SOME THOUGHTS TO PONDER . . . 

The story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) always tugs away at the strings of one’s heart.  Why?  Because in its content resides a challenge so clear, so compelling, yet so achievable for every one of us who call ourselves Christians.  David could take up the challenge of Goliath, or simply remain a tender of sheep on an errand.

David, sent out to the battlefield by his father to be a lunch boy to his older soldier-brothers, was in fact on a far, far greater mission for his Lord.

David, a lad considered too young and too unqualified to be a soldier in the army of King Saul, was, nonetheless, God’s man for the job.

David, despised and made fun of by his brothers when he arrived at the battleground with their sustenance . . .

David, despised by ‘trained’ soldiers when he offered his services at the sight and taunting of Goliath . . .

David, God’s unheralded anointed, who stood valiantly before Saul, God’s ex-anointed . . .

This same David was elevated by God in the eyes of a whole nation before the sun set that very day.

David had no training in the natural to defend his country (apart from a previous encounter with a lion and a bear), but in God he was fully equipped to serve.

Saul and all his army had their armour on in the flesh, but David had on the whole armour of God.  The king desperately tried to make his fleshly armour fit young David, but David was far from impressed.  He would go to battle only in the armour with which he was totally familiar.

Saul kept his distance from the enemy, there being a valley between the two. But David moved in on Goliath, confronting him to within a stone’s throw.

Saul, in his fleshly armour, turned his back on the enemy, but David ran to meet him.

To Saul, Goliath was a giant. 

To David, Goliath was a midget in comparison to his big God.

Saul and all his army were nothing short of pathetic, but David faced the giant alone, in the power of the prophetic.

How do we know David was prophetic as he confronted Goliath?

He made a prophetic declaration that he would whip the enemy in the name of the Lord.

He prophesied Goliath’s downfall.

He prophesied he would cut off the part of him where all the loud mouthing was coming from.

David silenced the enemy in the name of the Lord, fulfilling his own prophetic word.

Do we choose to be soldiers in Saul’s army or in David’s?

David had a thin head and a fat heart.

Saul had a fat head and a thin heart.

David feared the Lord more than the people.

Saul feared the people more than the Lord.

David’s heart was for the people.

Saul’s heart was for power.

There are only two positions in God’s kingdom – Lord and servant – and the position of Lord has already been filled.

In whose army will we serve?

Saul presumed David would be submitted to his leadership, but David left him in no doubt as to which Captain he was serving first and foremost.

Saul and his soldiers thought they were equipped to fight.

In appearance they had on the right gear.

In appearance they looked the part.

But when it came to the BIG ONE, they had absolutely nothing to offer at all.

Every fight in God is a BIG ONE. We’re up against principalities and powers; we’re up against spiritual wickedness in high places; we’re up against a cunning enemy who’s been around for a very long time.

Will we RUMBLE FOR GOD?  

Or will we, like Saul and all his army, TREMBLE AT THE KNEES because we are unprepared to face and fight the enemy of our soul?

Our Heavenly Father is sending us to the battlefield to take spiritual food to our brothers.  Have we been nourished on the Word of God so that the sustenance we take is sufficient to feed our brothers?  

Are we walking in the Spirit, knowing “we wrestle not against flesh and blood?” (Ephesians 6 :12).

Have we put on the whole armour of God so that we are equipped to handle the battle?