And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his son were dead, that they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
1 Samuel 31:7.
This is the story of a people defeated in the battle lost by some other people. A people defeated in a battle they never fought. It was Saul who fought the battle, with his son and the men of Israel. But the rest of Israel depended on, or was affected by, the outcome of that battle. The "men of Israel" who were on "the other side of the valley" and the others who were "on the other side Jordan," did not actively fight any battle. All they did was watch out for the outcome of the battle in which Saul was engaged. But when Saul lost the battle, they also lost it. As soon as they saw that things had gone wrong with Saul, they abandoned their cities and fled; they fled without a battle. The Philistines did not have to fight another battle to conquer those cities. They simply moved in to possess them. The one victory they had won over Saul was also over all whose lives depended on Saul’s life; it was over all whose triumph and victories in life depended on Saul’s triumph and victories in life.
The victory you win may not just be yours. The fortune of several others may be dependent on that one victory. A defeat, on the other hand, may also not be just your singular defeat. It could be the defeat of you and all the others to whom you are a defence. The devil may, therefore, not be attacking just you when he attacks you. He may be attacking you and all the people whose daily lives depend on your daily victories. That is why he would bring to bear so much pressure on you, because he is not fighting just you afterall. Your failure in life makes it easier for them also to fail in life; your singular defeat makes their several defeats and captivity very easy, and almost without effort for the enemy.
There are some whose failure could mean the failure of a family, and others whose defeat could be the defeat of an entire nation. There are others still whose backsliding will bring about the backsliding not only of a people on this side of the valley of life, but also of others far away on the other side of Jordan where they had previously had notable victories in life when the River between them and their Promised Land, by God's power, was parted to make way for their advance.
You have to guard your life. The battles you fight may not be just over your life, and the victory you win may also not be yours alone. On the other hand, the shame you bring might affect a whole people. The enemy is well aware that if one shepherd is smitten, it is possible to scatter the thousands of sheep under him (Matthew 26:31). We should not let him. Amen. The devil knows that it is more economical to spend even a hundred arrows to get one good shepherd, than spend a thousand arrows on a thousand sheep, because the defeat of that one shepherd would mean the defeat of all the sheep. That is why he usually selects the ‘pastors’ for attack, and often for fiercer attacks than the rest of the people face. But God will help us not to be defeated on our mount Gilboas. He will help us not to be defeated in those battles that mean so much to us, to others, to the devil, and to God. We also should be cautiously aware that there are several who are daily looking up to us to see the outcome of our battles. What they see in us will determine their lives and eternal destinies. Let us consider them, therefore, as we walk daily. Amen.
From The Preacher's diary