It sounds like kids’ stuff. A fight in a pea patch. But it wasn’t just a fight in the pea patch, it was a fight over the pea patch. Still doesn’t sound like one of those ‘mother of all battles’ or a confrontation of epic proportions. And yet, when all was said and done, it was rated years afterward as a great victory.

How big the pea patch was we don’t know but we know it was literally loaded with lentils (something like peas!). The harvest would provide food for the locals living in Lehi. The Philistines were in the area and they sure weren’t friends. They were actively opposing and fighting against the people of God, threatening them and warring against them. Remember Goliath? He was a Philistine.

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Was the pea patch worth defending against the pillaging and foraging of the Philistines? The Philistines obviously thought it was worth a fight. Their troops gathered for a showdown over the pea patch.

Whether they were cultivating the crop of lentils or harvesting, we don’t know. But when they lifted up their heads and saw the Philistines approaching, they dropped everything and fled out of the field. Everybody except Shammah. He wasn’t going to give up on the pea patch. Others may run like mad but there in the very center of the field stood Shammah, all alone, the son of Agee. It was a remarkable sight. Standing almost up to his knees in the leafy lentil plants drooping with pods, his eyes darting to the right and to the left. One by one he defeated the enemy. Did he swing around in the field and target what was coming from behind? How long the confrontation lasted we don’t know. The Bible tells us that when it was all over, Shammah was still vertical and the enemy was horizontal.

Here is one Bible verse that sums up the battle:

But he (Shammah) took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the LORD worked a great victory. (2Samuel 23:12 ESV)

The Christian’s enemy is not concerned about unproductive fields or the wastelands of sins. Our enemy is focused on what is spiritually working and what is doctrinally sound. Our enemy is at war against fields that are producing for the Lord and have the potential for a rich harvest. Even some Christians may suggest the pea-patch isn’t worth fighting for – there are bigger hills to die on. But Shammah wasn’t ready to relinquish even one field – even if it was the pea-patch.

Dear Christian, are you wondering if you should just cave into the pressure the enemy is exerting through other Christian friends, through your employer, through temptations in the world or even through your own weaknesses and fears? Are you starting to think that what you have been standing for isn’t worth dying for? Are you thinking about leaving? Will you run away from the threat and abandon the pea patch – or will you be like Shammah and stand strong for the Lord in the middle of the field through thick and thin? The Lord will give you a great victory too.

Defending the pea-patch might have seemed rather insignificant to onlookers or to others who didn’t value the field – but to King David, he placed Shammah in his Top 3 of his Top 30 Mighty Men.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

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