One of my favorite Bible heroes is "Shammah," one of David's mighty men. He is mentioned in only a few verses of the scriptures, but his acts were very brave.
On Sunday, Clint was asked to preach at a local church where we've ministered before. He asked if I'd like to say a few words as well. All week I struggled with what God would have me share. I was almost ready to believe that I was not to speak this time, when suddenly on Saturday, the Lord seemed to show me clearly what I should say.
I was wading through the soybeans in the fields behind our house heading out to pick berries when I thought for the umpteenth time this month about Shammah, a little-known Bible character. Each time I made the trek across our 10 acres of beans to get to the edge of the woods to pick wild blackberries, I would think of this Bible hero and try to imagine how he defeated a whole troop of Philistines in a bean field! That has always intrigued me. It seems like there is no place to hide in such a field. On Saturday I realized that it would be possible to lay down among the plants,they're taller than they look from the road, but then how would you fight off a whole army if you did? I always believed from the scripture that Shammah was either alone or severely outnumbered as it says in 2 Samuel that "the people fled from the Philistines."
Saturday the beans were waist high as I waded through and I thought about his heroics. He must have been carrying some armor, at least a sword. It is HARD walking through a field. I was dressed in long pants, heavy boots and had a colander strapped around my waist and I was having a hard time wading through. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to run or fight or maneuver over the uneven ground!
Yet the scripture indicates that he "stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory." (11 Samuel 23:12) This nation was the enemy of Israel at the time. I take courage from Shammah's dedication. We as Christians should be passionate about a number of "fields" and refuse to give up territory that rightfully belongs to the Lord. Of course, nowdays our battle is not a physical one, not against flesh and blood, and does not involve such warfare. I am referring to spiritual battles that affect the future of our nation, our children, our faith. Shammah took his stand and fought to the victory. Jesus said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church and her confession of His Lordship! We need to take courage in these days! Take special note of the fact that though Shammah defended the field, scripture says it was the Lord who brought about the great victory! Blessings, LORI
10 acres of beans. They must take some harvesting.
ReplyDeleteJust a note for those who may wonder--it takes about 1/2 hour to harvest our field of 10 acres. With the big machines, it goes fast if all goes well. My daughter covers about 100+acres per day--on foot--checking corn for one of the hybrid corn companies in our county. We are famous as a corn capital. She works in the heat, humidity, mud, and vast fields to assure quality seed corn. She loves her job!
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