Right Handed, Left Handed or Both?

I Chronicles 12 is a description of the mighty men who came to David at Ziklag to be a part of his army. Verse 22 says "For day by day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army like the army of God." (NAS) This chapter describes the strengths and skills of these great warriors. I Chronicles 12:2 " They were equipped with bows, using both the right hand and the left to sling stones and to shoot arrows from the bow.." (NAS) These men were very valuable warriors because if they were injured in battle in the right arm they could still continue to fight by slinging stones with the left arm. These men had to be highly trained and disciplined to be able to shoot arrows with both hands. I took archery in high school and found it to be a very difficult sport. It took a lot of strength to pull the string back against the resistance of the bow while keeping the bow steady and the arrow staight. Hitting the target was another challenge! These men could not only shoot arrows accurately but with either hand and could sling stones.
When someone injures their right arm and cannot use it, usually they are incapacitated and are somewhat helpless and feel useless. This is the devil's plan when he brings emotional and mental injury to us. He damages us with rejection, hurt feelings, estrangement, and disappointments. Like the physical injury to the right arm, we become helpless, listless and useless to the Kingdom of God and the devil has achieved his purpose.But if we are well trained in prayer and equipped with the Word we can continue to function. We must be able to use our right arm and our left arm spiritually. If we are dealt a setback we must be able to use the "other arm" and fight back. Arming ourselves with the Word, prayer and forgiveness, we can continue to press forward for the Kingdom of God. Too many Christians have stepped out of the battle because they have been dealt a blow from the enemy. We have too many Christians on the injury list sitting on the sidelines. We must be trained, disciplined and strong enough to use the "other arm" when wounded. When the enemy strikes a blow on us we must run to God. We must be quick to forgive our fellow men who may have hurt our feelings. We must pray for the Body of Christ, speak the Word and ask God to strengthen us in our inner man. Then begin to pray and pull down these strongholds that try to incapcitate the believers. We cannot be one armed warriors and be rendered useless.
Psalm 144:1 "Blessed be the Lord, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle." (NAS) Psalm 18:34 "He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze." (NAS) As I meditated on these scriptures, I noted that hands, fingers, and arms are all plural. We are to be right handed and left handed warriors for God. We must be so skilled in prayer, so skilled in the Word of God, and so skilled in hearing the Spirit that if we are attacked and "injured in the right arm" we can continue to fight with our left arm.
Let us pray for our pastors and leaders to press on to "equipping the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the Body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ." Ephesians 4:12-13 (NAS)