faith

God is faithful

The story of David and Goliath is one of the most well known of the Bible probably because it is taught in every Sunday school classroom and used as the primary example of courage in the Old Testament. David’s battle with Goliath was really not so much about courage as it was about faith. David believed that God would protect him if he went up against a giant because he had already been delivered from a lion’s mouth and had rescued a lamb from a bear that was about to eat it.

David’s explanation for defeating Goliath was that he had defied the armies of the living God. “David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with you” (1Samuel 17:37). The reason David was able to defeat Goliath was that the LORD was with him, but what is more important is that the LORD was with him because David was carrying out God’s will which was for the Israelites to drive out their enemies from the Promised Land.

The Philistines were hard core warriors and Goliath was not the only giant among them. When the Promised Land was spied out while the Israelites were still living in the desert, the giants in the land had caused the spies to give a bad report and basically caused the Israelites to have to spend 40 years wandering in the desert because of their lack of faith in God. Fear was the main thing that kept the Israelites from taking on the Philistines and Saul was just as reluctant as the rest of the people to face Goliath in a one on one encounter.

David’s defeat of Goliath not only made him famous, it made him courageous. After defeating Goliath with a sling and a stone, all the Philistines fled from David. The table had been turned and David was the one instilling fear in his enemies. The word defy or châraph (khaw – raf´) in Hebrew means to pull off and by implication to expose or defame (2778). When Goliath defied the armies of the living God, he exposed their fear, but he also exposed their lack of faith. David was the only Israelite who truly believed God was greater than any man that would stand against him. He not only was willing to put his life on the line, but David testified to God’s faithfulness before he took on Goliath so “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:45).

An act of faith

The purpose of having a relationship with God is so that he can communicate his will to us. Most people don’t understand or choose to deny that God’s will is the force that governs our universe. When we align ourselves with God’s will, we have the benefit of his help. He is like the wind that drives a sailboat along its course. If we try to go against the wind we won’t get very far.

Many people struggle to determine God’s will as if it is a mystery or something that is counter intuitive. Determining God’s will is as simple as looking to see which way the wind is blowing. The problem is usually not that we don’t know God’s will, it’s that we don’t want to do it.

Saul’s son Jonathon understood that God wanted to deliver the Israelites from the tyranny of the Philistines and he was willing to do his part. Jonathon was looking for an opportunity to do God’s will. Rather than waiting for the Philistines to attack them, he wanted to take an offensive position even though the Philistine army far outnumbered the Israelites.

“And Jonathon said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6). Jonathon was familiar with God’s way of working and when he discovered an opportunity to attack, he did not struggle with the situation, he assumed God would help him defeat the Philistines.

In order to confirm his belief, Jonathon determined a way for God to show him if it was his will for Jonathon to go forward with his plan. The sign that Jonathon established for the LORD to reveal his will was an act of faith because it meant that Jonathon believed God could make the Philistines answer one way or another when they discovered Jonathon and his armourbearer outside their camp.

The interesting thing about the sign that Jonathon established was that if it was not God’s will for Jonathon to attack the Philistines, then he and his armourbearer would be killed by the Philistines. Jonathon was so confident that the LORD would use him to defeat the Philistines that he risked exposing himself to them before taking any action.

And the men of the garrison answered Jonathon and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathon said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. (1 Samuel 14:12)