Against All Odds, Part 2

The title gives you a clue that we are looking at the topic of being “against all odds,” a rightful description of the hero in 2 Samuel 23 named Adino. He had the “Rambo” experience of facing down 800 Philistines at one time and he kick serious backside. If you have forgotten the story, it’s just below this blog. Let’s continue…

The characteristic necessary to advance someone to this level of heroism is simply tenacity. You see it in his resolve to not give up or give in to the pressure of the hordes of opponents coming at him. It is an uncommon characteristic unique to heroes – they just “hunker-down” and refuse to quit. It’s “to the death” and they have no intention of dying! They cannot look at the odds-maker’s report, the pundits, or the press, they are in this to win regardless of the personal sacrifice or the buckets of sweat required. You just can’t help but admire this characteristic even if you don’t like the guy. It’s very rare.

 

Unfortunately, we ARE in an “against all odds” scenario today. The church is now the underdog, the one the odds-maker is betting against. Looking at the current statistics in church growth and development clearly explains this paragraph more succinctly. We are now in the lower 30^th percentile in the nation. And that’s in the Bible belt! We are fighting uphill against immeasurable numbers and each year that continues to become more and more frightening. This once Judeo-Christian, ethically-focused land has all but abandoned her former cultural norm in favor of a more socially antagonistic mindset that blatantly stands against basic Christian doctrine and principles. Today it is at least 800 to 1, and we are looking more outnumbered every day. Get yourself in shape, mighty warriors, because the battle is just cranking up!

Adino is translated as "slender," or "spear." You would think it meant "super-buff, gun-show, or ripped," or something of that nature. However, it shows a principle that is a part of the true makeup of a hero of God - the power not found IN the man, but "WITHIN" the man! The power of Almighty God working through the natural fabric of a simple, slender man that has chosen to sharpen himself with the 'whet stone' of God's Word, making every strike with precision, not wasting effort or energy since the battle demands that he work on such a way so that he remains standing in the end. This is the Adino of today! This is the demand for men of God today! We need men with tenacity.

Big, Bad Benjaminites! Part 2

The passage of Scripture that we are studying in this continued look at “Characteristics of Biblical Heroes” is 1 Chronicles 12:1-2 (it is in the previous blog in italics). The Benjaminites were unusual in that they possessed the ability to fight and fire weapons with both hands. We looked at this importance of this characteristic in the last blog, but there is still much we can learn from these big, bad boys. We each are equipped with skills, abilities, talents, and natural tendencies that are unique and specialized and we have these qualities through the combined “blessings” of giftedness, aptitude, experience, and upbringing. That is what makes each one of us so different. The “Weapons of our Warfare,” is still the Sword of the Spirit, the infallible, inerrant, living words of Holy Writ. How we utilize, wield, and display our own personal technique of “Sword play” is as unique as each one of us, allowing those individual “blessings” to create our own style of methodology in Weaponry. What we must do is learn the Sword and then allow that knowledge to permeate our own talents, thinking, and skillset. Such a person is indeed formidable!

Studying these Benjaminites also reveals that they were the first group to respond to David’s leadership. This quality of immediate response to a calling or need is attractive and shows initiative and commitment. Chronicles also describes them as blood kin to the present king, “Saul’s brethren,” making the current affairs of state quite personal being directly related to the sitting leadership. They confronted the reality of Saul’s lack of obedience, irrational use of military resources, and poor decision making skills. Notice how they looked past the “blood is thicker than water” tendency and saw that David would provide the type of godly direction Israel needed. Application? Heroes do not give family or acquaintances a pass just because they are personally close. Equally as important they take the initiative in creating the environment for change. These two attributes together illustrate a critical attitude in the heart of a hero.

 

The take away this week is the fact that we could all do a better job increasing our skill in using the Weapons of our Warfare, the Scriptures. We you consider that Jesus used this very weapon when tempted by the devil (Matt. 4, Mark 1, Luke 4), who are we to think that we could somehow do a better job with some other tool?! There is not a better exercise program we can engage in than to the one that extends our reach, builds our strength, and widens our target by the acquisition of God's Holy Word in our hearts and minds. In essence, Biblical strength training and conditioning IS the breakfast of Spiritual Champions!