Giant Slayers - Leif HetlandSample

  

Align with God

David recognized something that every other soldier on the battlefield that day had missed. He recognized that this was not just a battle between nations. This was not just a battle for land or resources. It was also a spiritual battle between the people of God and their enemies. Going out to fight Goliath meant fighting on behalf of God. Of all the people present that day, it seems only David recognized the spiritual realities at work. Thus, while the soldiers showed up for king and country, David showed up for God and His divine Kingdom. He alone saw Goliath’s threats not just as a threat to the people of Israel but also as outright defiance of the living God.

David could claim Goliath’s threats were an offense against God because of the alliance, or covenant, God had with the nation of Israel. David could call Israel’s army “the armies of the living God” because God had promised to stand by Israel as His people. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and to the foot of Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments, God engaged the new nation in a covenant in which they agreed to serve Him and obey His commands and He agreed to protect and prosper them. In David’s day, this covenant—what we now call the Mosaic Covenant—was still in effect. When an enemy came against Israel, that enemy came against God Himself. This should have been obvious to all of the Israelites, but it seems that only David took it seriously. The army’s leader, King Saul, had become proud and rebellious toward God, and God had rejected him as king (see 1 Sam. 15:23). It is not surprising, then, that Saul did not think to align himself and the armies of Israel with God’s covenant promises.

Fortunately, David saw things differently. He saw Goliath for what he was. By referring to him as an “uncircumcised Philistine,” David was pointing out Goliath’s lack of relationship with God. Ever since the days of Abraham, the Israelites had seen circumcision as a physical symbol of their spiritual covenant with God (see Gen. 17:10–14). Goliath existed outside of the covenant, and therefore he was an enemy of God. In light of this, David was shocked that the armies of Israel, who were the children of the living God, would allow a man who had no covenant with God to defy and insult them.

Unlike his countrymen, David knew what it meant to be in a covenant with God. He understood that God is a God of justice, a God who is faithful to fulfill His promises. To David, this was not just a nice idea. It was his reality—so much so that he was willing to bet his life on it. Shocked and perhaps even offended that his countrymen had forgotten their covenant with God—David stepped into battle based on his spiritual alignment with God.

Giant Slayers: Ground Rules for Overcoming Life's Greatest Obstacles 

by Leif Hetland 

Link: http://a.co/ivjLBi6