The air around us is not empty.

Somewhere there is a plot of kingdom work that is waiting to be cultivated.

Somewhere there is a battlefront where the wind is beginning to pick up, rustling the tops of the mulberry trees.

O Lord of hosts,

Somewhere in our hearts you are whispering commands and strategies to advance onto enemy ground and take it back for your great name.

Open our ears to hear the sounds of your presence, God.

Help us to take delight in the octaves of your voice.

Give us the courage, patience, and wisdom to know how to lean into you.

And steady our hearts when the thunder peels; it is our reminder that redemption is drawing near.

Amen.

Several times in David’s life he stepped onto a battlefield with a familiar foe lined up across from him: the Philistines.

One of these confrontations appears in 2 Samuel 5.

David sought the Lord and was told, “when you hear the sounds of the marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines (v. 24)”

David receives this word with a matured confidence. He had history with Yahweh. A history that taught him not how to fight, but how to trust the God who fights for His people.

Approximately twenty years earlier, he stood as a mere shepherd boy before a giant with the army of Israel watching at his back. He famously stormed the enemy’s domain, convinced that the Lord of Hosts was with him as he hurled a stone defeating the Philistines’ mighty warrior — the man they called Goliath.

David believed that “the Lord had gone out before him.”

His memory told him that if the Lord was in the midst of a fight, then the battle was already won. He had witnessed God’s hand working on his behalf in the wilderness to take down lions and bears that came against the flock under his care. This confidence is what allowed young David to tell Saul (the Israeli king who should have been on the frontlines against Goliath), “let no man’s heart fail him.”

Oh how we often let our hearts fail us.

Though our enemies may not stand across from us with swords and shields, we too find ourselves in the midst of conflict. Fear, doubt, shame, disappointment…something in your life probably seems immovable.

But Jesus, the King of Kings, speaks to us with the same assurance: “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). Just as David trusted the Lord in 2 Samuel 5, believers now live with even greater assurance through Christ. By His death and resurrection, Jesus has defeated every weapon formed against us. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).

The enemy may still taunt us, but he will never get the final word. So why should any man’s heart fail him?

One scholar writes it this way: “What coward would not fight when he is sure of victory?”

So what does a mulberry tree have to do with missions?

Throughout Scripture a clear picture emerges: God sends His people into enemy territory and the mulberry tree becomes a fitting symbol for the missionary whose life is oftentimes marked by spiritual warfare, sustained by deep faith, and carried forward by the certainty of ultimate victory in Jesus.

The mulberry tree represents the strength it takes to fight. Its deep extensive root systems make them very difficult to move.

Isaiah 61:3 promises that the Spirit of the Lord gives a “garment of praise instead of a faint spirit” so that His people may be called “oaks of righteousness” firmly planted in Him and growing in resilience despite opposition. What encouragement to cling onto when the battle threatens to overwhelm us.

Missionaries “go” because the Lord has called His followers to every tongue, tribe, and nation.

But we don’t go alone.

Jesus said He would send the Helper, and it is through the Holy Spirit that we receive our tactical direction. Just as God used the sound of movement in the mulberry trees to signal He was on the move and David would receive victory, we must rely on divine strategy today, taking initiative when we see the Holy Spirit prompting us and clearing a path forward. We let faith arise as we build history with the One who never fails.

So when you hear the still small voice of God asking something far beyond your human capabilities, take great courage. We are pilgrims on a long journey home. March onward towards the valleys and victories and ask yourself: