#147 - Kyle Thompson // WE WERE BORN FOR BATTLE: Psalm 144:1

We explore Psalm 144:1, where King David praises God as his rock and acknowledges Him as the source of his battle skills. This single verse reveals profound truths about our identity as Christian men born for spiritual battle.

• Psalm 144:1 states "Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle"
• The foundation of our prayers should always be praise and gratitude to God
• David recognized God as the source of his warrior skills despite his renowned battle prowess
• All our abilities and skills are gifts from God, not self-derived accomplishments
• God trains us for both the macro (war) and micro (individual battles) of spiritual warfare
• Christian men are called to be warriors, not passive observers seeking comfort and convenience
• The world needs more men willing to embrace their God-given warrior identity

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Daily Blade.
The Word of God is described asthe sword of the Spirit, the
primary spiritual weapon in theChristian's armor against the
forces of evil.
Your hosts are Joby Martin andKyle Thompson, and they stand
ready to equip men for the fight.
Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good to have you back today.
This week we're looking atdifferent passages of Scripture
that reveal to us, and remind us, christian men, that we were
born for battle.
Today we're going to look atjust one verse from the 144th
Psalm.
It is entitled my Rock and myFortress.
So let's read verse one Blessedbe the Lord, my rock, who
trains my hands for war and myfingers for battle.

(00:42):
So I actually want to read itin the King James Version 2,
because I think it just soundscool.
Blessed be the Lord, mystrength, which teacheth my hand
to war and my fingers to fight.
So this is one of the 73 Psalmsthat are traditionally
attributed to David.
As with many of the Psalms ofDavid, it reflects his
experience as a warrior king,and I mean he faced a ton of
very difficult adversariesduring his time as king.

(01:04):
So we have the Philistines, theAmalekites.
You know he had internal rebels, and then you know himself,
obviously.
And the 144th Psalm echoesthemes from an earlier Psalm of
David, which is Psalm 18.
And this shows us that whilewriting Psalm 144, david seems
to be reflecting on the goodnessand deliverance of God from his
past up through that point inhis life.

(01:24):
So Psalm 144 is a psalm ofpersonal praise, but it
progresses to eventually ask forprosperity and, you know, an
end to hostilities and war.
And so let me read Psalm 144, 1again, and then we'll break it
down.
Blessed be the Lord, my rock.

(01:44):
Who trains my hands for war andmy fingers for battle, trains
my hands for war and my fingersfor battle.
So blessed be the Lord.
So blessed is a declaration ofpraise.
And to whom is the praisedirected?
The Lord.
So the foundation, thegrounding of the psalm is in
praise and gratitude towards theLord.
Then he says my rock.
So a rock is a symbol ofstability and refuge.
Also, it's not lost on me thatDavid, when he was but a young

(02:08):
shepherd, used a single rock tokill the great giant Philistine
Goliath.
So essentially David is givingpraise to the source of his
steadiness and protection.
And then back to the scripturewho trains my hands for war?
So David is a warrior and a manof tremendous skill in battle.
But who trained his hands forwar?

(02:28):
In the context of the psalm,god did.
David's violent martialabilities are a gift from God.
Also, the Hebrew word fortrains here reflects deliberate
and repeated instruction andpreparation.
And what are his hands trainedfor For war.

(02:50):
Now, war is typically not asingle battle endeavor.
So what about individualbattles?
Let's continue going back tothe scripture.
And my fingers for battle.
So David is prepared for thewar the macro and for each
individual battle, the micro.
So what we see just in this oneverse is an acknowledgement of

(03:11):
the sovereignty of God and alsothe necessity of human
involvement and responsibility.
So it's kind of a you know, godcan move mountains, but we have
to at least bring a shovel,kind of a thing.
David did not self-derive hisskills and abilities for war,
and he is aware of that.
Hence the praise, foundation ofthe psalm.
So here are a few things foryou to keep in mind today, as it
pertains to Psalm 144, verse 1.

(03:33):
You know a verse that I thinkyou should memorize, by the way.
Number one the foundation ofour prayers should be praise.
Now, that doesn't mean thatpraise is all we do during
prayer, but without God there isnothing right.
There's no us, there's no you,and that is praiseworthy, to be
sure.
Number two all of our skillsand abilities were given to us

(03:55):
by God.
So to him be the glory.
Now, if that statement kind ofbristles up against you a bit.
It's likely because you've gotan ego problem that you need to
get in check.
And, bro, just hear me, youdidn't do the things that you
did on your own right.
You didn't do them on your own.
Your very existence is tied tothe God that lives outside of

(04:16):
time, space and matter, so don'tget a big head about anything.
And number three, god did nottrain our hands for peace and
our fingers for relaxation.
We were born for battle.
Now, if that statement bristlesup against you a bit, I bet it's
because you've created a lifefor yourself where you worship
at the altar of convenience andsoftness.

(04:37):
Right, you got some soft handsgoing on.
Well, let me tell you, theworld has enough soft, passive,
pansy dudes.
It's full of men that arewilling to abdicate their
responsibilities to the women intheir lives or to claim victim
status when things don't gotheir way.
What we need are warriors readyfor battle.

(04:58):
God doesn't need you, but hewants you to get in the fight.
So what's stopping you?

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Thank you for listening to today's episode
Before you go.
If you want to help equip othermen for the fight, share this
podcast around and leave us afive-star rating and review.
Stay sharp.