Friday, December 20, 2013
Becoming David
Most of us know some or all of the story about David and Goliath. David was the smallest amongst his brothers. He was left to the menial task, to tend the sheep while the brothers did the more glorious work of going off to fight in the war. The army was facing the Philistines, and they had a giant of a warrior named Goliath. He challenged any man to fight him, and none of the army of the Israelites would go. They were afraid. David is sent by his father to take his brother food. David comes upon the scene and wanders why they are all afraid. Doesn’t that seem odd for a shepherd that is short in stature?
1 Samuel 17:32 And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
So David went against Goliath, and killed. He knocked him down with a slingshot, and then killed him by cutting off his head with his own sword. So those that serve God won the day, and God delivered them. But there is something to ask here. How did this happen exactly? What I mean is, we look at it in the past. When your are running straight at the giant with a slingshot against shield and sword, what does that feel like? I understand that David fought off the lion and the bear, again in the past. So what does it feel like to look a lion in the face and you are holding the fur under his chin? How do you get to that point?
David’s brothers made fun of him and belittled him in public. I would guess he was used to ridicule. Obviously his father loved him, and he was a defender of his father’s sheep. Given the number and intensity of the psalms that he wrote, David seems to have been a man of passion from a young child. And he believed the stories in the scriptures about God as their deliverer. He probably did not know what to expect with the lion, but after that, the bear was easier. Finally the battle with Goliath was just that next step. It seems that the path to follow is to be passionate toward the Living God, and let Him lead and guide us through a series of challenges, fighting side by side with us, so we learn to trust Him. Perhaps giving God a chance to grow us up is the key to becoming David.
Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. You are so majestic in the heavens as You watch over Your creation. Please help us as we battle the lion, the bear, and the giants in our lives. Only You can defeat these enemies that we fight. I ask today that You crush them, and grind them to powder to be blown away in the wind, that all men may know that You alone are the One True God and we are Your people. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.