I keep a bag of rocks on my nightstand. They are from the Valley of Elah. 35 years ago, I stepped onto that dry creek bed and picked them up. Smooth. About the size of a quarter.
David vs Goliath….
I picture Goliath walking into the rolling valley which separated the two armies(see the photo above). Breathing heavily and smelling of the stench of death, he looks up at the Israelite army perched on the opposite shoulder of the valley. They are fearful. They are no match for this giant, and they know it. They don’t trust God to deliver them. In fact, they fear they are about to be delivered into the hands of the Phillistines. Goliath did this for forty days.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. ~ I Samuel 17: 8-11
But God had other plans. David, the shepherd boy, shows up in the Israelite camp in order to give his brothers(who were there to fight) some food. He had been shuttling back and forth from the stalemate in order to take care of his father’s sheep. David inquired why the giant was allowed to defy God’s army.
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 wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.” ~ I Samuel 17: 28
Did you catch that? The ones without courage mocked the one who had it – still true today. David, as Godly men often are, was undeterred. His answer…
David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” ~ I Samuel 17: 32
Let those words run across you like cold water on a hot day. God sent David to stop the Giant. The warrior had arrived. Saul responds that Goliath had been fighting since a boy. David responds that this isn’t his first rodeo either.
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 rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” ~ I Samuel 17: 34-37
If the Lord is for us, who can be against us, right? And you know the rest of the story. David tried on Saul’s armor, and it was too big. Instead, he took the weapons of a simple shepherd – his wits and a sling.
The Valley of Elah. The champion named Goliath would hurl insults at David. David calmly picked a stone from his pouch as he ran towards the giant. He locked one of those stones into his sling. He unleashed it with steadiness. Many guess that stone would be traveling at about 80mph. The inertia created by the force of the throw lodged the stone into the giant’s forehead. Without a sword in his hand, the shepherd boy had felled the planet’s most feared and decorated fighter. Facedown, Israel’s tormentor lay – no more.
I don’t know this as fact, but I like to picture all involved standing momentarily in stunned silence. Dust still rising from the ground after Goliath’s body came to a rest. God triumphant. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.
The Message: God isn’t afraid of your giants. He isn’t moved by their insults. He isn’t afraid of their threats. The professional fighter never stood a chance against the God of the Universe. God had prepared David exactly for that moment. He was given the tools and the knowledge to win that battle while he was but a shepherd.
And as a result of this young man’s courage, suddenly the Israelite army found renewed strength. The Philistine army was routed.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. ~ I Samuel 17: 50-53
If God calls you to stand before your enemies, He has already taken care of all of it. The sling. The stone. The words to say. The words not to say. The final outcome. All of it. God is bigger than your enemies. Nothing they can say or do is going to thwart God on the battlefield. You are fighting a battle that God has already won.
Satan thought he had buried Jesus in the grave after the cross. Three days later, Jesus came back from the dead. When the enemy thinks the battle is won, God is just getting started.
Licensed thumbnail photo of the Valley of Elah by doxadigital
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