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Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle\u2026None of our city walls will be broken down. No one will be carried off as a prisoner. No cries of pain will be heard in our streets (Psalm 144:1, 14).

This psalm is easy enough to understand within its context of the king leading Israel\u2019s armies into battle against their enemies. War was part of their lives (cf. 2 Samuel 11:1). Its most likely that David, the warrior king, composed this song. He was a man skilled in war. From his days as a shepherd boy to the days of serving in Saul's army to leading his own army, David learned to be a skillful warrior. How does one become a skillful warrior?

The only way is to be trained and then placed in the middle of the battle. Only in the furnace of war can we truly learn to be warriors. Practice doesn't make you battle ready. War games won't prepare you for facing your real enemy in the battlefield. The stark reality is that only being in the battle makes us effective warriors.

But we live in a very different context. Israel may have gone to war against other nations. But the church does not. So how is this psalm useful for Christians today?

One fruitful reading of this psalm sees in it a foreshadowing of Christ\u2019s reign. Today, from heaven, he reigns over the lives of His faithful here on earth. The kingdom of heaven has come to this world, but there are still other kingdoms opposed to it and its king.

Today, the saints don\u2019t go to war against other nations, but we do suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). As such, the Christian life is properly thought of as combat. Jesus, as King, is also our military leader. In this psalm we praise Him for teaching our hands to do battle and our fingers to make war, and for delivering us from the evil sword. Could meditation on this psalm have led the apostle to pen Ephesians 6:10-20?

When Jesus taught us to prayer, \u201cDeliver us from evil\u201d, was he referencing this psalm? Consider what the Heidelberg Catechism says about this petition, \u201cBy ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies-the devil, the world, and our own flesh-never stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory\u201d (A 127).

Simply reading our Bible will not make us warriors for the Kingdom. Knowledge without experience is folly. Only when we are placed in situations where we must depend on God will we learn the lessons of warrior faith. This is the training ground of God, which will make us into soldiers for Christ in the workplace. When we come to the place where we want to be dead to anything that keeps us from fulfilling God's purposes, there the Spirit will lead us to fruitfulness.

From the earliest days of the church, we have this anthem, \u201cChrist conquers, Christ reigns, Christ rules.\u201d It was sung by the martyrs, their blood poured out for Caesar\u2019s pleasure. Those men, women, and children were not in doubt as to the identity of the true King. They believed He was the conqueror of Revelation 19:11\u201314.

Surely, the confidence in God exuding from this psalm, sustained many who have died for their faith. Should it not sustain those of us who continue to war against \u201cour sworn enemies-the devil, the world, and our own flesh\u201d?

Christ is not just the conqueror, he is also the Prince of Peace. The latter part of the psalm describes \u201cthe blessings of those whose God is the Lord.\u201d The images in verses 12-14 refer to the tranquility and prosperity of a well-governed realm. Such is the Kingdom of the Christ celebrated here. We may not see it yet, but Jesus promises that all who endure in the faith will experience this kingdom. Such vision has long sustained God\u2019s children. Let it sustain us.

For now, we experience both war and peace. The first half of the psalm pictures war, the second peace. Can we see in the second half images of the new earth and new heavens, when all wars have ceased? Can we partner this psalm with the prayer of Revelation 22:20, \u201cCome quickly, Lord Jesus!\u201d?