“And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim,” 2 Samuel 5:22.
The struggles of Israel against her enemies and the tactics of the enemies against Israel provide us with much needed instruction and guidance as we battle with the enemies of God. The devil never sleeps nor does he change his tactics. That is a great benefit to us if we but to take heed of this truth.
Today we are recalling the wonderful mercy of God to our forefathers and the victory given to them over the evil system of Romanism back some 500 years ago. We face the same enemy today, the exact same enemy today!
Note the words “yet again” in our text. Previously, God had given David a great victory over the Philistines. 2 Samuel 5:19-21. God swept away the forces of the Philistines as a mighty dam bursting sweeps all before it!
A house built on a right foundation will serve us well.
“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock,” Matthew 7:25.
You know boys and girls, there is a flood coming to this earth! It is that judgment we will all face at the end of our lives. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27.
What a joy to live in the knowledge that it is well with our souls!
The story of the sad loss Mr Horatio Stafford experienced is well known. He was a prominent American lawyer and Presbyterian church elder who penned the Christian hymn “It Is Well With My Soul”, following a family tragedy in which his four daughters died aboard the S. S. Ville du Havre on a transatlantic voyage.
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Paul states the wonderful peace and assurance that belongs to the Christian in 2 Corinthians 5:1.
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
Sadly, there are those who reject the Saviour’s words of instruction and what an eternity awaits them!
“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand,” Matt 7:26.
This man tried to built on another foundation but the sand proved to be no foundation at all. “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” Matt 7:27.
Boys and girls one and all, “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” 1 Cor 3:11.
The Parables #5, There are many storms for us to face.
(Read Isaiah 28:14-22.)
1. Boys and girls I cannot emphasise strongly enough that in life we will face many storms. This the Bible warns us of as none other can. “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full,” Mark 4:37. These disciples were in the will of the Lord and He was with them yet they encountered a storm! “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God,” Acts 14:22.
2. For the unsaved, there is the storm of God’s judgment awaiting them. “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble,” Job 14:1. The word trouble carries the idea of storms but for the unsaved a stormy life will end in a great storm. “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place,” Isaiah 28:17. The false refuges, the house built on sand, will be swept away in God’s judgment. Oh beware!
