JEHOVAH TSABA

Another look at the Names of God in the Old Testament
The Lord our Warrior, or our Victory
Read 1 Samuel 17

Do you have giants in your life? Things you find difficult to face and which make you afraid? The Israelites certainly did when the Philistines were attacking them. They had reached the country God promised He was giving to them, and they knew God was on their side, so why they were running away?

The trouble was that instead of fighting as an army, the enemy were sending out one man challenging them to single combat, and he was 9 feet tall! There were no giants in the Israelite army, so it looked a very unequal contest. Every day this giant, Goliath, strutted up and down, taunting them and demanding someone come to fight him, and they were terrified.

Sometimes the things that frighten us loom large, like giants in our lives. It could be money problems, or relationships, job insecurity, or sickness, - even Covid 19. Any of these have the capacity to paralyse us, if we are looking at the ‘giant,’ instead of the One who can deal with it.

For the Israelites, the problem went on for 40 days, with no apparent solution, until, one day, David turned up and asked what the problem was! He was described as ‘only a youth, ruddy and good looking.’ but he knew the power of God in his life.

David looked at Goliath and said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David saw, not his size, but only that he had no covenant relationship with God, and he was defying those who had; those whom God had chosen and set apart for Himself.

David offered to fight the giant himself, and Saul offered him his own armour, but when David tried it on, he could barely walk in it, and took it off. Even a king’s armour is an encumbrance when we have a giant to fight, so he went out to fight Goliath, armed only with his sling. When Goliath saw David, he despised him, but I love David’s response. “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the Name of Jehovah Tsaba, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” We have a warrior God who fights with us and for us and we need not be afraid.

We know the outcome. One stone was all it took, and Goliath was face down on the ground.

In the New Testament, Jesus is the One who came to fight our giants, the giants of sin and death, and we know He has the victory. Death is defeated, and we are no longer slaves to sin. We know this, but do we live it out in our lives? Do we declare, as David did, that God is more than able to fight our battles? “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand…that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”

Of course, we have a part to play. David was willing and courageous, and he took with him what he had, his sling. God expects us to do what we can, and then trust Him to do the rest.
David’s faith was amazing; he was entirely confident of winning the fight because knew he was not fighting alone. He was not pleading with God to help but declaring what he knew God would do. Jehovah Tsaba was a certainty in his life.

Now, because of Jesus, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, and have the authority that Jesus gives us as children of God. So, when we face our giants, as we will, let us speak with the authority we have in Jesus, declaring his victory, so that the world will know that we, too, have a warrior God on our side.