Proverbs 21:31
The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.
Victory in Surrender
This goes against the way that mankind thinks, in that there can be victory only when we lay down our arms and that we can gain victory only by surrendering. The Bible is full of such accounts where the battle is said to be the Lord’s. This is how God is more glorified. Today nations depend solely on their armament, but in the ancient days, Israel depended upon God. Sometimes God was their only hope for defeating a far superior army. These ancient kings of Israel, like King David, knew that the battle never depended on horses and chariots but always on the Lord (Psalm 20:7). Despite all the strength of their force, it wasn’t up to them but up to God (Psalm 33:17). Deliverance is always from God (Psalm 3:8) and never from the hand of man. That was the way the nations that were opposed to Israel thought (Isaiah 31:1), but they never truly understood that, until after their defeat, they were actually fighting God, and that is a fruitless attempt.
His Victory for Us
The believer in Jesus Christ never fought for and achieved their own victory over sin and eternal punishment (Eph. 2:8-9). That victory came through only one Man, and He is the God-Man, Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:57). Even in ancient Israel, as skilled of a warrior-king that David was, the victory always came from God’s hand (2 Sam. 8:14). The only reason that we can put on immortality and leave our mortality someday is because of Christ’s victory over death (1 Cor. 15:54), as He took the final sting out of death (1 Cor. 15:55). This reminds me of a young boy and father who were driving together and a wasp was flying around inside the car. The boy panicked trying to avoid the wasp, but the father said, “Calm down, son, he can’t sting you anymore.” The boy asked why, and the father said, “Because he had only one stinger and it landed on me, so the wasp can’t sting you anymore because I took the sting out of the wasp.” So it was with Christ for us: He took the sting out of death so ours would no longer be there.
Working for Victory or From Victory
I have counseled a lot of men who battle pornography, and a close friend of mine, who has battled this for many years, finally gave up and said, “Okay, God, I can’t do this. You’re going to have to help me.” It was within a few short days that my friend called me back and said he finally got over his addiction to pornography. I asked him how he did it, and he said, “I gave up. I surrendered it all to Jesus because I just couldn’t do it.” What godly wisdom my friend revealed, so I asked him, “Exactly how did you do it?” He said that God suddenly changed his heart’s desire for it. He found an accountability partner (me!) and started deleting all of the pornographic images on his computer. Next, it was time to put on a filter that was password protected. He finally had victory over pornography but not until he surrendered. Are you trying to overcome a similar type of stronghold? Full surrender to me means begging God for help to do what you can’t do for yourself. That means there victory only in surrendering, surrendering to God, that is.
A Closing Prayer
God, my Father, thank You for showing me by the example of a precious Christian brother of mine that surrender is the only way we can ever have victory because You can fight an enemy for us that we cannot handle and is too strong. In Jesus’ name I thank You and pray.
Amen
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