Original: September 7, 2007
McMinnville, OR
33 & 40: It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect…You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. 2 Samuel 22:33 & 40
I have never seen anyone win playing “Capture the Fort” at Hume Lake’s Paintball course. “The Fort” is a four-foot tall tire rectangle about 12 feet long and four feet wide with a small opening in its eastside wall. The defending team must ward off the offensive team from safely placing a man (or woman) inside the Fort before he or she is shot. The odds are strongly against the offensive team and I was obsessed with making this the first year I ever have seen a team win-mine!
The competitive side of me is shameless. I have thought about this way too much, talked to some of my key kids, and before the game started I told them my plan. We would run up to the “Kayak Bunker”, an old kayak about 40 yards to the east of “the fort’ entrance. Once at least 8 of our team were safely behind the kayak we would form a Roman phalanx-type human wall and charge the fort. Me and other larger (and dumber) guys would lead the way, take the hits, and the hope is to put one or two of the smaller guys or gals inside our running-human-phalanx-fortress to ultimately reach the fort unscathed.
In the last round I literally took 11 hits as some of my youth group kids on the opposing team thought it might be funny to keep shooting their youth pastor after his gun was in the air in an act of surrender.
But it was worth it.
Our team placed a man (two one round) in the fortress both times! I have to believe that our human fortress strategy worked. The secret to our success was the sacrifice of some for the greater good of the team.
This passage is David’s song of deliverance. In verse 33 David calls God his “strong fortress!” When I think of “strong fortress” I think of our paintball game.
I think of Jesus taking the hits for me. In fact Isaiah penned, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
I think of God going ahead of me and paving the way for my success. I think of a King who calls me to “come to Him” (Matthew 11:28) when I am down and hidden under the shelter of His wings. I think of a Protector who will “guard our hearts and mind” (Philippians 4:7). I think of a Savior whose work on the cross is impenetrable to the enemies flaming arrows (Ephesians 6:16). Lastly, I think of a Father who is an aggressive protector over all who call upon His name (Acts 4:12, John 1:12).
