Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Little David, big Goliath, smooth rocks and a slingshot... victory

Sitting on the bookshelves in my study is a small collection of smooth rocks that I have gathered over the years of travel. Some are from our days of vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains, while others come from the various seas of the world while visiting in Israel, Scotland and Greece. I have always thought of them previously as pretty, smooth rocks – nothing more … nothing less … until today.

The purpose and future of those smooth rocks depends on whose hands they fall in. I’ve always admired, with some longing, those who could take a smooth rock and make it skip along the water 15, 16, 17, even 23 times. I’ve seen them do it. But, try as I may, 3 times has been my best. Same rocks different results.

Donnie, who lived next door to me while I attempted to grow up (I wasn’t very successful) could take a smooth rock, place it in his slingshot and hit a small post nearly hundred feet away … every time! While I, on the other hand, could take a rock that Donnie picked and using his slingshot could hardly hit the trunk of a tree 5 feet away. Same rocks different results. It really depends on whose hands they fall into.

Then there was David. Just a shepherd boy, almost frail in stature, a lover of music (why not since he was out with the sheep all by himself most days), but had practiced numerous times fending off the wild animals who wanted a good sheep dinner. Just some smooth river rocks and a slingshot. Nothing more … nothing less, but his attitude was one of confidence and a strong reliance on God.

The attitude is best illustrated in the phrase, used a couple of times in the story, “but the armies of Israel” (1 Samuel 17:10, 45). What armies? There was AN army – singular not plural, but David spoke of the “armies of Israel”. Did he see something that no one else saw? David probably believed that all of the angels of heaven had assembled on that battlefield in support of Israel against Goliath and the Philistines.

I’m also taken by David’s declaration that they had come up against “God and the armies”. Since there wasn’t a reporter from CNN present, Anderson Cooper was nowhere to be found, a war correspondent from the AP wasn’t there with microphone or tape recorder in hand, no one is really sure what David said or didn’t say that fateful day, but I can almost hear David saying, “You fool, thinking that you can come up against God and his armies … and believe that you can win the battle. Don’t you understand whom you are dealing with? Get ready to be defeated.” And with that Goliath laughed – big mistake. Never laugh at God unless he laughs first. Goliath laughed and like most people tilted his head backwards exposing his forehead and that is all David needed. Just one smooth river rock, in the hands of a slingshot marksmen … bingo … one dead giant of a man … victory realized … enemy vanquished … same rocks different results.

Into our hands God places some smooth river rocks in the form of prayer, presence, power, Holy Spirit and Word … all for the purpose of slaying the giants of our lives … the giants of bigotry, pornography, alcohol, anger, divorce, cancer, job lose, low self-esteem, arrogant opinions, old habits, lack of vision, failing bodies … all giants seeking our destruction or at least, a feeling of being small and unimportant – just like a smelly boy who sleeps with the sheep. And yet, into our hands … OUR hands … my hands and your hands … God has given the weapons needed to slay the giants that laugh at us as we try to live a victorious life in God’s kingdom. How dare they come before us these giants of our past thinking that they can defeat God and all the armies of the Kingdom? How dare they … indeed! Don’t these giants know whom they are contending with? After all, God has given us some smooth rocks and a slingshot!

It is giant slaying time … I can hear the thunder of falling giants … the earth is shaking as they fall … great is their defeat … let the armies of the Kingdom rejoice!

Quote for today: Winning does not always mean coming in first… real victory is in arriving at the finish line with no regrets because you know you’ve gone all out. ~Apolo Anton Ohno

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