An Enemy Who Supplies You

The Strait of Hormuz has been in the news this spring and it is important because it is a supply line from Iran to the world and from the world to Iran. Famously, if you are in a conflict, you want to choke off the enemies’ supply line. Right now Iranian and Russian oil is feeding much of the European Union because it is really hard to whack somebody who is supplying you. It is a basic, self-evident rule of conflict that you will never defeat an enemy who supplies you.

In I Samuel 13 we find exactly that. I don’t think this is the main emphasis of the text, but I couldn’t get by this. The Bible says regarding the conflict between Israel and Philistia, “Now there was no smith [blacksmith] found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattox.” In other words, Israel had to go down to the Philistines in order to get supplied with weapons to fight the Philistines. That makes no sense whatsoever.

Verse 22, says, “So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.” They were the only two who had the kinds of weapons that were really needed.

Sun Tzu, author of the ancient book The Art of War, said that an enemy who can fool you need not fight you. He is saying the epitome of victory is gaining the upper hand without even fighting. That is what was happening here. It is just a basic of life, nature, and conflict that you will never defeat an enemy who supplies you.

Here is Israel trying to fight the Philistines when the Philistines were the ones who had the weapons and the supply of the weapons. We scratch our head at these people thousands of years ago, but we do the same thing. We try to forward the truth of the Word of God, but oftentimes we are being supplied by the enemy, therefore we can’t make an honorable fight. Our fight is not against flesh and blood. It is a spiritual warfare, but there are enemies of the truth. You will defeat never an enemy who supplies you.

Let me give you a few examples. First, there are your words. When you don’t even have the words to communicate the truth, it doesn’t matter whether you have the truth or not. One of the American Indian tribes did not have a word in their language for surrender. In other words, it was a concept that did not even register with them. Our words shape our thoughts and our thoughts shape our words. If you don’t have a word for surrender, you are going to act very differently in conflict than those who are very quick to surrender. So, when you can’t communicate the truth with words, you have lost before you have begun.

Words are important in the social issues of today. The words pro-life and pro-choice are not parallel. Those are both claims about the nature of the argument. What is the obvious opposite or pro-life? The answer would be anti-life or pro-death, but no pro-choice person would ever use that title. What is the obvious opposite of pro-choice? The answer is anti-choice. The pro-choice people have made the argument completely about choice.

Some people thought once the pro-choice people found out where life really begins, then they would reverse course. No, because life is not the premise of the battle; it is choice. That is what is sacrosanct for pro-choice people. For the pro-life people it is life. So, if you accept the language of someone who does not accept the truth, you can’t even communicate the truth. You will never defeat an enemy who supplies you with your words. There are so many examples of this we don’t have time to talk about, but it is important that our words are accurate, true, and communicate what needs to be communicated.

Another way our enemy can supply us is our assumptions, our rules of engagement. Later, when Israel was fighting the Philistines and Goliath, their champion giant, said, “Send me a man to fight with me,” all of Israel was frightened. If you stop to think about that, who in their right mind accepts the rules of engagement of their enemy? No one who wishes to win.

Now, if you are a modern American and have never heard the story of David and Goliath, that strikes you as strange. If you are so familiar with the story that it does not strike you as strange, then you have adopted the thinking of the day of Israel and the Philistines for American thinking. For example, if these were Americans on the other side of the valley from the Philistines and the Goliath had said, “Send me a man,” you would have sent a thousand men, but Israel did not. There is a reason they accepted that premise which I won’t get into, but the reason they were afraid is because they were accepting the rules of engagement of the enemy.

So many of the issues that face us today Bible believers can’t even articulate an opposition to or a declaration of the truth because we are ashamed of our own premise. Big issues today stand on the shoulders of a thousand little concessions away from truth that people have made for years. Therefore, they are ashamed of their stance because they have nothing to stand on. They are accepting the assumptions of people who did not accept the truth.

Pilate said, “What is truth?” The answer is, “Thy word is truth.” Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. You can accept or reject that. Everyone has to have some center of gravity or point of truth. There is a God who did send His Son. There is truth and we can know it, but we can never express it if we accept the supplies of the enemy.

The takeaway is not that you should consider people your enemies. God hates my sin like He hates anyone else’s sin, and God loves me and Christ died for me just like He did for any other sinner who has ever been born. You are never going to defeat the falsehood if you are allowing the people who hold that falsehood to supply your words and assumptions. Today, get into the Word of God, read it, think about it, come to conclusions, and be equipped for life on the issues that face you.