25. Limiting Victory
"… they … limited the Holy One of Israel" (Psalm 78:41 NKJV).
Looking back over history we find some things just don't change much. Perhaps the details change, but the overall picture is often the same (Ecclesiastes 1:9). For example, most studies of the Vietnam War agree that it was a war destined to have no victory because the American leaders held back. The military knew they could not win in such a self-limiting situation and, sure enough, political concerns rather than military strategies determined the outcome of that sad and costly war. Looking at the biblical record we find ancient wars that were also lost through limiting victory – not through political lack of will, but through lack of spiritual integrity. One particular biblical chapter – Psalm 78 – looks at this fact directly.
The 78th Psalm was apparently written by or for an individual named Asaph. We know little about this person, but – like King David – he appears to have been a man who understood military action well. Twelve of the psalms are ascribed to Asaph, but Psalm 78 is particularly interesting from the perspective of this book because it analyzes military success and failure – defeat and victory – from a spiritual perspective.
Like the Chinese thinker Sun Tzu's Art of War, Asaph's psalm summarizes important principles gleaned from the military history of which the author was aware. A key principle is found in the ninth through eleventh verses: "The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; they did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law. They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them" (Psalm 78:9-11).
The men of Ephraim (a type of all Israel), Asaph tells us, had the latest and most powerful weaponry of that age, and yet they were "turned back" (the Hebrew can mean overturned or overthrown) and failed to find victory because they limited God in two specific ways. First they did not obey God, and second they did not remember his power. Put simply, these soldiers failed physically because they failed spiritually. They failed because they lacked both obedience and faith, as we see repeatedly in this psalm. As Asaph put it: "In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe" (Psalm 78:32).
This proved to be a deadly combination for ancient Israel. The Book of Judges shows us that whenever the Israelites consistently fell down in terms of obedience and faith, they also consistently fell in defeat. In Psalm 78 Asaph tells us that if they had only believed and obeyed, they would have gained numerous victories because: "…they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds, but would keep his commands" (Psalm 78:7).
This is a basic truth that also applies in our lives today. Some things just don't change much. Just as was the case with ancient Israel, God has given us a number of blueprints for victory in the spiritual battles we fight – but there can be no victory without our best efforts of sincere faith and obedience.
Ancient Israel limited a limitless God and in so doing they limited themselves to fighting without victory. We don't have to do that. As we move through the final part of this book we will examine a number of positive ways in which we can be assured of gaining victory in the Christian fight, but we must always remember to avoid the things which – now just as then – will limit our victory.