What Wars Are You Facing?

David wrote Psalm 27 with armies camped against him. Not a metaphor. Not a bad quarter. The Philistines and the Ammonites had pitched their tents around Israel, and David — king, warrior, the man who'd already killed a giant — sat down and wrote this:

"The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident."

Read that again slowly. That's not bravado. That's a man who has seen real armies and chosen where to fix his eyes first.

Here's the question worth sitting with: if you were staring down your own version of that siege — the one currently forming around your business, your team, your leadership — would your first words match his? Be honest. Most of us don't open with "whom shall I fear." Most of us open with a spreadsheet, three phone calls, and a knot in our stomach that we call "handling it."  We double down on the strengths we’ve used before, and we get ready to fight…to solve, to overcome, to win.

That's not a criticism. It's just where most leaders start. The question is where we end up.

The Wars We Don't Name

Every leader is fighting something. The problem is we're often only tracking the war we can see.

• External wars show up on the calendar and in the P&L: staffing gaps, cash flow, a market shifting under your feet, a competitor moving faster than expected, political and economic noise you can't control, the politics inside your own office that drain more energy than the actual work does.

• Internal wars don't show up anywhere official, but they're often the more dangerous front. Expectations you've never spoken out loud — your own or someone else's. Guilt over a decision you can't undo. Self-doubt that whispers you're not the right person for this. Its close cousin, pride, which insists you don't need help. Regret. Lack of trust — in your team, in the process, in God. Fear that wears a suit and calls itself "being realistic."

Here's the trap: leaders are trained to fight external wars. We're good at strategy, resourcing, contingency plans. But an internal war doesn't yield to a better org chart. You can win every external battle this quarter and still be losing the one inside you — and if that one goes unaddressed, it will eventually shape every external decision you make.

Faith Isn't Passive — But It's Also Not All Up to You

David didn't sit in a tent doing nothing while he wrote those words. He positioned his men. He made decisions. He led. Faith, in Psalm 27, isn't the absence of action — it's the refusal to let the size of the army determine the size of his confidence.

This is where a lot of leaders — especially the driven, competent, high-capacity ones — get the order backwards. We do what we can do, which is right. But then we quietly try to also do what only God can do: control outcomes, guarantee results, carry the weight of things that were never ours to carry alone. We mix the two up, and it costs us, usually in the form of exhaustion, or a decision made from fear dressed up as prudence.

The leadership move isn't "do nothing and trust." It's "do everything that's actually yours to do — and stop there." Prepare the team. Make the call. Build the plan. Then let go of the parts of the outcome that were never in your hands to begin with. Let your faith and trust kick in. God is bigger than this, and you know it. He can resolve it, so let Him.

Two Questions Worth Your Time This Week

• In what ways do I rely on the strength of resources outside of God when I face a war?

Not a rhetorical question. Name it specifically. Is it your own competence? Your network? Your reputation? Your ability to out-work the problem? None of those are wrong to have — but if any of them has quietly become your actual stronghold instead of being just a tool in your hand, that's worth noticing before the next siege, not during it.

• How can I be the best leader for my team, no matter how big the crisis?

Your team is watching your posture more than your plan. They can't see the internal war — the self-doubt, the fear, the pride you're wrestling with at 3am. But they absolutely feel the overflow of it. A leader who has sorted out where their confidence actually comes from leads differently in a crisis than one who hasn't. Steadier. Clearer. Less reactive. Your people don't need you to have no fear. They need you to know where to put it.

Before You Close This Tab...

David named the fact that his enemies were there. This is not vague dread. It’s not hyperbole nor minimizing. Do the same. Name the actual war camped against you right now, internal or external. Then ask yourself honestly: what would it look like to write your own version of verse one?

The siege is real. So is the stronghold.

---

p.s. Wars are real for leaders - and it's unwise to try and fight alone. Consider coming to the next LeaderPrint EXPLORE Session in August, and discover what it means to have an army around you...