This morning I am reflecting on the story of David and Goliath, found in 1 Samuel 17. This is a story that many are familiar with, and I wanted to focus on the state of the army of Israel, as they faced Goliath. Here are excerpts from the story - 1 Samuel 17:1-11,20-24,34-37 NIV:
[1] Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. [2] Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. [3] The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
[4] A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. [5] He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels ; [6] on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. [7] His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
[8] Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. [9] If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” [10] Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other. ” [11] On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
[20] Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. [21] Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. [22] David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. [23] As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. [24] Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
[34] But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, [35] 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. [36] 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. [37] The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
As I read back through these familiar verses today I was reminded of the state of the army of Israel. They were afraid, and even fled from Goliath in great fear (vs24). Part of the issue was that they (the army) were looking only at their own strength, there own abilities, and just from the sure size of Goliath alone, were cowed down in fear. They were thinking in terms of what they knew, of the types of warfare they were trained in, and in comparison, they saw no hope in using these skills against a similarly trained and much more powerful opponent.
I heard Graham Cooke speak about this story several times, and one of the things he speaks about is the boasting of the enemy, the threatening boasts and jeering that enemy always uses. He intends to strike fear, to cause fear to well up, for fear weakens our faith. Fear gets us focused on our own situation, rather than on the promises of God, and His authority and power.
In this story, the mere sight of Goliath was enough to make all the men in the army forget about all the times God had delivered them, the times He had fought for them. Instead they were looking at themselves, thinking of the their own lives and afraid.
I definitely see some parallels between this story and our present situation with this virus. People are afraid of the unseen, in this case, rather then the seen (Goliath). We have all heard how terrible this virus is, how it can't be stopped, and the constant coverage and fear-mongering has built up this massive monster of fear. Rather than thinking about others, many people have chosen to look out only for themselves, hoarding food and necessary items, to the detriment of others. This is the rule of fear, and what fear drives us to do. We look to ourselves, and cower in fear that this disease might touch us.
Now, I am not saying anything about healthy caution, about protecting one another, about obeying rules to limit the spread. All of those responses are healthy and wise. What isn't wise is allowing fear to control us. God is bigger that this virus! The virus does not exist in Heaven, nor should it exist in His Kingdom, and we as sons and daughters have authority in His Kingdom. We were told to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, here on earth, as it is in heaven". Said another way, we are supposed to pray into reality here on earth what is true in heaven! Thus, if the virus doesn't exist or have any power in Heaven, we should have authority over it, to end its reign here on earth.
Going back to the story, David prophetically saw this reality, and had experienced the power of God's promise and word to him. God had spoken over Him, through the prophet Samuel, that he would be king. When David approached Goliath, he put his trust in God's word, in God's promise to him personally, and in His previous experience of God's protection. David allowed his faith to rise up and vanquish fear.
Now, the other thing that David did, was he used weapons and warfare that He was familiar with, and entrusted them to God's help. He realized that God had protected Him previously, from the attacks or bears and lions, and He knew that God would provide him a way to defeat Goliath. Notice, he doesn't say how he killed the lion and bear, my guess is that it wasn't with a sling and stone. The point is that God gave him the right strategy and skill every time, and protected him from harm.
Does not God care for each of us (Ps 139)? Does He not lead us and guide us like He did David (John 16:13)? Do we not have the Holy Spirit living in us (John 14:17)? Does not the Kingdom of God exist within us ( Luke 17:21)? Did God not give us knowledge of His will and strengthen us with all power (Col 1:9-11)? We are His sons and daughters! We don't need to live in fear! Let us embrace our faith, cast fear aside and pray for God's Kingdom reality to destroy fear, this virus and every other evil we encounter! Let us pray to the Lord to release the right strategy to defeat this enemy! Let us look to one another in love, not cowering in fear, and let us look for ways we can lift one another up, encouraging one another in faith and good works!
In ending I thought it good to end with Paul's encouragement and prayer for the Colossians 1:9-14 NIV:
[9] "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, [10] so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, [11] being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, [12] and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. [13] For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
Amen and Amen! May God's peace reign in your hearts and minds, as He blesses you with an increase of faith!
Sam
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