When the battle is of the Lord’s
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:45-47 From our text, David was very much aware of the difficulty he is facing yet he also believed that God will see him through. Realizing the enormity of the challenge, one can easily give up. But just like David, one can look at the same problem yet sees it from the perspective of God’s presence. Goliath had already demonstrated to his opponents that he is a formidable foe, an intimidating expert fighter that already created fear among the bravest Israelite soldiers. David was very much aware of this and saw that Goliath was a giant. He heard his bragging and he was very much aware of his skills and his used of his weapons. David did not rush into the fight unprepared. With his weapons, he was very much aware that he is not alone in this battle. And God will use this event to show the whole world who the God of Israel was. “For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea[b] when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below” (Joshua 2:10-11). As soon as David hurled his first stone towards Goliath, he trusted God will provide him the victory. He knew that the battle has to be fought by the might of God. In our daily life, we will always be faced with trials that seemed to be formidable. Yet, there is a calming knowledge that comes from a realization of God’s presence that provides strength and it replaces the desire to be discouraged and just give up. From this experience of David, we are given an illustration of what should be the source of confidence in the life of a believer; it is the power of the Almighty God. If we lose sight of our focus and start to believe that we cannot win over our problems, then we are discounting the mighty presence of God. But once we focus on God, we will see our situation in its proper perspective and realized that we have a bigger God that will help us overcome the problem. “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).
Blessings,
Noel De Guzman
www.my-wbc.com
Latest Sermon upload on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VphDGEE0XCw
