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For forty days there
was this godless man from Gath of Philistia by the name of Goliath, who appeared
in the Valley of Elah challenging Israel to produce a champion for a duel to
the death; winner takes all (1 Sam 17:9), thereby, ending the stalemate in the
conflict between the Israeli and Philistine armies. After eighty appearances by Goliath (1 Sam 17:16, “morning and evening”), Israel finally dispatched their champion to represent them in battle. The impressive 9’9”
Goliath was outraged and insulted that Israel’s warrior
of warriors was merely a pretty boy who did not have the look
of a serious seasoned soldier, armed only with a shepherd’s stick (1 Sam 17:42-43), nothing was said of David's sling!
David’s presence was contemptible and did not set well with Goliath’s enormous
ego. Israel was not taking him seriously, “Am I a dog?” Goliath yelled in utter disdain. He intended to feed the carcass of Israel’s champion to the birds.
If anybody ever got appearances wrong in the history of man, it would be Goliath on this day; it was a classic case of looks can be deceiving. Goliath was dressed to kill (1 Sam 17:5-6a) and armed to the hilt (1 Sam 17:6-7, 45). He was banking on his size, strength, skill, and his panoply of armor and weaponry to win the day for the Philistines singlehandedly. He would be a national hero; rewarded with wine, women, and riches. David had no armor, only his sling and faith to believe in some One bigger than the immediate circumstances occupying a lot of space – Goliath. After assessing what David was up against, he answers the insults hurled at him by what he considered to be nothing more than a heathen who served false gods,
“You come to me with a sword, 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 [45]. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel [46]. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands [47]” (1 Sam 17:45-47, emphasis mine).
Rather than running from Goliath like Saul's army did (1 Sam 17:24), he ran toward this imposing figure of a man who planned to give this pipsqueak or twerp as an offering to the fowl of the air, “David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine” (1 Sam 17:48, emphasis mine). He ran deeper into enemy-occupied territory! What did Elijah do while deep within the enemy territory at Jezreel?
Did David take on Goliath because the circumstances were conducive or favorable for victory? Or were the circumstances revealing the current differences in the spiritual condition of the heart between Saul’s army (1 Sam 17:11, 24, “greatly” or “dreadfully afraid,” same Heb word) and David (1 Sam 17:37, “He [the LORD] will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”)? David saw an uncircumcised Philistine who was defying the armies of the living God (1 Sam 17:26), that was “cause” enough (1 Sam 17:29) to remove this reproach from Israel. Unfortunately for Goliath, his defiance only released what was within David’s heart already – a man after God’s own heart,
“Then David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine” (1 Sam 17:32).
And fight he did and won the day in the strength of the LORD: one lion, one bear, and now one giant down, giving God all the credit.
David knew if there was ever going to be any deliverance; it would come from the LORD and not in his own strength. Such a muscularity of faith separated him from all the men in the armies of Israel who were relying on strength and show of flesh rather than exercising faith in the LORD for deliverance. On that day Goliath cursed God no more; his severed head was heading (no pun intended) back to Jerusalem (1 Sam 17:54). David’s life would never be the same. Elijah knew the story well as a prophet of Yahweh. He didn’t take advantage of the truths of David’s encounter with Goliath in his situation, and if we don’t take advantage of the truths of David’s and Elijah’s stories in the here and now (Rom 15:4), we will wind up a volunteer fleeing from adversity right out of the will of God, winding up in a place that serves no purpose!
The response to the death threat delivered to Elijah was a natural instinct of self-preservation, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was the right physical response to the external stimuli to leave. God desires for us to make the right spiritual choices in spite of the physical situation. What might be the natural, logical, and sensible physical response, hence, self-preservation, to something that may not be the right spiritual response? If we have the right spiritual mindset toward any situation, we will have the right physical reaction. Since we don’t have any clue about what may cross our path in the future, it becomes even more imperative in having the mind of Christ at all times in order to respond positively and effectively for the glory of God.
David taking on Goliath was not natural but supernatural. There is nothing natural, logical, or sensible about taking on a man who is 45 inches taller than you (Provided David was 6 feet in height, possibly taller; cf. 1 Sam 17:39 with 1 Sam 9:2). If we are not where we need to be, spiritually speaking, we will have a problem with the physical location. We cannot separate the spiritual and the physical in the will of God; they are two sides to the same coin. We can be physically where we need to be but not spiritually (lip service but heart removed).
Let me further expand on something I said earlier in the series that may have been more confusing than helpful. If we are not both physically and spiritually where God wants us to be, we cannot be in the will of God. It sounds so Captain Obvious until we delve a little deeper. The physical (our body) is the vehicle for the spiritual (the inner man); it’s how we get around, but the spiritual (our spirit) is the driver of the physical (our body). Thought precedes behavior. Elijah was where he physically was supposed to be in Jezreel because the LORD sent him there (1 Kgs 18:46), but spiritually his attitude of longitude said differently. His SGPS (spiritual global positioning system) indicated he was somewhere else spiritually. Physically, his GPS positioned him in Jezreel, but not for long. He had always been outnumbered (I'm the only one, right?), but the LORD was on His side. He fled like the Israelis in the valley of Elah when a Goliath of a situation showed up (1 Sam 17:24).
Once Ahab relayed the story to Jezebel (1 Kgs 19:1), a messenger approached Elijah. When the spiritual and physical are not in harmony with the will of God, circumstances have a way of bringing it to the surface; Elijah flew the coop. Remember when Jesus quoted Isaiah the prophet (Isa 29:13) in condemning the Pharisees and scribes of the physical not aligning with the spiritual (Mt 15:8-9)?
Let me illustrate this further. How often have we attended church and sung praises to God, not because we wanted to be there, but if the truth be known, it was for appearance's sake only, for whatever reason. We didn’t want to stand out and draw attention to ourselves because “People may think we are not being spiritual” or whatever; so we just praised Jesus and sang and raised our arms toward heaven. The truth was, our actions were at church but our attitude was in another longitude. In those inharmonious times, we will not be quoting Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration to anyone, “Lord, it is good for us to be here” (Mt 17:4). In quiet desperation, we would rather be anywhere but here. So we go through the motions and go with the flow.
There is no feeling of peace and harmony inside of us. We feel out of sorts, like our equilibrium is off, disguising the commotions and turmoil within us. In my opinion, it would have been better not to have attended a church that day. I would say the same about giving; if you are giving grudgingly, keep your money. There is no lesser of two evils here: there physically but not spiritually or not there physically or spiritually, both are sins because God demands that we be in his will spiritually and physically; half-hearted or wholly departed won’t cut it in service to the LORD (1 Cor 6:19-20). <><
If anybody ever got appearances wrong in the history of man, it would be Goliath on this day; it was a classic case of looks can be deceiving. Goliath was dressed to kill (1 Sam 17:5-6a) and armed to the hilt (1 Sam 17:6-7, 45). He was banking on his size, strength, skill, and his panoply of armor and weaponry to win the day for the Philistines singlehandedly. He would be a national hero; rewarded with wine, women, and riches. David had no armor, only his sling and faith to believe in some One bigger than the immediate circumstances occupying a lot of space – Goliath. After assessing what David was up against, he answers the insults hurled at him by what he considered to be nothing more than a heathen who served false gods,
“You come to me with a sword, 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 [45]. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel [46]. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands [47]” (1 Sam 17:45-47, emphasis mine).
Rather than running from Goliath like Saul's army did (1 Sam 17:24), he ran toward this imposing figure of a man who planned to give this pipsqueak or twerp as an offering to the fowl of the air, “David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine” (1 Sam 17:48, emphasis mine). He ran deeper into enemy-occupied territory! What did Elijah do while deep within the enemy territory at Jezreel?
Did David take on Goliath because the circumstances were conducive or favorable for victory? Or were the circumstances revealing the current differences in the spiritual condition of the heart between Saul’s army (1 Sam 17:11, 24, “greatly” or “dreadfully afraid,” same Heb word) and David (1 Sam 17:37, “He [the LORD] will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”)? David saw an uncircumcised Philistine who was defying the armies of the living God (1 Sam 17:26), that was “cause” enough (1 Sam 17:29) to remove this reproach from Israel. Unfortunately for Goliath, his defiance only released what was within David’s heart already – a man after God’s own heart,
“Then David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine” (1 Sam 17:32).
And fight he did and won the day in the strength of the LORD: one lion, one bear, and now one giant down, giving God all the credit.
David knew if there was ever going to be any deliverance; it would come from the LORD and not in his own strength. Such a muscularity of faith separated him from all the men in the armies of Israel who were relying on strength and show of flesh rather than exercising faith in the LORD for deliverance. On that day Goliath cursed God no more; his severed head was heading (no pun intended) back to Jerusalem (1 Sam 17:54). David’s life would never be the same. Elijah knew the story well as a prophet of Yahweh. He didn’t take advantage of the truths of David’s encounter with Goliath in his situation, and if we don’t take advantage of the truths of David’s and Elijah’s stories in the here and now (Rom 15:4), we will wind up a volunteer fleeing from adversity right out of the will of God, winding up in a place that serves no purpose!
The response to the death threat delivered to Elijah was a natural instinct of self-preservation, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was the right physical response to the external stimuli to leave. God desires for us to make the right spiritual choices in spite of the physical situation. What might be the natural, logical, and sensible physical response, hence, self-preservation, to something that may not be the right spiritual response? If we have the right spiritual mindset toward any situation, we will have the right physical reaction. Since we don’t have any clue about what may cross our path in the future, it becomes even more imperative in having the mind of Christ at all times in order to respond positively and effectively for the glory of God.
David taking on Goliath was not natural but supernatural. There is nothing natural, logical, or sensible about taking on a man who is 45 inches taller than you (Provided David was 6 feet in height, possibly taller; cf. 1 Sam 17:39 with 1 Sam 9:2). If we are not where we need to be, spiritually speaking, we will have a problem with the physical location. We cannot separate the spiritual and the physical in the will of God; they are two sides to the same coin. We can be physically where we need to be but not spiritually (lip service but heart removed).
Let me further expand on something I said earlier in the series that may have been more confusing than helpful. If we are not both physically and spiritually where God wants us to be, we cannot be in the will of God. It sounds so Captain Obvious until we delve a little deeper. The physical (our body) is the vehicle for the spiritual (the inner man); it’s how we get around, but the spiritual (our spirit) is the driver of the physical (our body). Thought precedes behavior. Elijah was where he physically was supposed to be in Jezreel because the LORD sent him there (1 Kgs 18:46), but spiritually his attitude of longitude said differently. His SGPS (spiritual global positioning system) indicated he was somewhere else spiritually. Physically, his GPS positioned him in Jezreel, but not for long. He had always been outnumbered (I'm the only one, right?), but the LORD was on His side. He fled like the Israelis in the valley of Elah when a Goliath of a situation showed up (1 Sam 17:24).
Once Ahab relayed the story to Jezebel (1 Kgs 19:1), a messenger approached Elijah. When the spiritual and physical are not in harmony with the will of God, circumstances have a way of bringing it to the surface; Elijah flew the coop. Remember when Jesus quoted Isaiah the prophet (Isa 29:13) in condemning the Pharisees and scribes of the physical not aligning with the spiritual (Mt 15:8-9)?
Let me illustrate this further. How often have we attended church and sung praises to God, not because we wanted to be there, but if the truth be known, it was for appearance's sake only, for whatever reason. We didn’t want to stand out and draw attention to ourselves because “People may think we are not being spiritual” or whatever; so we just praised Jesus and sang and raised our arms toward heaven. The truth was, our actions were at church but our attitude was in another longitude. In those inharmonious times, we will not be quoting Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration to anyone, “Lord, it is good for us to be here” (Mt 17:4). In quiet desperation, we would rather be anywhere but here. So we go through the motions and go with the flow.
There is no feeling of peace and harmony inside of us. We feel out of sorts, like our equilibrium is off, disguising the commotions and turmoil within us. In my opinion, it would have been better not to have attended a church that day. I would say the same about giving; if you are giving grudgingly, keep your money. There is no lesser of two evils here: there physically but not spiritually or not there physically or spiritually, both are sins because God demands that we be in his will spiritually and physically; half-hearted or wholly departed won’t cut it in service to the LORD (1 Cor 6:19-20). <><
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| To Part 14 |
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