Psalm 18:40
40 Thou hast also given [nathan] me the necks [`oreph] of
mine enemies; ['oyeb] that I might destroy [tsamath] them that hate [sane'] me. KJV-Interlinear
40 Thou
hast also made my enemies turn their backs to me, And I destroyed those who
hated me. NASB
The neck here means the
back of the head, a stiff neck as in stubbornness, and the running away as when
an enemy turns and runs with their back to you.
To destroy means to
exterminate, to make vanish, to cut off.
And so in a literal
battle, the Lord will cause the enemy to withdraw from the battle field, to run
away or to try to run away or retreat, but not in an orderly fashion, but in
chaos and disarray.
The enemy will be
running, but will not surrender. They will
be stiff necked and stubborn and will refuse to see things your way, and refuse
to change their ways to adopt your way.
Ultimately that will lead to their demise.
And so in the spiritual
life, these principles apply as well.
Your enemy is anyone and
everyone who does not see doctrine as it is supposed to be seen. They will be stubborn and stiff necked and
they will try to derail your beliefs.
But when you hold your ground, when you hold to your faith, then they will
turn away and give up on you sooner or later.
The chaos and the disarray
of their thoughts and beliefs will lead them to confusion, but instead of sorting
out their confusion, they will stubbornly hold on to their beliefs, but will take
their argument elsewhere to continue trying to push their views onto others.
As a growing and mature
believer, when you are capable of holding your faith even in the face of
horrendous pressures, then your victory will come with your rejection of the
false and your holding onto the truth of doctrine.
David faced enemies on
all sides of the nation. It seemed that
all wanted to do everything they could to completely destroy Israel, but David
held on because as king he was charged with the safety of the nation.
Unlike Saul before him,
he held on and did not waiver in his faith and he was victorious.
Today we have a different
kind of assault. And those assaults are of numerous propaganda mechanisms that would
distract and derail the doctrinal views of everyday moral life.
Not only is salvation
attacked as to its method and duration, but life in general is attacked as to
what is owing and due to individuals.
With entitlements galore it is no wonder that the common attitudes of responsibility
and accountability are vanishing while the ‘you owe me’ attitudes are
blossoming more and more in society.
Even the sciences are
faltering into studies of theory and speculation and conclusion based on
fantasy ideas, especially in the ancient alien and evolution concepts.
The world is turning more
and more to the secular side of life, and to the false religions of accommodation.
So it is no wonder that
when Paul taught that in the latter days of our dispensation there would come
about a great, with emphasis on great, apostasy, wherein the vast majority of
the planet will reject truth and will pursue the lies of life. And there is a huge population of lies to
choose from these days.
That will make choosing
and sticking with doctrine all the more difficult, but for those who do, the
stiff necked world will soon show their backs while God shows you His
faithfulness.
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