Last week we saw the main event, and now
we see the aftermath. Whenever there is a great defeat there’s always the dazed
and confused reaction. Recently, in the world of UFC women’s fighting, the
undefeated champion, Rhonda Rousey, was taken down by the underdog, a seventh
ranked contender, Holly Holm. It was called a David and Goliath take down, but
it wasn’t because Holly Holm was the retired women’s boxing champion. She
wasn’t an unknown to the world of fighting. She was a proven warrior who took
on a new sport. It was a great defeat for Rousey, but not for the sport. The
sport will survive. Rousey will recover and fight again. It wasn’t the case for
Goliath. In our world we have a tendency
to use the phrase “A David meets Goliath” for when a small independent takes on
a larger conglomeration. The truth is usually the comparison doesn’t stand
because Goliath lives to fight another day, when in reality Goliath lost his
head, his life, and as we see today no one stayed to lament to their fallen
champion.
“And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead,
they fled. Now
the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far
as the entrance of the valley and to the gates
of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim,
even as far as Gath and Ekron. Then the children
of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents.”
1 Samuel 17: 51-53
Imagine that there was a great
silence as David did the decapitation of Goliath. Imagine that Goliath’s shield
bearer, who was probably the closest to the great corpse, drops the shield and
turns to the Philistines with a look of panic on his face. Their faces match
his like a thousand mirrors of disbelief. His champion is dead. He has nothing
to hide behind, no great bulldog to be his Spike. He’s got nothing to draw his
identity from; no great quarter back to win the game; no sure shot from the
three point line; no sharp shooter in the bush to take out the front line
grenade launcher. He’s nothing but his emptiness. From the other side of the
battlefield he hears it, a great yell, the roar of thousands of warriors who
have been taunted and belittled, and he knows that all that pent up
frustration, all that anger, is coming for him. Suddenly he has the gift of
flight. He can run like never before. And where does he run? He runs to Gath,
to where Goliath was last alive and perhaps he will find a reprieve. But
Goliath isn’t there! Goliath has fallen. Along the way he will fall as well,
along with thousands of others of his jeering country men who mocked the God of
Israel and placed their faith in a giant of flesh.
Before you feel sorry for this
shield bearer don’t forget what he was doing before, and what he was like just
moments before the stone hit Goliath in the head. He was full of himself. He
was just as much a bully as the giant himself. He just didn’t have the muscle to
back it up. He might have been the voice behind the body, but even if he
wasn’t, he was just as guilty because he was holding the weapon and ready to
put David down if Goliath had told him to do so. The Philistines represent our
sins and enticements, and we shouldn’t be lamenting their passing from our
lives. They deserve what they get, and what they should get is our plundering
them and taking reward from them. When
the victor plundered the enemy camp what they took wasn’t games and trinkets.
The victor took food to feed themselves after their battle, and weapons to arm
themselves, and riches to continue to provide for themselves in the future. We
should reap a bounty from our victories over sin, not of “fun times” but of
blessing. We should be able to realize how we escaped death, how we survived by
the hand of God, and how He spared us and now look what weapons we can brandish
against any other enemy that comes our way.
“And
David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put
his armor in his tent.” 1 Samuel 17: 54
So
where was David while all this was going on? He was taking the armor off of
Goliath. Why? Because of what was said by Goliath earlier. Remember when David
allowed Goliath to self-prophesy about what would happen to him.
And the
Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds
of the air and the beasts of the field!” Then David said
to the Philistine, “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. 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. 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.” 1
Samuel 17:44-47
David was taking care of God’s business,
still. His job was to see it that the signs that the battle was fought and won
were secured. The armor needed to be placed in the king’s tent. The head of the
defeated needed to be presented. He was still the servant, still under
submission, still following the command of the Lord, and still seeking to do
what God would have him do. He knew it wasn’t over just because God had taken
down one mocker. There were still giants in the land, and God wasn’t done with
him yet. There was still a work to be done. It wasn’t the end of the story. It
had begun with Saul, and in a way, the story of David and Goliath is the story
of Saul’s reaction too.
“When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he
said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this
youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” So
the king said, “Inquire whose son this young man is.” 1 Samuel 17: 55-56
This
is one of those rewind moments in the Bible. We rewind to when David steps out
onto the field to face Goliath with just the sling and the staff in his hand.
We can hear the laughter of the Philistines coming across the valley toward
Saul. He turns to Abner, his right hand man, and he asks him whose kid is David.
Now, there could be reasons for this, all of which could make it seem like Saul
was a man of great faith, but when we look at his track record, and we see that
it was David out on the battle field, and not Saul, I’m a little hesitant to
give him the credit for ascribing admiration at this point. I’m more likely to
assume it was more of a “to whom do I send word of his kid’s brave but foolish
patriotism to’ type of questioning. Saul’s faith was still shaking faith, not
standing faith. So at what point did Saul armor up? I’m not sure he ever did.
The scripture doesn’t say that he pursued any Philistines. The kings in those
days led the troops into battle. They didn’t, despite Hollywood’s epic
depictions, stand in the chariot on the top of a hill and inspire their troops
by holding a sword out over the field. They inspired their troops by winning
the battle or dying in the fray. That’s why it was important to have a son who
would survive and carry on the duty of living to fight another day. Saul had
such a son, Jonathan, but that’s another story for another study. Saul,
himself, at this point, was watching David go out and asked Abner whose son he
was not because of the promised tax exemption, but because for a moment his
lack of faith spoke, and was vocalized loud enough to be recorded for
posterity. His faith was shaking.
There
is hope for shaking faith. God has a way of building our faith. He still takes
our slivers of hope and binds them together. Slivers are good things to have,
because while on their own they don’t seem like much, they have a way of
sticking together like the fibers that form paper. So much can be written upon
it. With enough of it—well, with enough hope God can origami it into amazingly
beautiful works of art. And that’s what he did with Saul.
“Then, as David returned from the slaughter of the
Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the
Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you,
young man?” So David answered, “I am the son of your
servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.” 1 Samuel 17: 57-58
In the words of Shakespeare, there’s
the rub. Finally, Saul sees it. David has the hand of God upon him, and he has
his moment of standing faith. There stands a youth, just a shepherd boy by
measure, who surely should have fallen victim to the great and powerful
Goliath, but God delivered him. Saul’s faith asks him, “whose son are you?” not
because Jesse had raised a great warrior, and not because he wanted to give the
promised tax exemption, but because he wanted to know from where this boy,
called by God, had come from. Saul knew where he came from when he was called.
He was a boy sent to find a bunch of donkeys, and David was a boy sent to
deliver provisions. They were both sent on an errand and found themselves in a
life changing situation. Saul never had the submissive spirit David had. Like
those donkeys he had gone after, he was a wanderer seeking to go his own way,
but he was supposed to belong to someone else and called to have another
purpose. David, on the other hand, understood his position completely. It’s
revealed in his answer. He identified himself as the son of a servant, making
himself also a servant. He could have said, “I’m the guy that just slew your
enemy, O king, now give me the rewards you promised. Let’s have your daughter,
the riches, and that tax exemption for my old dad.” He wasn’t that kind of man.
David was a man after God’s own heart. His prize wasn’t the king’s approval,
but to honor God. This attitude had to have had an impact on Saul. We know that
it did because in that moment something happened in Saul. We see that in the
next chapters. First of all, he didn’t deliver on his promises. He didn’t give
him his daughter as a bride. He gave him his daughter, Michal, but not the
intended prize daughter, Meribah. He didn’t give David riches, but did take him
into his palace, but then David was there already. As for the tax exempt status
for Jesse, we don’t see any record of it, so we don’t know, but we do know that
David’s reward was to be conscripted into the service of the king and given
command over a thousand. That was still a reward of sorts, and it did show that
Saul did believe that God had David’s back and recognized that the shepherd boy
was blessed by God. Saul did have faith, but the faith that he had was that his
days were numbered, just as God had told him they would be. His faith was
standing and he could see, just as Goliath had mocked and fell, that he too
could not stand if he mocked God. He had to submit to the will of God, and like
the donkeys who had been found and returned to his father’s home, it was time
for Saul to return to his lot as well. It didn’t mean he didn’t do a little
braying along the way.
Sin and pride of heart can be a hard
thing to face when we see the submission we have to replace it with. David was
a mighty man, but not a mighty warrior if we were to judge him by a soldier’s
standards. He wasn’t seasoned in battle. He didn’t have the scars and the war
stories of victory. He was a mighty man of faith who had seen God deliver him
through some rough situations. As we face rough situations it is vital that we
remember who our God is and who we are to Him. The Psalms of David are full of such
reminders. I encourage you to take time
today to pick up your Bible and read some of David’s beautiful relationship
accounts of submission to God. Psalm 40 is a great example. Why don’t you post one of your favorites and
encourage others. You can post it here or FB me on my page: www.facebook.com/Juana-Chavez-
Next week we begin to look at those
five smooth stones that God places in every Christian’s life to take down the
Goliaths in our life as we launch into 2016 with topical yet Bible studies on
weapons of Spiritual warfare. Until then be blessed and I’ll be praying for
you.
No comments:
Post a Comment