Lift up your heads ye gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? the Lord, strong
and mighty,
even
the Lord mighty in battle.
—Psalm 24:7-8 (Geneva Bible 1560)
It's a common belief among biblical scholars that the God of Israel, Yahweh, was originally one of many near eastern gods acknowledged by the people that later became the Hebrews, and that he was the one who led them in battle. It wasn't until later that Yahweh was thought of as the Creator of the universe, and even later that the existence of all other gods was denied.
In our current way of thinking, God is the God of peace, and so it's not en vogue to think of God as a warrior. But sometimes I like to think of God that way, and my own personal paraphrase of this part of Psalm 24 refers to God as "strong in the struggle," because when people of faith have battles to fight, it's good to know that God is there in the thick of things.
When the storms of life are raging, Lord, stand by me. Amen.
