I WILL NOT CALL YOU WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE!

I want the perspective of David!

I LOVE the books of Samuel in the Bible and find myself “in them” often. Recently, while our home church group was studying 1 Samuel, the Lord showed me something that I have personally never heard preached. Because HIS timing is perfect, I accept that HE knew when to lift the scales from my eyes thus forever changing my perspective.

Here…a new canvas; a new painting:

Back in the day, armies often avoided great bloodshed by sending out their strongest warrior to fight the strongest warrior of the opposing army. The winner was considered the victor of the battle for the whole army. Now, in 1 Samuel 17, the war between the Israelites and the Philistines was at a standstill for 40 days without either moving forward in attack. This was because both armies were camped on opposite sides of the Valley of Elah which had steep cliffs. Whatever brave soul would dare rush down their cliff through the valley then up the steep cliff of the enemy would surely suffer great peril. So, each side waited for the other to initiate attack.

Yet every morning and every evening for the 40 days, the Philistine champion Goliath, standing over nine feet tall as was common in the Philistine camp, would come to the edge of the cliff and taunt the Lord’s armies of Israel but also curse God Almighty in the process! His size and threats thundered across the valley into the hearts of King Saul and the Israelites to where “they were dismayed and terrified.”

Young David (earlier anointed as king by the Lord but it was kept quiet until God’s timing), was sent by his father with food for his brothers at the camp. It was then that David heard the rantings of Goliath and pressed his way through to the battle lines and approached King Saul. [I love how David, the 8th and youngest son of Jesse, is described in chapter 16:18, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.” …And he plays the harp. That just gets me every time! Critical element, however, is “the Lord is with him.”]

Despite ridicule and doubt from his own brothers, David stood with tenacity and addressed King Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been fighting man from his youth.”

Relentless, David responds in verse 34-37, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion, and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul sends David out, and in verse 45 David addresses taunting Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the Name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel…All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”

Then, as a mighty warrior mastering his weapon (5 stones and a sling) in complete assurance of his God, “RAN QUICKLY toward the battle line to meet Goliath.”

Did you catch it? IT’S PURE GOLD! Though everyone considered Goliath a giant among other giants, and were gripped with terror, David NEVER once addressed Goliath as a giant, but rather belittles him to a mere commoner, “this uncircumcised Philistine.” Through David’s eyes, Goliath was no one special. He didn’t address his 9+ft stature, cloaked in hundreds of pounds of head-to-toe armor including a bronze helmet on his head! No, Goliath was not a mountain that he could not overtake. David saw him for what he was, an enemy of God that was going DOWN!

How many times each day do we tremble at the sight of the giants before us? How many times do we stay on the cliff frozen in fear unable to see passed the giants, OR hear beyond the fear of others in our camp? These are rhetorical questions, even for me, knowing they happen too often. But do we want them to be our reputation? Do I want my epitaph to say, “Rebecca stood her ground on the cliff of fear?” No! Never! I want to get my perspective right when the sun wakes me, shake off the taunting thunder of fear from the enemy, jump into my armor of HIS WORD, and then RUN QUICKLY into battle for HIS glory. GOD help me run!

THERE ARE NO GIANTS WHEN OUR GOD IS HERE!  So, I will not call them such!! And fear: it only has the power we give it!

Isaiah 41 For I am the Lord, your God,
Who takes hold of your right hand
And says to you, ‘Do not fear;
I will help you.’

Psalm 118 In anguish I cried to the Lord,
And He answered by setting me free.
The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is with me; He is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.
 

Psalm 27 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 evil men advance against me to devour my flesh,
When my enemies and my foes attack me [seen and unseen],
They will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear;
Though war break out against me,
Even then will I be confident.

“Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, David slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground…When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran…Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout…chasing down the Philistines…and plundered their camp.”

This mere uncircumcised Philistine is rendered powerless, not by sword or spear or javelin, but by a young man anointed by God and one smooth stone. Though it appeared Goliath had the advantage, Goliath did not realize that in fighting David, he was also fighting GOD! 

Hallelujah and AMEN!