Being a Common Soldier
All in David's army attained not to be equal with his few
worthies in prowess and honor, and yet did not cashier themselves: thou hast
reason to be thankful for the meanest place in the army of saints, the least
communications of gospel mercy and grace must not be overlooked.
***
What Gurnall means is there were many in David’s army did
not make the top tier of his "Mighty Men." For every name etched in timeless
Scripture there were hundreds in the common rank and file who also fought and
bled. Yet we do not know who they were or what individual feats they
accomplished. Did these unnamed warriors throw down their weapons, moping as
they went home because they were not considered elite? Did they hang their heads
in self-pity because their individual deeds were not recounted for every
generation to glory in? No! They too were privileged to march and bleed with
the Lord’s Anointed. They too killed Philistines.
We tend to magnify the great Christians. I myself love to
read "the greats": the loftiest preachers, the most devout missionaries, the
most zealous reformers who have gone before us. There is substantive value in
placing heroes before you as models to emulate. The Apostle Paul told the Philippians
to join in imitating him. The argument of Hebrews 12 is that because we are
surrounded by so "great a cloud of witnesses" let us run the race with
endurance. Another words, because these great men of faith went before us, because
we carry the torch they gave us, let us also run as they did.
When we compare and contrast our lives to the great men and
women of the past it is natural to wonder: "why is my faith so small when
compared to theirs? Why does my own zeal for God so often fall short? Why can’t
I love my Savior like he did?" I
believe these are worthy questions. We should push ourselves; we should press
on for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We should earnestly desire the greatest
gifts, never growing contented with our current level of spiritual maturity. Our
call is to holiness and I can assure you we are not there yet.
But in our admiration of the heroes of the faith and our desire for
the qualities they possessed, we should not minimize the more common evidences
of our Lord’s grace unto us. It is no small thing to be brought from death to
life, to be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light. That
alone is a miracle we should never tire of celebrating. As Gurnall also writes: "There is a greater gulf between no grace and grace, than between weak grace
and strong, between a chaos and nothing, than between a chaos and this
beautiful frame of heaven and earth. The first day’s work of both creations is
the greatest."
Nor should we minimize victory over sin, faithfulness to one’s
spouse, the bringing up children in the Lord, a good testimony in the workplace,
the anonymous service in a local church. Just because we are not preaching the
gospel to thousands or making a marked difference
in the world, does not mean an encouraging word to another should be scorned. These "common" achievements are increasingly uncommon in our own day, and are further
reasons to heap praise and thanksgiving to our God. We may not be the Mighty Men
of renown, but we still belong to the service of our King—and that is no small
thing.
When we fail to reach the levels that we strive after, when
our disciplines do not match our aims--we do not need to wallow in our
insufficiencies and failures. We do not need to "cashier our weapons" in a
toddlers fit and give up the whole thing. We would do well to recall all that
the Lord has done for us. How far he has already brought us. We may not yet be
what we will one day be; but we are no longer what we were. And that is
something to celebrate.
***
Though thou art not of that strength in grace to run with
the foremost and hold pace with the tallest of thy brethren, yet thou art
thankful that thou hast any strength at all, though it be but to cry after them
whom thou seest outstrip thee in grace, this is worth thy thanks.
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