Psalm 17:13  
Bear your sword!
  Now we come to David’s petition to the Lord God; he has pleaded his innocence, he has set out his complaint.  In the light of all of this, action is required, justice must prevail, and the Lord must deal with the oppressors. They are guilty, they are the ones who should be punished, for David to be the victim is totally unfair. So, “Rise up Lord. Confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked.”  David had, on numerous occasions in his life, fought against strong and wicked foes. His courage and resilience are legendary. However, on this occasion he leaves the matter in God’s hands; God must do the fighting, God must defend him, God must take the initiative. There are times when those who are against us are more powerful, better armed and more fearful than our own defences.  It is not cowardice to step back, weigh up our chances and admit we cannot win.  Sometimes it is all that we can do just to stand our ground, at other times we may cry out to the Lord for fear of being overwhelmed by the enemy.  This is particularly true when those against us are dominant in number and influence. The Satan’s strategy is to eliminate our influence, to bring us down, to remove our lampstand, to utterly crush us and to leave us totally defeated, never to rise again. 
As we saw in Psalm 7, the sword of the Lord is His Word. At the sound of His voice, the sea retreats, the winds abate and the mountains tremble. At His command all living things came into existence. The Word of our God is a double-edged sword, the wielding of a man-made implement is nothing by comparison. When Jesus spoke to demons, they fled. When He spoke the Word of God, the devil left Him! When you and I trust in the Word, stand by the Word and speak out the Word, our spiritual enemies will flee with their tails between their legs. The Sword has not lost any of its ancient power and we must study and know the Word in order to be able to wield the Word!

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