Recovery Devotional 322 Play the Man

JMD Devotional 322 2 Samuel 10:9-13 Play the Man

When Joab saw that the battlefront was against him before and behind, he picked some of all the choice men of Israel and put them in array against the Syrians. The rest of the men Joab gave over to Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the Ammonites. Joab said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you. Be of good courage; let us play the man for our people and the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what seems good to Him. And Joab and the people who were with him drew near to battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him.

Perhaps Joab’s brother Abishai was younger, less experienced and more fearful than Joab; or perhaps, being brothers, they knew each other well, that much of their bravado was hot air, a bluff. They were up against a union of two enemy nations, out gunned and out numbered, the situation was desperate. Were Rambo for real, he would have been afraid. But look at what Joab says to rally himself and his brother, “Let us play the man.” Many times a man does not feel like a man, that he measures up, that he has got what it takes to face a hostile world. Many women similarly do not feel feminine, and new mothers sometimes do not feel paternal, inclining them to disavow those roles. But the answer to not feeling your God-given role is not rebellion but faith. The first step in achieving the mantle of your role is to play the role, in spite of your feelings, trusting God to overcome your deficiencies with His sufficiency. Acting the role is an expression of faith. Through the travail of pressing through the challenges to your person God mysteriously solidifies your identity. Men who do not feel like men do not have the option of becoming women; and women who do not feel like women do not have the option of becoming men. We are told to resist even the most formidable enemy of our souls, Satan. In James 4:7 it says to “resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” You may not feel like a spiritual warrior; but feeling is not the prerequisite. Just prior to the admonition in James to resist the devil is the true prerequisite of success, “Submit yourselves then to God…” God has called us to specific roles; let us play the role that we are called to and let the feelings come in time.

Dear God,

Sometimes I need to play the mature adult when I engage my children; to play the disciplined student when the outdoors look so inviting; to play the dedicated husband when I’d rather be served. Help me to accept the role and script that You have called me to. For a long time I thought ‘playing the role’ was false, it troubled me; but I did not realize that playing roles is a part of learning proper behavior, a part of growing into them, the pathway to maturity. By Your power and presence in my life, I wont always be playing, no, the role will become reality as I become fully committed to doing things Your way and being the person You created me to be. Help me to ‘play the man’, the faithful man of God, and to master the part.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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