The Victory Is Ours

After David defeated Goliath, he became an overnight folk hero in Israel. In fact, even a hit song was written about him. The lyrics went like this: "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (1 Samuel 18:7). Saul was outraged by this. He could see what was coming.

In the meantime, David struck up a friendship with Saul’s son Jonathan. Knowing that the end was coming, Jonathan asked David to make a commitment that when he died, David would look out for his children. So David agreed to do this.

But Saul, realizing that David was the man God had selected as Israel’s next king, tried on repeated occasions to put David to death.

This reminds me that when you make a commitment to Jesus Christ, you become an enemy of the Devil. Yes, a lot of your problems go away—most notably, your future in Hell. The emptiness in your life is gone, and you have Christ living in you. You have peace and purpose. But as one set of problems leaves, a new set of problems takes their place. It has been said that conversion makes our hearts a battlefield.

Because David was God’s man, he became Saul’s enemy. And when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, you are the Devil’s enemy. I love these words from Romans 8: "Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? . . . No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us" (verses 35, 37).

Whatever you are going through in life, God loves you. And nothing will ever separate you from that love.