The Lord Breaks Through!

 

So David and his troops went up to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there.  ‘God did it!’ David exclaimed.  ‘He used me to burst through my enemies like a raging flood!’ So they named that place Baal-perazim (which means ‘the Lord who bursts through’).  The Philistines had abandoned their gods there, so David gave orders to burn them.

The minute the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, the mobilized  all their forces to capture him.   They had a huge number of troops, were well organized and assumed they could take David down while he was brand new stepping into his position.   They were not giving him any time to be established.

David sought the Lord, received a confirmation, and then went out against them with his troops.   Earlier, we read that the Lord had given him troops that were “fully armed and prepared for battle and completely loyal to David.” (1 Chronicles 12:33)   All the troops came together in Hebron with the single purpose of making David the king over all Israel.  God moved on the hearts of the people that it says, “In fact, everyone in Israel agreed that David should be their king.”

Having everyone rally around him as king and seeing the tremendous favor the Lord gave him, he takes the opportunity to speak what was deep in his heart.  He tells them, “It is time to bring back the Ark of our God, for we neglected it during the reign of Saul.”

As they took the Ark from Abinadab’s house, his two sons, Uzzah and Ahio guided the new cart that was used to carry them.   We also see a bursting out here as Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark when the oxen stumbled.   They named the place Perez-uzzah (which means ‘to burst out against Uzzah’).

Perazim means to break through or breach where Perez means to burst forth against.   In the first case, there was a breaking  through against Baal, the idols that the Philistines held to.  In the second case, the Lord’s anger burst out as the law was being broken and there was no mediator standing in between.   

In Psalm 14:3, David proclaims that all are corrupt and no one does what is right.  And then in Psalm 15 he asks, “Yahweh, who dares to dwell with you? Who presumes the privilege of being close to you, living next to you in your shining place?”  The answer provided: “They are passionate and wholehearted, always sincere and always speaking the truth—for their hearts are trustworthy. They refuse to slander…”

Perazim, breaking through, is also mentioned in Isaiah 28:21.  “The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon— to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.”

In Isaiah 28, the prophet was speaking to Ephraim and Judah as they kept backsliding and were believing false things while making a covenant with death.   The words strange and alien are also translated into unusual and extraordinary.   And the Valley of Gibeon here has to do with Joshua 10 where the 5 kings of the land united against Gibeon.   They were of the same people (in covenant) with Gibeon, but this was broken when Gibeon made covenant with Israel.  Israel came to the rescue of Gibeon and broke through on Mount Perazim. 

The prophet Isaiah was speaking that because Adam and Eve ate of the apple, they had made a covenant with death.  The people of God were hopeless and helpless unless the Lord intervened and broke through with their redemption because of their covenant relationship. 

The people of Gibeon did not stand by and watch the Israelites fight alone for their freedom.  Rather, they entered the battle and fought for their freedom beside Israel.   Without the help of Israel, Gibeon would have been lost and defeated.   

In the same way, breakthroughs happen as we fight for them inside our covenant relationship.  Without the help of the Lord, we would be lost.  But with His help, we break through and take the land.  In relationship and in covenant with God, He fights alongside us against our strong enemies that would overtake us and gives us the land. 

In the case of Joshua and the Israelites fighting the kings, the troops had marched all night from Gilgal to honor their covenant relationship with the Gibeon’s.  They must have been tired out, but they pressed forward.  They overtook them in surprise as the Lord sent them into confusion.  Then the Lord rained down hailstones and killed more than they slain with a sword. 

Our retiring CEO brought up this scripture as well in some meetings today and noted, “Breakthroughs come with endurance.”   We come to the end of ourselves, and we find that God has a firm grip on us.   He gives us the victory as we are faithful and endure through hard situations without giving up.  Our new CEO also noted, “Breakthroughs come with big faith.”  Joshua believed for the sun to stop in the sky so he would have enough time to finish the battle and it stood still for an entire day.

The land we inherit is the very land of devastation that we would lose the battle in by ourselves.   I think of strongholds that Jesus helps us gain freedom and break through like addiction to drugs and alcohol.   We have to be willing to fight this battle  to get freedom because we realize what bondage is there.  When we do go to battle and put ourselves in covenant with the Lord, He breaks through and gives us the freedom.   We take the very land that we were in bondage in and it becomes the land of our freedom.  The land is redeemed and our story becomes one of hope and victory.

As Christians, we have our share of battles.   We are not meant to go through this life without having our share of things to overcome.    We see Solomon, having peace on every side while building the Temple, married several foreign women who turned his heart towards idols.  

Had Solomon been in  battles where he had to learn a greater dependency on the Lord, it may have been for his benefit.  It would have strengthened him in his convictions and helped him to stay on guard.   Sometimes our greatest downfall can be not our struggles or trials, but our lack of them.

For myself, my times of greatest breakthroughs have been my times of greatest desperation.   When I cried out in desperation to the Lord for His help, He has never failed to meet me.  He has never forsaken or abandoned me.   Sometimes a breakthrough has been suddenly and in an instant.  Other times, it has been over time as I continually turn to the Lord for help.   Yet, other times, it has been as I have prevailed over years in prayer that I have seen a significant breakthrough.  

In all cases, like David, “I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and He saved me from my enemies.” (2 Samuel 22:4)

Sometimes it is our greatest difficulties and lament that creates a shift and births forth the breakthrough.  We see this with the coming of Moses as a baby.   The Pharaoh commanded people to throw every Hebrew child in the Nile River that was a boy out of fear and threat.    Out of this, God does the miraculous and Moses is raised in Pharaoh’s own home before he delivers the people.  But it was not without great loss and pain.

It was a shadow of what would happen with Jesus.     Herold killed every Israelite child 2 years old and younger to try to destroy Him.   Matthew 2:16:18 says,

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
    weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

 The Lord does not promise to protect us from evil but He does deliver us in the midst of it and bring what we need.  Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with us, walking along side us and making us a banqueting table right in the midst of our enemies.   What God has taken us through is the pathway in strengthening our faith for what God is taking us into.   Our suffering is never in vain.  

At the same time, we have no power to overcome in our own strength.   Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against authorities of other realms.  “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces.”     

These verses go on to remind us to put on the full armor of God so that we are ready to fight the battle of the day and equipped.   It is not by our own might or will that we accomplish the victory, but by His power and what He as accomplished that we overcome.  He gives us the victory over it.

Sometimes it is easy to fall into defeatism.  We see this with the Israelites even after they moved into the Promised Land.   They saw the incredible miracles of the Lord and the sun standing still.    Yet, then when they occupied their land, many failed to continue to push back the enemy.  They stopped battling and started accommodating.    They sized up the situation in the natural and developed a “can’t” attitude of doubt and disbelief because the enemy looked too strong.

We (speaking of myself here) see a battle ahead and it may feel like too much for us.   We have experienced breakthrough after breakthrough but then we stop pushing out the enemy from our land and start giving them territory.   We forget that God gave us the land in the first place.   This is a struggle that I face.  I stop pressing and start accommodating.   By avoiding the battle, one cannot win the battle.  We need to be willing to go into battle and push back the enemy in order to claim the land.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 (KJV), “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

Lord, over and over in my life, you have given me breakthroughs.  I am so very grateful. I have seen you move powerfully.  Forgive me when I quit pressing and start accommodating.   Forgive me for doubt and disbelief in your goodness based upon what I see.  Help us to be a people who see the victory with eyes of faith and make a way forward in faith and fully take the land.    Give us your breakthroughs in every situation we face.