1 Chronicles 12:1 “Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war.”

1 Chronicles 12:2 “They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin.”

In 1 Chronicles chapters 11 and 12, shortly after David becomes king of Israel, the Bible recounts key people in his life who helped him before he was king and during his reign.

David couldn’t have done it without them! And he had a lot of help along his journey of life.

In each of our lives, Christian or not, there are key people who have made us what we are, and it’s important to recognize, remember and honour these people, like here in scripture.

There are many details in these chapters which are so instructive to Christians wanting to help, be useful to Jesus and make a difference with their lives!

In these verses we read about a particular group of men from the tribe of Benjamin who came to help David before he was king… they came to fight for him when it was not popular to do so!

It’s very easy to “jump on the bandwagon”, and most of us are far more interested in the downhill sections of the Christians course if we’re being honest… but these guys weren’t!

These guys came to fight and put their lives on the line for David. Today, it’s probably fair to say that a lot of professing Christians are really not that interested in the inevitable conflict that will arise from following Christ… because faith is a fight, and there is warfare as a Christian.

But then a super cool detail in here is that these guys were good with both right and left hand!

How on earth could that relate to Christianity today? Well, just think about it! In sports terms, when someone is ambidextrous, that is usually a significant advantage to have!

To really be an effective Christian, we’re going to have to be “good off both sides”.

If you’re a Christian, can you handle both Old and New Testament, both law and grace, both judgment and mercy and so on?

It’s an important consideration, because a good reason why there are so many denominations and differences in Christian circles is because people/groups only use certain parts of the Bible… not all the Bible.

… And so they develop highly imbalanced truths, and they’re really not that effective, useful or skillful in the fight of faith.

We all (should!) want to “hit the target” in life as Christians, let’s make sure we can off both sides!

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