Encouragement
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FAVORITE SCRIPTURE II
by
Lawrence Walkup
Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. (1 Samuel 17:45-47)
This is an instance in David's life in which we see courage that is hard to imagine. But to David his courage was only the result of something even bigger....his faith in God. It didn't matter what was in front of him. The situation was beyond overwhelming and yet there is no indication whatsoever of any hint of fear. 'Perfect love casts out fear, and the one who fears in not perfected in love (1 John 4:18). It certainly had to be the motivation behind the one hunderd and fifty psalms he wrote. David had a special relationship with God that can only be matched with Jesus' special relationship with God. David is referred to by God as 'a man after his own heart' (1 Sam. 13:14). His faith in God and his love for God is why David is a type and shadow of Jesus. And also like Jesus, David is the king that God wanted on the throne (1 Sam. 16:12).
David in particular had great faith in his life that was in direct correlation to great sin in his life. For the rest of us, we may not go to the same extremes as did David; but instead we will find ourselves somewhere in between. This is why we love the story of David, and relate to him so well. We see our experiences in his experiences. This is why God has given us the story of David. It is a story to encourage us, and to not only bring hope, but great hope. This is why God has given us the Old Testament. 'For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope' (Rom. 15:4).
The world, the lost, view these ancient stories as nothing more than mythology. They weren't written because they really happened. They were written fictiously like fairytales for children. We as Christians know that they did really happen, because Jesus was always referring to them when he was speaking. Since we all evolved from apes, who in their right mind would believe that Adam and Eve really existed? I believe they existed because Jesus said they existed (Matt. 19:4). The question that needs to be asked is: Who in their right mind would call God a liar? In these last days, in the book of II Thessalonians, it talks about the ones perishing. It says that 'they perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.' The next verse says: 'For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie' (II Thess. 2:10-11). The delusion that the whole world has bought into and even among Christians is the belief in Evolution. Evolution is still a theory. It can't be proven within the parameters of the scientific method because it can't be observed within the time required for it to happen. It is a belief like relgion is a belief and the whole world has been politically corrected into believing this religion of the world. Because of this it will be much easier to believe the lie.
Try to imagine David in the situation. He is so young and naive. He's not even a soldier. He doesn't know any better not to be intimidated by the weapons of Goliath. And they had to be pretty big if they were in proportion to Goliath who was over nine feet tall. In contrast to Goliath coming with weapons, David comes in the name of the Lord of Hosts. This means he comes acting in God's stead. Acting in God's stead is the same thing as God himself acting. David confidently announces to Goliath what their outcome is going to be. "This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand." The reason why David was so fearless and confident is because he knew it was God who was going to take on Goliath. "for the battle is the Lord's" Do we have the same fearlessness and confindence as David when we take on the Goliaths of our life? Or do we spiral into a pit of worry and hopelessness?
Of all the Israelites on the scene, David was the least experienced, yet he was the bravest. It angered him that Goliath had defied God. His main purpose for taking on Goliath was to bring glory to God. "that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel" "And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear" I have to admit; when I'm facing a Goliath in my life, my first motivation is not to bring glory to God; my first motivation is to be delivered of the Goliath. It's afterwards that I'll say: "Yea, God was glorified in the situation." I don't have the faith of David. I have the faith of me. The only thing I have over David is that I have not yet ordered the death of someone who works for me. Oh yea, and I don't have the concubines either.
We like David, are intermittent with our faith. 'And everything that does not come from faith is sin' (Rom. 14:23). Sin can range from simple anxiety....to committing murder. The good news is that God does not deal with us on the issue of our sins anymore because Jesus took them away (John 1:29). God does not hold our sin against us because of our faith. This is what he did for David (Psalm 32:2). Yes, David did live before Jesus; but the finished work of Jesus reaches back in time just as it reaches forward in time to encompass all of time, for all men who put their faith in him (Heb. 10:12). The bad news is that we are still going to reap what we sow when we do sin. Look at the life of David (1 Sam. & 11 Sam.). Who had more joy and more misery in their lifetime than David? Maybe Job. However, Job did not earn it like David did.
The last two lines of the scripture seem to imply that it is not for us to know the details of how God will deliver as much as it is to know that he will deliver. God is not going to use the weapons that we use. It's not for us to be concerned with the details. This is what faith is anyway. God wants us to grow in faith because we have little faith (Matt. 17:20). To not lean unto our own understanding, but to trust God with our whole heart is exercising good faith. This is the road of growth that we are all on. The remarkable courage of David was simply a by-product of his faith in God. His faith in God was simply a by-product of his love for God. His love for God was simply a by-product of him knowing God. And his knowing God was simply a by-product of him going after God's own heart.
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