In our day of modern warfare, when a skilled sniper can kill an enemy from two miles away, we tend to forget in Bible times how devastating a skilled marksman could be with nothing more than his bow and quill filled with arrows. An unexpected volley of arrows from a troop of warriors could bring immediate death when it arrived.
One event from ancient history illustrates this so well. Alexander the Great came against the enormous Persian army and was told that when the Persians shot their arrows there were so many that it would darken the sun. (Such did not faze Alexander. He replied, “Wonderful, today we get to fight in the shade”). The constant threat of death from the arrows of the enemy is why the Bible describes the wrath of God using the imagery of His arrows.
In the seventh Psalm, David described the anger of the Lord manifesting His justice. “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day…He bends His bow and makes it ready…He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.” There is no way to compare the arrows of the Persian army and the fiery arrows of the army of God. In the midst of great adversity, David found such peace when he thought of God’s arrows.
The eighteenth psalm was penned by David on the very day God delivered him from all of his enemies, especially King Saul (2 Sam. 22:1). In his destress, the shepherd boy had cried out to God, and his cry entered into the ears of God. Read the words of the psalmist in the vivid, poetic words given by the Holy Spirit. “He heard my voice…the earth shook and trembled…because He was angry. Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth…The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice.”
Then, David mentioned the arrows of the Lord. “He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, lightning in abundance.” Who has not been startled by the flashing of lightning and its attendant thunder! David saw these as manifestations of God’s arrows coming to his deliverance. Forget the Persian arrows, forget the arrows of Saul’s army—God comes to the aid of His children who call out to Him.
Do you want to be find peace when surrounded by life’s storms? Just take time to read about God’s arrows prepared to come to your aid. Let me also suggest that when you see the lightning and hear the thunder in the summer storms and those preceding hurricanes and tornados you take time to look at them as David did. God’s arrows are awaiting your cry for His help. Meditate on these things.