Just One Story V: Can You Hear Me Now?

What was God trying to say when he used a boy with a sling to defeat Goliath? I am reluctant to speculate about God’s motives because his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. To believe I can discern what was in God’s mind at that time would be the height of arrogance, but there are at least three lessons in this story that were relevant for King Saul’s constituents and are important for us as well. The lessons are clear. The only question is whether we can hear them.

First, God’s people can trust God to fight their battles. First Samuel 17:47 says, “. . .that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s . . .” The word ‘assembly’ refers to King Saul and the Israelite army. Israel’s military record against the Philistines had been a mixture of success and failure. King Saul was a capable military leader, but obviously did not understand the concept of trusting in God and obeying him completely. By the time God defeated Goliath, Saul had already demonstrated his lack of faith in God’s power over the enemies of Israel. (See 1 Samuel 15.) This is a lesson that must be learned by every generation of God’s people. Unfortunately, like Saul, we often miss God’s glory because we trust in ourselves rather than him. God’s promise is sure. He promised to be our God if we would be his people, and that promise includes defeating our greatest enemies. May we learn this lesson before it is too late.

Second, God’s purpose was less military and more spiritual; less physical or carnal and more a purpose of faith. Were God’s purpose solely military or political, using the sword would be appropriate. God’s purpose, however, was spiritual. His goal was the faith and holiness of his people. The battle was not against a giant soldier, but against “principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Wisely, he did not use a military solution on a spiritual problem. This is another lesson we often miss. Just as the disciples could not see past the earthy kingdom they believed the Messiah would establish, the church often can only see its current social and political circumstances and fails to see that the battle is the Lord’s and he does not save with sword and spear. Our battles are spiritual battles against the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places, not against politicians, judges, and activists. God will not defeat them by the human means of the ballot box and the court system, but by defeating the enemy on a higher level and in the hearts of his people. (See John 6 and Acts 1:1-6-8.)

Third, God works so that he is glorified. First Samuel 17:46 says that God would defeat Goliath so “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” In their culture a nation won a battle because it had the strongest god. By defeating Goliath in the way he did even the Philistines knew the God of Israel was indeed a mighty God. This has been the theme throughout this story. Our God is a mighty God that works to glorify himself because he is worthy of all glory. God is glorified when all see that he is greater than we.

May “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 2:11)
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Just One Story IV: Don’t Bring a Knife to a Gunfight

    We have all heard the expression, “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” Again, I am not sure of its origin but it was very popular after the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark came out. In that movie one of the bad guys prepares to fight Indiana Jones, the “good guy,” with a large, curved sword. The crowd becomes very quiet because it is evident that the bad guy knows how to use this sword and everyone expects things to go badly for the good guy. Then, in a humorous twist, Indiana Jones nonchalantly pulls out a pistol and shoots the guy wielding the sword. So much for the bad guy. God’s people often make the same mistake. We take the wrong weapons to the battle. (In fact, we usually fight the wrong battle altogether, but that is another topic for another day.)

    After David volunteered to accept Goliath’s challenge, King Saul dressed David in his own armor and weapons. This was a natural thing to do. It was even a wise thing to do from a strictly military point-of-view. At first, David went along with the idea for just that reason—it was logical and what one did when getting ready to fight a formidable enemy. Saul and David were simply doing what was natural, what anyone else would have done in the same situation. It was such a common thing to do they did not think twice about it. In later battles in David’s life it may have been the correct thing to do, but not that time. David quickly realized that Saul’s armor and weapons we not appropriate for this battle. First of all, how effective could it have been in the face of such a large and strong enemy? Were armor alone sufficient Saul would have already taken care of the problem of the giant Philistine. More importantly, David could hardly walk in the armor; he had not “tested” it. In other words, he had no experience with the armor and did not know if he could trust it. It was more a burden than a tool. He did, however, have experience with God and knew that he could trust God and that God was sufficient for any enemy.

    David understood that God does not do things the way we do things. God does things in order to glorify himself. He does things in such a way that all will know that it is an act of God, not an act of men. Isaiah said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) God doesn’t do things the way we would do things. When we need water, we dig wells or build dams. God gave his people water from a rock. When we need food we either plant and harvest crops or hunt animals. God sent his people bread with the dew of the morning and made the quail simply show up in camp and surrender on their doorsteps. When we fight an enemy, we use armor and weapons. God used a boy with a sling and a rock.

    David knew that this battle was a battle of faith and that it could not be won with conventional weapons. So, he took off the armor, collected a few stones, put his faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and went to do battle with a man many times his size. This is a lesson the church must learn. God promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church, but as long as the church goes to battle with the weapons of the world, which do not fit and only weight her down, Satan does not even bother to close the gates. He knows we will not defeat him with our church activities, marketing techniques, superficial Bible studies, mission boards, political activism, trite sayings and slogans, nor any other means except by the power of God working through his holy and sanctified people. As long as his people are indistinguishable from the people of the world—thinking like them and doing what they would do—Satan will continue to challenge God’s people with virtual impunity.

May “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 2:11)

Just One Story III: The Bigger They Are . . .

. . . the harder they fall. I have not studied the source of that old saying, but it may easily have come from the story of David and Goliath. No matter its origins, it sums up one of God’s lessons in the story of David and Goliath.

    Goliath was a big man and he was heavily armored and heavily armed. He was approximately nine feet tall, wore a bronze helmet, a coat of mail that weighed almost 200 pounds, and had bronze armor on his legs. He carried a bronze javelin and a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam. Just how big a weaver’s beam was we don’t know, but it had to be big to support a spearhead that weighed almost two pounds. As easy as it is to criticize the Israelite army for being afraid of him, they had good reason to be afraid. Because of his size, Goliath was accustomed to the fear he inspired in others. It is unlikely he had ever fought a one-on-one battle once he “had his size” as they used to say. Because of this he had a sense of invincibility. When David came out to challenge him, he “disdained” David as an unworthy opponent. He did not take David seriously. He logically believed that his size, his armor, and his weapons were sufficient to deal with any individual enemy, much less a young man. He feared no man and believed in his own size, strength, and ability.

    David, on the other hand, knew that this was not his battle, but the Lord’s. David did not trust in his own ability, strength, or experience. He trusted in the power and promises of God. He knew what God had done for His people; he knew what God had done for him; he knew what God would do on that occasion. He had complete faith and confidence in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Notice the difference in their attitudes when they came together for the battle. Goliath said, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? . . . Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” David responded,

You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand. (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

David’s entire response glorified God. David trusted in the Lord not in his skill, experience, armor, or weapons. Because David was young and small he understood that he could not kill a giant Philistine, but God could and would if he had faith in Him. One of the basic axioms of Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step groups is that one’s addictions are too big to defeat alone and that only by relying on God can those additions be conquered. AA’s historic success is a result of this great truth. As long as we depend on our own strength defeat is inevitable as it was for Goliath, but as long as we put our faith in God, He will defeat our biggest enemies.

May “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 2:11)”