II Samuel 23:12 But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory.
In II Samuel 23, we read the account of David’s mighty men. These were men who were with David. Many of them were with him when it was not safe, and they all did great and heroic things. Now, there are no heroes without an enemy. There are no enemies without some kind of trouble. You think about the presidents that stand out in America’s history, and the ones that we think of as the greatest presidents usually had the greatest problems and responded heroically. It is kind of hard to be a hero when there are no problems.
Now it is obvious that no hero is in the majority. If you think about people that we admire who actually accomplished great things in history, you may not be able to name one that was in the majority, who was widely loved when he lived. Most heroes did not live with a lot of support. Usually heroes are not in the majority, at least not at the time of their heroic work.
In II Samuel 23, we read about a man named Shammah. The Bible says of him in verse 11, “And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines.” So the enemy gathered, then friends fled. Verse 12 says, “But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory.” What we can learn from this is that the might that matters cannot be found in the majority.
If you look at verses 9 and 10, you find almost the exact same sequence about another man. The friends fled, the enemy gathered together, and the man wrought a great victory. The Bible basically says, “They fled, he stood, the Lord gave a great victory.” So the might that matters cannot be found in the majority. Now I don’t think it’s virtuous to be different just to be different or to go looking for trouble. I don’t think these men did that, but whether you are looking for it or not, if you stand for or have conviction about anything, there are going to be times when you are going to face opposition.
There are three things to notice about these mighty men. First, they were outnumbered by foes. My grandfather used to say, “I wish just once I could vote with the majority on something.” Now, obviously he did vote with the majority on occasion, but don’t you feel sometimes like you are always in the minority? The fact is, no one is a hero who is simply looking for safety, to be where everyone else is, to find the safest place with the most people. This man, Shammah, was outnumbered by foes.
Second, he was outnumbered by fleeing friends. There were more that fled from the Philistines than stayed to defend the ground. In fact, there was only one to defend the ground, one of David’s mighty men who is in the Bible precisely because he was a hero. He wasn’t in the majority.
The third and most important thing about Shammah is that the Lord worked a great victory. So, he stood and the Lord gave victory. So was it Shammah that gained the victory or was it the Lord? The answer is yes. God gave the victory, but he gave it through Shammah as he stood in the midst of the ground.
I don’t know what your enemies are today, but do what is right, not what is easy. I’m not saying you should look for a fight or look to be in some fringe outrageously in the minority. I am saying do right, not easy. I would conclude by saying that David attracted an entire army like himself. It is hard to remember David as an older man, we always think of him as the giant slayer, the youth who killed Goliath. David said, “Is there not a cause?” Everyone basically fled Goliath, but David said to Goliath, “You have defied the Lord God and the armies of Israel.” He realized that God was with him and that it was not about him. It wasn’t personal or something that would make him great. He realized that the battle was the Lord’s. Indeed it is!
So, the might that matters cannot be found in the majority. Here are men, outnumbered by foes, outnumbered by fleeing friends, but enabled by God.