In The Day Of Battle

            Myles... early on, shortly after we found out he was a boy, we were compelled by the Lord to choose the name Myles. We desired a strong name (and a name we just liked). Myles is a variant of Miles which was thought to mean "gracious" for the Germans and meaning "soldier" at the earliest in Latin. We choose names based on not only meaning but preference. When we chose Levi it was because in Matthew 9:9 the disciple is referred to as Matthew where as in Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 he is referred to as Levi. Our Levi is a Matthew Jr. without being called Matthew. As far as Myles goes we had no idea why we would name him Myles but as it turns out his name will come in handy. Myles is in for quite a battle early on in his life. If you keep up with all that has been put on here you are quite aware of that.

            Also, in Gods providence, we have been studying the "mighty men' in our teen guys class on Wednesday nights this summer. I have not been teaching but have been intrigued by David and his mighty men and have done some reading on them. They are some of the most fascinating characters in Scripture, Ishbaal  the leader of them and having killed 800 in a single battle. Eleazar who stood against the Philistines when no one else would and even ran away from the fight. Shammah who stood his ground against a garrison of soldiers. I'm not sure what number to put on a garrison because it refers to a camp or a fort, so probably no small number. Then there is the one who isn't quite good enough to be one of the "three" but stood out ahead of the rest to be named David's personal body guard, Benaiah. I've loved reading and studying these stories the last several weeks. There is one thing that stuck out to me that has become a prayer of mine for Myles as I'm sure it was for David on behalf of his soldiers. It is Psalm 140:7 "Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle." Here David is praising Yahweh for answering his prayer for protection in the day of battle. I believe that on a regular basis David prayed not only for Yahweh's covering on his behalf but on behalf of his mighty men. David asks for a covering, in other words, for Yahweh's protection. The other word that is used when this Hebrew word comes up in translation is found in Psalm 5:11 "...because thou defendest them...", God is our defender. What a comfort to know that when tough times come we have a covering available from He who is our defender.

            David also prayed to be covered, or equipped. When we call out to Him to cover us in the day of battle it is like the day the football player goes into the equipment room and is equipped for that battle. God gives us what we need to succeed regardless the circumstances. When David prayed for Yahweh's covering his head was protected from deadly blows. When David prays about "the day of battle" he is not necessarily speaking of a large military campaign but any time the armor that the Lord gave him was needed, no matter the size. It did not matter if David was facing a lion or a bear, a man or a giant or even an entire army.

            David prayed for and received God's covering in his day of battle and I am praying for a covering for Myles during his battle. Please pray for Myles, he has a giant he still needs to face. Right now he is like David at the stream, waiting for the coming battle. Pray that the Lord would cover him in his day of battle.

Matt