He Stood…and Defended

2 Samuel 23:11-12, “And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines. But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the Lord wrought a great victory.”

This passage of Scripture comes at the end of King David’s life. It lists the names of his mighty men along with some of their accomplishments. The one I want to focus on today is Shammah. The verse states that he stood in the midst of a field full of lentils and defended it against the Philistines.

Now, what is so significant about a field full of beans? Honestly, there is nothing significant about the beans themselves, but what is significant is what they represent. Shammah knew that if he backed down from the field of lentils that he would be giving ground to the enemy. What may not seem like a big deal to some was everything to Shammah. He was willing to risk his life to prevent giving up even an inch to the enemy.

What can we learn from Shammah to apply to our our lives? We can learn that we shouldn’t give any ground to our enemy, the devil, in our lives. It may not seem like a big deal. Maybe it’s just one song, one word we say, one piece of clothing we where, one friend we have, one church service we miss, but every little thing that we don’t defend is ground that Satan gains in our life. It may not be easy to defend like I’m sure it wasn’t for Shammah, but that didn’t stop him. Because he stood and defended it, God was able to bring a great victory that day in his life. Will we stand and defend which will allow God to bring a great victory in our lives or will we back down and give ground to Satan? The choice is ours.