Signs and Wonders

“And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” ‭‭II Samuel‬ ‭5‬:‭24‬

Here we see an extraordinary example of God leading David by using a sign. It is extraordinary because it is an unusual sign, "hear the sound of marching" with no similar sign given in Israel's history. It was also extraordinary in that the signal to attack is a very important and time sensitive directive. Normally the signal to attack is the sole prerogative of the field commander (here it is David) because timing is often the key to success or failure in battle (Joshua 8:21, Nehemiah 4:20, Judges 7:20). The Lord was making it clear to everyone that He was the ultimate commander of the armies of Israel that their faith would be in God and not in their new highly successful king. King Saul wanted everyone to look to him after his battle with the Amalekites so that he would get all the glory; the Lord was helping David not fall into the same trap.  

This was likely very humbling for David to have to tell his hardened troops who were putting their lives on the line against a much larger army that they had to wait for some unusual sign from the Lord. It also took great faith. Yet humility and faith are the very thing that attracts the presence of the Holy Spirit and sets the stage for the miraculous.  "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6). May the Lord guide us into great victory in everything we do today.