You are Not Able
I recently decided to try and write a book. The working title of it is "Before He Was King". It has to do with the period when David was anointed, yet not king. I am just beginning work on this and will keep you posted on progress. Keeping that in mind, I will probably be posting a lot of comments about David for a while. This post is about a phrase that caught my eye when restudying the encounter David had with Goliath.
Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth." 1 Samuel 17:33
Saul had a lot of characters flaws about him, but at the point in this story he is king of Israel. The first living breathing mortal to be king of God's people. Goliath had been coming and taunting the people of God daily. And as I look over the story, Saul never makes a move to defend his people himself. The role that David is trying to take on is one of defender, which is a role that Saul should have taken. But, Saul is too much of a coward to do so. Not only is he a coward, but he tries to stop David who has the faith to take on Goliath.
Unfortunately, the church is full of people like Saul. No longer living by faith they not only don't want to step out on faith, but they try to stop the people who are. They say, "Wait a minute, let's form a committee to look at that." They make assumptions, excuses and boldly declare what cannot be done. At the same time, thank God there are also Davids. David was a man who had seen God in action and had an enlarged faith.
When Saul begins to protest that Goliath is too big and David is just a youth, it makes me think of Jeremiah. Jeremiah hide behind the fact that he was a youth in Jeremiah 1:6. He tried to make excuses about what he could not do. But, instead God tells him that He himself has appointed Jeremiah to go. To his credit, that is the last of the excuses for a while from Jeremiah.
Instead of reflecting on what Saul said he cannot do for even a minute, David tells Saul what God has done. David reflects on how God protected him from a lion and bears. Having just recently been to the zoo and seen the huge polar bear at the zoo I can confidently say that while he looks cute, I think that polar bear could kill me without even trying. David was a man of faith and that is the kind of heart that God was responding to. He was concerned about God's name being blasphemied by Goliath, something else that God was also concerned about.
When people like Saul come our way we need to energize ourselves to be people of faith and not to meditate on what others say we cannot do. We need to be busy then, doing what we know God has told us to do and give the glory to God when it is accomplished.
Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth." 1 Samuel 17:33
Saul had a lot of characters flaws about him, but at the point in this story he is king of Israel. The first living breathing mortal to be king of God's people. Goliath had been coming and taunting the people of God daily. And as I look over the story, Saul never makes a move to defend his people himself. The role that David is trying to take on is one of defender, which is a role that Saul should have taken. But, Saul is too much of a coward to do so. Not only is he a coward, but he tries to stop David who has the faith to take on Goliath.
Unfortunately, the church is full of people like Saul. No longer living by faith they not only don't want to step out on faith, but they try to stop the people who are. They say, "Wait a minute, let's form a committee to look at that." They make assumptions, excuses and boldly declare what cannot be done. At the same time, thank God there are also Davids. David was a man who had seen God in action and had an enlarged faith.
When Saul begins to protest that Goliath is too big and David is just a youth, it makes me think of Jeremiah. Jeremiah hide behind the fact that he was a youth in Jeremiah 1:6. He tried to make excuses about what he could not do. But, instead God tells him that He himself has appointed Jeremiah to go. To his credit, that is the last of the excuses for a while from Jeremiah.
Instead of reflecting on what Saul said he cannot do for even a minute, David tells Saul what God has done. David reflects on how God protected him from a lion and bears. Having just recently been to the zoo and seen the huge polar bear at the zoo I can confidently say that while he looks cute, I think that polar bear could kill me without even trying. David was a man of faith and that is the kind of heart that God was responding to. He was concerned about God's name being blasphemied by Goliath, something else that God was also concerned about.
When people like Saul come our way we need to energize ourselves to be people of faith and not to meditate on what others say we cannot do. We need to be busy then, doing what we know God has told us to do and give the glory to God when it is accomplished.
