“… Because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.” (1 Samuel 25:28)
Paul admonished Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. 6:12). Abigail warned David to stick with fighting the Lord’s battles, and not to get into an evil contention with her foolish husband. She knew David was riled up and ready to rumble, but she knew this aggressive spirit was out of character for him. Thank God, David took her advice, and put his sword back in its place. He was able to spare himself much future grief of heart (1 Sam. 25:31).
David’s spirit rose up within him when he saw Goliath defying the God of Israel by taunting His army. He would not sit idly by, and asked: “Is there not a cause?” (1 Sam. 17:29) There is a time when God looks for a man to contend with His enemies on His behalf. We run into a problem though when our anger has more to do with how people are treating us than with how they are treating God. God Himself stood down at the cross. Jesus would not call for angelic help to fight against His enemies who surrounded Him. His death would serve the purposes of the Father more than the shedding of the blood of His adversaries.
If we feel the urge to fight, we need to continually ask ourselves, “Why?” Has someone frustrated our plans? Have they insulted our person and dignity? If so, we would do better to stand down and learn from the Son of David how to wage peace.