot. And, it makes for very interesting and exciting reading. Here are a few excerpts from 1 Samuel:17.
—And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid…
—And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.
And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron…
So, if a true believer, with one rock and a puny slingshot, can muster the armies of the LORD of Hosts, how can we not believe He will do the same for us in our time of desperate need?
In the Study Book we learn that Jehovah-sabaoth, The LORD of Hosts, is not a name for those at their wits’ end who cease to fight, who give up. It is a name to run to when the battle is raging and there is no help on the horizon, but the fight is righteous in its cause. It is then you bow down the knee and call upon this name.
“Nations rage, kingdoms crumble;
the earth melts when He lifts His voice.
The LORD of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:6-7).
Mental action to facilitate your Lenten Journey:
Do you have a Goliath, a giant to be defeated, in your life? Be it a physical, mental, or sinful giant, Jehovah-sabaoth, The LORD of Hosts, has all the power needed to defeat it. Call upon Him in your youth and weakness, take aim with your rock and puny slingshot, and watch. His army will prevail.
🙏🏻💖
Further action if so inclined:
Exactly who was David?
1 Samuel 17:55-58
—As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
Exactly who was Jesse?
Isaiah 11:1-2
—There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Putting it all together we realize that Jesus Christ comes from the lineage of Jesse, and through the son of Jesse, David. Can you see how David’s defeat of Goliath foretells the defeat of sin on the Cross by Jesus Christ? Our Salvation History is a remarkable, and sometimes violent story. Like Wit, where intelligence and humor go hand in hand, the Old Testament and the New Testament do also. The Old foretells and explains why the NEW.
If you have never spent any real time in the Word Of God getting to know your history, it would be a valuable thing to do.
Remember!
Knowledge + Faith = Confidence!
🙏🏻😇
As an aside, I am in awe of how the past couple of days in our Study, He seems to be bringing us full circle ⭕️ by tying things together, by showing us the relationships, the connections, between all these beautiful names! I hope you are seeing it too.
🙏🏻🙏🏻😘
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