Lessons from the Life of Shammah the Son of Agee the Hararite

There are many notable men in Scripture that provide a great example for men to follow. I am thinking of well-known people like David or Paul. But there are also some little know people in the Bible who also provide a great example for men to follow. One of those is Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. He was one of David’s mighty men. Think of these men as David’s Special Forces soldiers. We find Shammah’s story in 2 Samuel 23:11-12. We are going to spend this week focusing on what these two  verses reveal to us about being a man. The nutshell version of the story is this: the Philistines were on the attack again. A group of them were gathered near a bean patch. Shammah went out to fight them even though everyone else ran away. He took his stand right in the middle of the bean patch and fought the Philistines by himself. The Lord gave him a great victory.

Shammah demonstrates for us that men must be willing to take a stand and fight for what is right. We should not go looking for a fight, but we should not run away from one either. That bean patch belonged to God’s people. The Philistines were trying to take it. Shammah was determined that would not happen on his watch. A man who stands up for the Lord needs to be ready to rumble. We live in enemy territory. Satan will attack us, our family, and our church. We must be prepared spiritually for the battle. We must expect a fight. To think otherwise is like playing football but expecting not to get hit. Our culture has tried to make men soft and weak. But men of God must be prepared to engage the devil on the field of conflict and trust the Lord to give the victory. Take it from Shammah. Sometimes you have to fight!

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