Run

We are no different from the Israelites…we lead lives fearing our giants. We live without power.

A few months ago I wrote about how we don't believe in our beliefs, oh, we know the answers, we'll even debate them, but we don't really believe them.

David not only knew the answers, he believed
God was who He said he was and would do what He said he would.

As you read the following verses ask yourself if you believe them enough to face the giants in your life?

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:3

David believed the giant standing before him was already cursed. Do you?

Sometimes the promises of God are right in front of us, but we can't see around the giants.

27 They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large… 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are."
Numbers 13:27-28, 31

David believed God to be bigger
than what he could see. He was confident in the invisible but invincible God.

21 See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deut 1:21

7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. Deut 28:7

1 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 "I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, 'You shall not cross the Jordan.' 3 The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said. 4 And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5 The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD
your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
Deut 31:1-8

David was a man who truly believed.

Are you?

48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 1 Sam 17:48

Test your faith today; run
as fast as you can towards your giants!

It’s not about your age

33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 1 Samuel 17:33

I don't ever want to look down on someone for their youth.

12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

Because of this I spend my life investing in those who are MUCH younger than me, reminding them that they are a "container for the Almighty God" and He has incredible plans for them.

I am just an ordinary individual empowered by God to do His work and since God did this in me, he can do it in anybody, no matter your age. I am also a "glass half full" person, so I tend to see the good in most people and situations, so I take risk. I say that to preface what I feel that God wanted to show me this morning.

 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
1 Samuel 17:34-37

Goliath was calling for a private battle, mano-a-mano. When it came to private battles David had been there, done that, "got the T-shirt". I realized I've sent a lot of people "into battle" who weren't prepared, who had no experience. I did it thinking "God is a Big God", He'll see you through, but I forgot to realize that we all must do our part. Look back at Paul's words to young Timothy;

"…but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

I've looked at this verse to mean I shouldn't look down, but what Paul is saying if you want others not to look down on you, if you want a chance to lead, then you have to do your part. Leadership is stewardship and it starts with leading yourself first. Be an example. As a leader you cannot take someone where you haven't been.

That should drive all of us to pursue
new situations, to learn from them. To view our struggles, our "private battles", as a chance to persevere, to be battle tested.
Don't run from them, but stay in it to find the lesson that God wants to teach you.

Today is preparation for your next.

I was reminded that anyone who seeks to lead God's people in any way must have an authentic personal history with God.
To continue to lead, we must be an example in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

"Go, and the LORD be with you."

Remember

32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him." 1 Samuel 17:32

We not only lose heart, we lose our memory! Yeah, I know we "forget 95% of what we hear in 72 hours", but come on.

When we forget whose we are and what He has done for us, it's easy to lose heart.

We live in a "what have you done for me lately?" culture and we take that in to our relationship with God.

In those days whenever they saw God move in an incredible way they would mark the occasion by preparing a meal, telling the story and singing a song, so that they and future generations would be reminded of God's provision.

Today take account of your life and be reminded how God helped you through!

 
 

Hurts the most

28 When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle."

 29 "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?" 30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
1 Samuel 17:28-30

Yesterday I asked about the giant standing before you mocking you, sometimes we don't have to look very far to find them. You don't expect it to come from those closest to you, but it does. Especially when you start to pursue the things of God you will be misunderstood by even those who are close.

Why would they?

1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 1:1-3

Eliab was possibly jealous that God had anointed David instead of him. I've seen that one in ministry; even felt the jealousy at times. He questioned David's motives, accused him of pride and neglecting his duties. I've been there.

When you start to pursue the things of God you will be persecuted, that's a promise, and don't be surprised if they come from the people you are least likely
to suspect, those closest. Probably because they can see what God is doing in you and they don't have it, so they become jealous and will start to pick at anything.

So what do you do?

David was humble, he did not argue or seek to defend himself, even though he had the right. He also didn't insult his brother. I've blown that one a few times!

Instead of trying to change the minds of those who had already written him off, he turned to others who would follow. Not everyone will go with you as a leader, lead those that choose to follow, what's the saying "lead sheep, don't corral goats"?

Have courage to pursue the things of God, even if no one else will and they mock you for it!

If you're the one that is feeling the jealousy, James says that you don't have because you don't ask and that even when you do ask your motives are wrong.

Stop questioning other people's motives, most of the time I'm not sure of my own, so how can I question others.

Ask God to reveal your motives, turn from those selfish desires, pursue God, be faithful with the things he does give you and then ask.

It’s not your fight

David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
1 Samuel 17:26

One of my favorite books is Max Lucado's "Facing Your Giants", probably because it was a gift by a dear friend, reminds me; to be a man after God's own heart, to cherish the Jonathan-David relationships in my life, and to live with the passion of a warrior.

It was while reading this book that I became aware of how many times David confronted Goliath knowing that the battle was the Lord's.

"The armies of the living God"
(v. 26)

"The armies of the living God"
(V. 36)

"The Lord of host, the God of the armies of Israel"
(v. 45)

"The Lord will deliver you into my hand…that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel"
(v. 46)

"The Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands"
(v. 47)

David didn't focus on what Goliath could do.

David didn't focus on what he couldn't do.

David focused
on what God could do.

Is there a giant standing in front of you, mocking you?

What are you focusing on the giant, your own inabilities?

Realize the battle is the Lord's and He has already won!

Don't live a life without power, be a warrior today!

Would he?

Last night during small group, which was amazing, the question was asked about 1 Samuel 19:9 and the "evil spirit from the Lord". We had a lot of discussion about this, so I thought I'd give you my thoughts on this.

First of all this isn't the first time for it to happen to Saul, here's the first time;

Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. Saul's attendants said to him, "See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 1 Sam 16:14-15

The second;

The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand… 1 Samuel 18:10

And then again here;

But an evil ^[a] spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp, 1 Sam 19:9

The question that was asked was "does God send evil spirits?"

Well, there are different theories about this.

Let's start with this one:

Ancient Hebrew is full of figurative language, and active verbs are frequently used to express NOT the doing of the thing, but the PERMISSION of the thing. So, when the writer wrote "from the Lord", he was actually using an IDIOM to indicate that the Lord ALLOWED or PERMITTED the evil spirit to come upon Saul.

The term 'evil' could have a wide range of meanings e.g. bad, unhappy, sad of heart or mind, injurious etc., and 'spirit' can even mean 'disposition of mind or attitude'. It could refer to "a variety of negative attitudes common to wicked people, and be extended to include the consequences of that kind of lifestyle". The 'evil spirit' that came upon Saul could have been his own bad attitude which made him jealous, irritable, and vindictive.

To me that seems to make sense, but I'm a little cautious when it comes to explaining God's ways so that I can "get it".

Here's another:

The "spirit" is from the Lord. That is, it is the Lord who directs the Holy Spirit to forsake Saul. The evil spirit is also from the Lord. This should not be surprising, because God is sovereign. Satan cannot do anything to anyone without God's permission (Job 1 and 2).

Really, He would do that?

This is more common in scripture than you think. In Psalm 78:49, God judged Israel "by sending evil angels among them." In Judges 9:23, "God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem." In 1Kings 22:22, God sent a "lying spirit" in the mouth of the false prophets to send Ahab to his death. God removed His Spirit from the disobedient Saul, which opened the door for an evil spirit to come and torment Saul.

What we see in these passages follows a pattern. When God removes His hand, there is a void that gets get filled by evil, which leads to destruction or to torment. The devil and the evil spirits do the work, but God has allowed them to do what comes natural to them for His own purpose. God does not commit wickedness, but He uses the wicked for His purpose. In the end, God will have His glory.

We do know this, when Saul is "filled with" with jealousy or anger, the spirit would come upon him.

Like Saul, we are more vulnerable when we surrender self-control, whether by anger, greed, drugs, or sexual immorality, to name a few, we create a void for evil to take up residence.

For me, I'd rather not experience them…I've got to stay close to God so that I can't be filled with anything else!

You want ME to do what?

15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

 17 Now Jesse said to his son David, "Take this ephah ^[a] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. ^[b] See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance ^[c] from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines."

 20 Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.
1 Sam 17:15-20

We are all probably familiar with David's valor, but what about his humility and obedience?

David had reached the pinnacle, he was playing the palace!

Think about that a minute, he had gone from tending sheep as the youngest of 8 brothers, can you imagine he got all the crappy jobs (pun intended), to playing his harp before the king.

Ever been there? You've gone from such a lowly position to the top, but have you ever gone back? Or did you think you were above that?

David went back and forth, sheep, palace, sheep, palace, sheep…you get the idea. He never thought he was too good to do the menial task; that they were beneath him.

David did not forget his primary calling of his sheep over being with someone of prominence. He knew his sheep needed him more than the king; wouldn't we say something like "but the king needs me!" He even made arrangements for another shepherd to watch over them when his father sent him out on an errand.

David waited on God's timing. He didn't just "seize the opportunity" to be right there as Saul's musician, if he would have he might have forever been known as a musician. By withdrawing into obscurity David was able to emerge and be seen with fresh eyes as a warrior.

David served his father and was obedient in his instructions. He went out on an errand without knowing it would lead to his destiny.

This has so much significance for me because I want to be a "man after God's own heart" like David and I can relate and learn from what David went through.

Over the last eighteen years I went from a "broken road" experience, to being a part of a church plant of 39 people meeting in a mall, to watching that family grow to several thousand, to watching God transform a community, to being an "unschooled, ordinary man" who was used by God to touch others, to speaking and traveling to the ends of the earth, to reaching "the palace", at least in the eyes of the church world.

But God asked us to go on an errand. Not to bask in entitlement and comfort in the palace, but to go and tend his sheep. Not to sit with people of prominence, but to go and serve the least of these. Not to be seen as pastors of a mega church, but to serve where no one knew us; which can feel like obscurity.

God help me to serve you obediently
without delay and in humility. Thanks for rekindling my passion and may I emerge as a warrior for you!