“With God We Shall Do Valiantly” – Psalm 60
Psalm 60
To the choirmaster: according to Shushan Eduth. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.
1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;
you have been angry; oh, restore us.
2 You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open;
repair its breaches, for it totters.
3 You have made your people see hard things;
you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.
4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah
5 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer us!
6 God has spoken in his holiness:
“With exultation I will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.
11 Oh, grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
12 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.
This is a psalm after a military defeat:
1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;
you have been angry; oh, restore us.
God speaks:
7 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
The Lord is claiming all of Israel as his possession as he specifies geographic and tribal regions (Gilead, Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah)—which means he will fight for Israel—and then states that he will also be victorious over Israel’s enemies (Moab, Edom, Philistia)—because he is the Lord of all the earth.
About a thousand years later, the Apostle Paul would write this to the Christians in Ephesus:
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Did you catch that?
Our fight is not ultimately against flesh and blood, but is a spiritual fight.
Two things:
The only way to fight spiritual problems is with spiritual weapons: PRAYER AND LOVE. Are you praying for our country and community today?
Don’t lose heart, but pray the final verse of Psalm 60:
“With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.”
All the spiritual foes of evil are fighting on borrowed time—the Lord is our strength:
“It is he who will tread down our foes”!