Morning Devotional

November 11, 2004
"Becoming a Mighty Man (Part 3)"

by Don Emmitte

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These are the names of David's mightiest men. The first was Jashobeam the Hacmonite, who was commander of the Three--the three greatest warriors among David's men. He once used his spear to kill eight hundred enemy warriors in a single battle. Next in rank among the Three was Eleazar son of Dodai, a descendant of Ahoah. Once Eleazar and David stood together against the Philistines when the entire Israelite army had fled. He killed Philistines until his hand was too tired to lift his sword, and the LORD gave him a great victory that day. The rest of the army did not return until it was time to collect the plunder! Next in rank was Shammah son of Agee from Harar. One time the Philistines gathered at Lehi and attacked the Israelites in a field full of lentils. The Israelite army fled, but Shammah held his ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines. So the LORD brought about a great victory. (2 Samuel 23:8-12 NLT).

The last in our lessons this week concerning becoming mighty men and women of God is found in the life of the last of the three men mentioned in our reading. His name was Shammah. He shows us that mighty men and women of God finish well!

Some time ago I did the funeral of a very courageous man of God. He was a deacon and he was a war hero. In 1966, while serving in Viet Nam, he was literally cut in half by enemy gunfire. He was never expected to live. Though he faced many surgeries and was never in very good health, he lived much longer than anyone expected. Shortly after recovery, he accepted Christ as his Savior, and from that point on his life had been a consistent message of Christ’s love and grace. His funeral was simply a testimony to this soldier’s soldier that God does indeed answer prayer. Having plenty of time to plan his funeral, he asked for three things; that it be an occasion of joy, that it be about Jesus and not about him, and that it honor his loving wife. He was a modern day mighty man of God. He ended well!

How are you going to finish? Not all of us have 36 years expecting to die so that we can plan out our funeral the way he did. Most of our funerals will be very unexpected. What will they say about you? Will they give tribute to your golf game? Will they say you were able to build a great empire? Will the lay claim to your collections of the earthly stuff? Or, will they, like they did for this man, testify to your love of Christ and His love of you!

You are living your epitaph right now! What is it saying about you today? Will you be considered a modern day man, or woman, of God? Lord willing, may we all end well!