Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - This is How I Fight My Battles | Historical Books | 2 Samuel 5:17-25

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

Do you depend on God to fight your battles? Do you let God lead your everyday life? What does spiritual maturity look like? In today's episode, Keith shares how 2 Samuel 5:17-25 encourages us to trust King Jesus to fight our battles. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Samuel 5:17-25

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. We all love a good rivalry, whether it's sports like the Yankees versus the Red Sox, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio State, or fictional showdowns like Harry Potter and Voldemort, or Batman and the Joker, or Catanus v. the Capitol. We're drawn to those high-stakes long-running battles between two competing forces. Rivalries create drama. They raise the stakes. and something in us is wired to want to see one side finally, decisively come out on top.

Well, in the Bible, one of the biggest rivalries is between Israel and the Philistines. And when we first meet the Philistines in First Samuel, they're the bullies on the block. They're stronger. They're more organized, more experienced. They have better technology and better equipment. They use all that to terrorize Israel. They kill priests. They steal the Ark of the covenant.

And at one point, they have the entire Israel. Israeli army paralyzed with fear until one young shepherd steps into the battlefield and defeats the Philistines champion with a sling and a stone. That shepherd, of course, is David. And here in 2 Samuel 5, decades later, the tables finally turn for good. Let's pray before we hear what God wants to say to us today. Father, we pray that you would open your word. We recognize that it isn't just history. Your word is your revelation to us. You are speaking to us and we want to listen and hear you. Teach us, Lord, convict us, encourage us, shape us into the kind of people who trust your voice

and follow your lead. In Jesus' name, amen. So we pick up our story in 2nd Samuel chapter 5 verse 17. David has just been anointed king, not just over Judah, but now over all Israel. The moment that's been building for years has finally arrived. and what happens the moment David is crowned? Well, there's opposition. Here's verse 17.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him. But David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. The enemy doesn't sit back and congratulate David on his promotion. They come out swinging. The rival returns. But David doesn't panic. He doesn't try to outstratize the Philistine.

Look at what he does in verse 19. So David inquired of the Lord, shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands? The Lord answered him, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands. So this is our first glimpse of what kind of king David really is. He is a warrior, that's for sure. But he's a dependent warrior. Like he listens to God before he acts. Unlike Saul, who rarely asks for God's input, David makes his first move by seeking God's direction. Here's verse 20. David went, and there he defeated the Philistines. He said, as waters break out, the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me. It's total victory. And David knows exactly who deserves the credit.

This was God's work. I think it's one reason that God wants us to seek his will. He wants us to pray about the challenges we face in life, because when God meets those challenges, when he comes through, it will be clear that it wasn't us who did the work. It wasn't us. It isn't us who deserves. the glory. No, that belongs to God. And then in the story, we get a detail that's easy to miss, but it's really important. Here's verse 21. The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off. In ancient warfare, the winners typically carried off the defeated armies' gods as trophies. But this verse does more than report that custom. See, this verse is telling us something that is a symbolic truth. If you remember all the way back in 1 Samuel 4,

the Israelites brought the Ark of the Covenant into battle like a good luck charm, and the Philistines stole it. It was a low point in Israel's history. God's people had treated God like a mascot, and their enemy the Philistines had humiliated them. But now the reversal is complete. The Philistines dropped their idols and run. Yahweh isn't just another god among many. He's the only God. He's the true God. The rival gods are scattered. The true king reigns. But the story's not over. Verse 22. Once more, the Philistines came up and spread out in the valley of Raphim. The enemy doesn't quit after one defeat. The enemy keeps returning. There is a second wave. And again, David doesn't presume. He doesn't say, well, I know how this works. No, he goes back to

God, verse 23. So David inquired to the Lord, and the Lord answered, do not go straight up, but circle around behind and attack them in front of the poplar trees. So God gives David a new strategy, and David listens. Here's verse 24. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army. Man, that line is so rich. It's the imagery of divine battle. The heavenly army is marching ahead. God himself is leading the charge. What if we thought of God leading us in our day-to-day life? God going before us into the office. God going before us. God going before. us into an important meeting. God going before us into an important conversation that we have to have.

Don't you think we'd have more confidence? Don't you think we'd have more peace if we knew that God was leading us? Well, David obeys. He does what God says. Here's verse 25. So David did as the Lord commanded him. And he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibbon to Gazeer. So here's another victory for David. But this time it's not just a win. It's a full circle. moment. Why? Well, all the way back in 1 Samuel 9, when Saul is being anointed king by God, God gives a reason why Israel needs a king, the purpose that God had chosen him for. It says this in verse 16, He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. So that was Saul's charge. Save God's people from the hand of the Philistines. Did Saul do it? No, he didn't. Instead of attacking the Philistines,

he attacked David. Out of insecurity and fear, he spent his time, attacking the one who is going to be the next king instead of the one that God told him to fight. But now in 2 Samuel 5, we see David doing what Saul was supposed to do. See, David is the true king. David is the faithful king. David is the king who trusts God, seeks God, follows God into battle. So what do we learn from this story? Well, we need to learn that the true king listens to God. David doesn't rush into battle.

He doesn't rely on instinct or strategy or past success. he stops, he asks, he waits, and then when he gets an answer, he obeys. What about you? Do you live like that when you're facing a decision about work or relationships or parenting or money? Do you pause to seek God's will? Or do you just keep moving, hoping everything will work out in the end? Sometimes listening to God means sitting quietly in prayer, even when it feels like nothing is happening. Sometimes it means opening up your Bible, even when you're tired or distracted. Sometimes it means asking a trusted friend for godly advice. Even when you think, you already know what they'll say. Proverbs two puts it this way. My son, if you accept my words

and store it my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Do you chase after God's wisdom like its treasure? Or do you mostly trust your own instincts? The true king listens, and so should we. The second thing we need to learn is that the true king trusts God to fight his battles.

David doesn't say, look what I've done. He says, no, the Lord broke out against my enemies like a flood. David's victory is not in his sword, but in his God. What about you? Do you believe God will fight for you? Or are you carrying every burden by yourself, fighting for control, fighting for approval, fighting to fix something that's broken, fighting to fix that strained relationship or that gnawing anxiety or that financial pressure

or they hidden bitterness. Or are you trying to give those things to God instead of trying to outmustle them on your own? Notice this. After the first battle, when God gives David victory, David just doesn't assume that he's got it all figured out. When the Philistines return, David doesn't say, I've done this before, I know how this works. No, he goes back to God again, because we need to daily depend on God. That's what spiritual maturity looks like, not self-sufficiency, but deeper dependence. The more you grow in the faith, the more you're aware of how much you need God to show up in your life.

Believers never outgrow dependence. Instead, they lean harder into it. The third thing we learn is that the true king defeats his enemies. See, the Philistines are broken. Their idols are abandoned. Their strength is shattered. This time, it's Israel who walks away with the enemy's gods, not the other way around. It's a full reversal of what happened earlier when the Philistines captured the ark and

humiliated God's people. But now under David's leadership, God reclaims the battlefield. The idols are left behind. Yahweh proves that he alone is king. So here's the point. God always wins. In the end, he defeats all his enemies. That includes our external enemies and our external enemies.

internal ones. That includes the sin that shames you, the habits that enslave you, the wounds that have haunted you. They may feel powerful now, but they do not have the final word. So don't lose hope. When life feels overwhelming, when evil seems to triumph, when you're tempted to give up, remember that 2nd Samuel 5 is not just history, it's a promise. The true king will win. He always does. This chapter isn't just about David and the Philistines. It's about the God who listens, who speaks, who leads, and who fights on behalf of his. people. And if your life right now feels like a battlefield, if you're caught in a relational conflict, overwhelmed by guilt, stuck in addiction, drained at work, unsure what comes next, this chapter is for you.

You're not alone, and you're not without hope. The king still reigns and invites you to trust him. King Jesus, you are the one who listens to us when we cry out. You are the one who speaks wisdom when we're confused, who fights for us when we're too weak to go on. You are the true king, the only king, the king who leads with grace and power. Teach us to trust in you, teach us to depend on you. Help us to listen, follow, and rest in your strength. And when we feel like giving up, remind us that you never will give up on us. Amen.