Kampi- kampi… a Pinoy term for taking sides. When we watched basketball games or tennis matches, we’d say Whose side are you on? Like most children, when we were young, we had squabbles – and we would have our allies. This morning I read Psalm 124 – a psalm of David.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side— let Israel say— 2 if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us,
David was a warrior king. He fought many battles – the first of which was against Goliath. He was a young shepherd boy then. He had no physical built, he had no weapon but a sling ang 5 pebbles, he had no war experience. Yet we know how he killed the giant.
(1 Sam 17)
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
We often thought we are rallying for the Lord – we on the Lord’s side. We defend our faith; we explained on His behalf – we convince people that God is sovereign; that He knows what He’s doing as if He needs our help to defend His actions.
Yet there is a more important perspective. If the Lord had not been on our side… David knew that the battle is the Lord’s. David experienced victory because he trusted the Lord to be on his side. David was on God’s side because he was indignant that Goliath insulted God – “I come ‘against’ you in the name of the Lord Almighty… whom you have defiled.”
Today, what battle do I face? For whom do I fight the battle? For my own sake? For God? Am I on God’s side? Is He on mine? When people and circumstances make me afraid, worry, or doubt, do I run and hide? Do I face them? What weapons do I use to fight my fears, my anxiety, my doubts, and all negative thoughts that tend to bring me down?
If the Lord had not been on my side, I do not know what kind of a person I would be, If the Lord had not been on my side, I cannot imagine going through the challenges I face each day,
6 Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! 7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! 8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
