Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A Tale of Two Kings part ten

In verse 43 (1 Samuel 17) Goliath mocks David, belittling him and in verse 44 he proves himself to be a false prophet. This is Satan’s time worn strategy in dealing with all God’s people. He will taunt and mock us, and try to get us to listen to his lies. Long before he slings his stone, David has defeated Goliath for he speaks the Word of God to him before which no devil on earth can stand. He uses the Name and then accurately prophecies Goliath’s defeat. All great victories we will win in our present age are preceded by prophecy. This is God’s way. He delights in fulfilling his own word but he cannot do it if we do not speak it.
David doesn’t flee, he doesn’t heed the voice of the enemy, but he speaks mighty words of faith. It’s always more about the size of who you put your faith and trust in than the size of your foe. If you’ve filled your heart with the Word of God, then when you’re challenged by the lying devils of this world, you’ll recognize the lies and you’ll respond with the Word of God, as Jesus did when confronted by Satan. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. David’s motivation is found in verse 46 and this should also be our’s today – “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel”. Our primary focus today should not even be to show that God is in the church but in Israel! The church has been grafted into Israel and is now a part of the “common wealth of Israel” (Eph: 2:12). We serve and worship Israel’s God not the other way around. We often say to Jews, our God can become your God when we should be saying your God has become our God.
Recognize how odd it is for David to confront this giant with a stone and a sling and realize God will often use unconventional methods to grant us victory but it couldn’t have happened without the years spent in the wilderness, alone with his sheep, growing wise in the ways of the Holy Spirit. No matter how odd are his instructions to us, we should always obey Him. He knows what He’s doing. A woman was driving by a convenience store and God prompted her to stop and go inside. When she did, he told her to go over to the soda machine and stand on her head. You can be sure she was shocked and doubted for a second if she had heard correctly but she was so familiar with God’s voice that she knew it was him and she did it. The clerk behind the counter began to sob as he confessed that he was ready to commit suicide and had cried out to God, if you’re there and you can hear me, send someone in to stand on their head by the soda fountain! A life was saved that day because a woman was willing to obey God and become “even more undignified than this”.
Notice also that the stone was something God made and not man-made. The sword Saul offered to David was man-made. Enough of man’s solutions! Finally we see in verse 49 that David is a doer of the Word. If he had merely spoken to Goliath, though it was God’s word he spoke, if he had never entered into battle with him, Goliath would have won.
Fittingly, Goliath dies with his own weapon. See proverbs 28:10 and many other scriptures. Look at Haman – hung on his own gallows. Every time the enemy tries to defeat us he’s killed with his own weapon. Many times the scriptures describe armies that would come against Israel only to end up slaying themselves with their own weapons (Gideon comes to mind). Such is the fate of all who defy the one true living God and his army. So the rout is on. A great victory is won because of one man’s faith and obedience. Could you be that one man or woman in your city or country? Could you be the one who will stand up and be counted as faithful? Young apostle or prophet, young saint, wherever you are, you servant of the Most High God, you rise up in faith. Though every one is cowering in fear of the religious spirit, not daring to confront him, not daring to leave their prison, their place of bondage, you will rise up and do mighty exploits!
In verse 58 – Saul is so astounded by this young man, he doesn’t even recognize him as the one who played the harp for him, delivering him then from the evil spirit, and now from the philistines.

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