David and Goliath - Arrival of the Shepherd King
1 Samuel 16-17
Chapter 16 contains a great principle for living a God-honoring life. It is found in verse 7, in God's response to Samuel's expectation that David's older brother, Eliab, is the one that God will choose to be the next king of Israel. Eliab is tall and handsome, athletic and strong, and God says, "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." How often do we (to use a modern expression) ‘judge the book by its cover?’ God doesn't do that. External appearances don't impress Him much. It's what's inside that really counts, and God always knows what is on the inside of a man or woman.
Note please, that there is no reason offered for God's choice of David except the one implied by that great principle which says that though man looks at outward appearances, God sees the heart. That is all, but enough to convince me that David had a heart that hungered after God.
The concept of allowing the result of a battle between two armies to rest upon the result of single combat between two champions is not unique to the biblical account. We know that this practice existed in the world of the ancient Greeks, in the age of Homer, at a time not long before the events of this chapter occurred. Since the Philistine people were almost certainly related to the Greeks, it is not surprising to find them proposing such a contest here. I am sure that the physical superiority of Goliath was all the more satisfying to the Philistines, in light of the rather painful memory of the late judge of Israel named Samson. Now, they would have reasoned, we have a Hercules of our own! Now it's our turn to taunt and shame the Israelites and their God -- but they didn't reckon with David's faith.
I want for us to notice that the faith of the young warrior David is clearly rooted in two things. First, there is his understanding of who God is. His first reference to his understanding of the nature of God is made in the indignation that he displays at the daily debacle he is made to witness when Goliath issues the challenge. "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine," he asks. "Who is he to defy the army of the living God?" Israel's God, unlike Dagon of the Philistines, is alive; He is real! That fact makes all the difference for David's faith. When he walks onto the field of combat to accept Goliath's challenge, he says, "I come in the name of the Lord Almighty." David really knew who God was and that gave him incredible faith. But there is a second foundation stone upon which David's faith is also built, and that is the "bedrock” of his own experience of the faithlessness of God in his life. In his own experience as a shepherd, he had relied upon and experienced the faithfulness of God in delivering him from the paw of the bear and the jaws of the lion. Since God's power and faithfulness have already been proven on those fields of conflict, there is no reason to fear that it will not be proven once again in this battle.
When we know who God is and we can reflect upon what He has already done in our own experience, it is not difficult to trust Him for even greater things to come.
We are also shown the motive of David's heart. He is indignant at the affront being given to the dignity of God's glory by the unmet challenge of the Philistine. And he is completely committed to seeing the glory of God magnified. His motto might well have been “to God be the glory.” His desire, stated in his own words to Goliath is that "The whole world will know that there is a God in Israel." That is David's agenda. Contrast it with Saul's, who after the last battle went up to Carmel to erect a monument to the glory of Saul. David wants the whole world to know, not about the new champion of Israel, David the son of Jesse, but about the greatness and the glory of the God of Israel. "It is not by spear or sword that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's."
David's insistence on going into battle armed only with his usual weapons constitutes a great lesson for us. God is not likely to call us to a task for which He has not already equipped us. If He sets a goal or mission in front of us, it is most likely that the instruments and skills by which it is to be accomplished are already in our hands. If He has not given you the gift of preaching, then the job He gives you to do will be best accomplished, not by preaching, but by using the abilities, gifts and skills that you already have. It might not seem to make much sense to face an armored warrior who has a shield, a spear and a sword with no armor, no sword and only five smooth stones and a sling. But if a sling and stones are what God has equipped you with, then that is exactly what He wants you to use to accomplish the task.
1 Samuel 16-17
Chapter 16 contains a great principle for living a God-honoring life. It is found in verse 7, in God's response to Samuel's expectation that David's older brother, Eliab, is the one that God will choose to be the next king of Israel. Eliab is tall and handsome, athletic and strong, and God says, "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." How often do we (to use a modern expression) ‘judge the book by its cover?’ God doesn't do that. External appearances don't impress Him much. It's what's inside that really counts, and God always knows what is on the inside of a man or woman.
Note please, that there is no reason offered for God's choice of David except the one implied by that great principle which says that though man looks at outward appearances, God sees the heart. That is all, but enough to convince me that David had a heart that hungered after God.
The concept of allowing the result of a battle between two armies to rest upon the result of single combat between two champions is not unique to the biblical account. We know that this practice existed in the world of the ancient Greeks, in the age of Homer, at a time not long before the events of this chapter occurred. Since the Philistine people were almost certainly related to the Greeks, it is not surprising to find them proposing such a contest here. I am sure that the physical superiority of Goliath was all the more satisfying to the Philistines, in light of the rather painful memory of the late judge of Israel named Samson. Now, they would have reasoned, we have a Hercules of our own! Now it's our turn to taunt and shame the Israelites and their God -- but they didn't reckon with David's faith.
I want for us to notice that the faith of the young warrior David is clearly rooted in two things. First, there is his understanding of who God is. His first reference to his understanding of the nature of God is made in the indignation that he displays at the daily debacle he is made to witness when Goliath issues the challenge. "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine," he asks. "Who is he to defy the army of the living God?" Israel's God, unlike Dagon of the Philistines, is alive; He is real! That fact makes all the difference for David's faith. When he walks onto the field of combat to accept Goliath's challenge, he says, "I come in the name of the Lord Almighty." David really knew who God was and that gave him incredible faith. But there is a second foundation stone upon which David's faith is also built, and that is the "bedrock” of his own experience of the faithlessness of God in his life. In his own experience as a shepherd, he had relied upon and experienced the faithfulness of God in delivering him from the paw of the bear and the jaws of the lion. Since God's power and faithfulness have already been proven on those fields of conflict, there is no reason to fear that it will not be proven once again in this battle.
When we know who God is and we can reflect upon what He has already done in our own experience, it is not difficult to trust Him for even greater things to come.
We are also shown the motive of David's heart. He is indignant at the affront being given to the dignity of God's glory by the unmet challenge of the Philistine. And he is completely committed to seeing the glory of God magnified. His motto might well have been “to God be the glory.” His desire, stated in his own words to Goliath is that "The whole world will know that there is a God in Israel." That is David's agenda. Contrast it with Saul's, who after the last battle went up to Carmel to erect a monument to the glory of Saul. David wants the whole world to know, not about the new champion of Israel, David the son of Jesse, but about the greatness and the glory of the God of Israel. "It is not by spear or sword that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's."
David's insistence on going into battle armed only with his usual weapons constitutes a great lesson for us. God is not likely to call us to a task for which He has not already equipped us. If He sets a goal or mission in front of us, it is most likely that the instruments and skills by which it is to be accomplished are already in our hands. If He has not given you the gift of preaching, then the job He gives you to do will be best accomplished, not by preaching, but by using the abilities, gifts and skills that you already have. It might not seem to make much sense to face an armored warrior who has a shield, a spear and a sword with no armor, no sword and only five smooth stones and a sling. But if a sling and stones are what God has equipped you with, then that is exactly what He wants you to use to accomplish the task.
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