day no. 16,910: two swords

“Remember that the true war-cry of the Church is Gideon's watchword, ‘The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!’ God must do it, it is his own work. But we are not to be idle; instrumentality is to be used--‘The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!’ If we only cry, ‘The sword of the Lord!’ we shall be guilty of an idle presumption; and if we shout, ‘The sword of Gideon!’ alone, we shall manifest idolatrous reliance on an arm of flesh: we must blend the two in practical harmony, ‘The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!’ We can do nothing of ourselves, but we can do everything by the help of our God.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

The battle belongs to God, but the fighting belongs to us. Of course, God fights for us. If He didn't, we would have no reason to believe our cause could succeed. But rarely does faith amount to sitting on the sidelines and even less often does it amount to refusing to fight.

We must apprehend two swords. We must wield the sword of the Lord and the sword of Gideon. The blade of faith cuts in both directions and the steel of obedience is serrated. The Word of the Lord cuts to the quick and the work of man saws slowly. We must by faith both wait on the Lord and get to work. We must serve Him and obey Him remembering that in Him our labors are never in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.