I Samuel 17: 4 - 11
And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
It's a story most of us have heard. A young boy called from shepherding the sheep defeats the giant with only 5 stones and a sling shot. As I read this story afresh today in my bible reading time, I was struck again with the magnitude of what actually happened. Israel had been at war with the Philistines for a long time. Battle, after battle. Then comes the giant, Goliath. How much of a giant was he really that a whole army could be afraid to fight him? Glad you asked! Best estimate is that he was around 10 FEET TALL!! Now I have a friend that I sing with who makes all of us who stand next to him feel like he is a giant, but he is no where near 10 feet tall. I think the tallest guy I have ever know was 6'11" - and that is really tall. But 10 FEET! Whoa! No wonder all of Saul's men shied away at the prospect of being the one to defeat the champion of the Philistines.
So here's the cliff notes of the rest of the story - The war could be over by just one man defeating this giant of a man, but there were no takers, until David came along. His father sent him to give food to his brothers who were fighting in the army. While he was there, David hears about this giant and says he will be the one to go and fight him. Most everyone thinks he is nuts! Saul (the king) tries to outfit David with armor, which was to big for him to move in, so David went out to met Goliath with only his sling shot, his shepherd's staff and 5 small rocks he picked up in the stream on the way to the battle field. Goliath laughs at this boy who thinks he can defeat him. David shoots a rock into Goliath's head with his sling shot. Goliath goes down. David takes Goliath's sword and cuts off his head. End of story!
This got me thinking, why was David so confident that he would win against this 10 ft. tall seasoned warrior? Well, he had the God of the universe on his side and he knew it. Seemed like not much of a risk when you looked at it stacked that way. But so many times when I look at what life is throwing at me it can seem like I am looking in the face of a bazooka and I only have a pea shooter in my hand. So I asked myself this morning, what giants I am facing in my life and am I trusting the God of the universe, who is on my side to defeat them and I ask you to ponder the same question?
He doesn't ask us to come fully equipped. David certainly didn't. He didn't have experience. He didn't have armor or a sword, and for all those looking on didn't seem to have long to live(given the challenge ahead of him.) But God more than made up for where David was lacking and David knew He would!
God + David's willing heart + 5 small stones and a sling shot = victory against a giant long ago.
God + YOUR willing heart + the little you have to give = victory over what giants in your life today?
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment