For 40 Days – Day 19: Intimidation: Conclusions

Key Episode Scripture: 1 Samuel chapters 16-18

This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to 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 saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” (1 Samuel 17:46-47 ESVUK)

Israel vs Philistia. The conflict was not new. The way this was to be settled was different. The challenge was not one army against another; it was to be one man vs one man for the victory. It’s just that the big guy laying out the challenge wasn’t just big, but he was impressively arrayed and intimidated Israel. We’ve considered aspects of this episode’s context and summarised the content. In the previous entry, we explored two important concepts that deepened our understanding of what was going on and the implications for Israel. There was a lot more being displayed than conflict between the two nations. On the basis of what’s been outlined to this point, let’s point to some conclusions.

There’s More Than Meets the Eye

In isolation, the episode of David vs Goliath is understandably used to encourage those who face seemingly insurmountable odds. When people refer to an underdog upsetting the larger, more dominant creature, reference is usually made to David and Goliath. However, appreciating what’s going on around the battle helps us see that circumstances, crises and challenges can be there to show us that there’s more to things than meets the eye in life. David was not the underdog – everything was stacked against the big guy.  As we discovered in a recent episode, God enables us to have the vision to see things as they are – and that which intimidates others can be placed in the broader picture that God paints for His glory.

Not just the fact that there’s more than meets the eye in terms of the size of the combatants. It’s also worth appreciating that the issue isn’t primarily David vs Goliath. The victory over the big guy achieved an understanding of what God was doing in the affairs of Israel. Until David appeared, the army – one that David referred to as part of God’s army – cowered away in fear from someone who wasn’t even a part of God’s covenant arrangement. This was allowed to stand because the king, who should have shown how to face the one who defied God’s people, led by example by beating a hasty retreat. This contest ignited the real struggle between a tormented man who rejected God and so was rejected by God against a righteous man who operated in submission to the king and, more importantly, God who called him.

This does not diminish the feat of exterminating the threat that Israel faced from the big guy. That is to be celebrated because he intimidated the army of God for so long; it would have been an expected ritual for the military to set themselves up and then do a runner as soon as they heard the big guy.

Where’s the Leader Going?

God anointed David as king because He found someone after His heart. He found someone who knew it wasn’t about what people said, whether they were friendly or not. He found someone who would accept Him and lead His people by example and character. This contrast with the rejected leader gives us an opportunity to be reminded that in as much as we respect and honour authority, there is a clear sense that we have to get a good idea if they’re following where God is leading. Fearing flesh and blood is not the way God made us. Rejecting God to be pleasing to others is likewise not what God intended. When our ways please God because we’re dedicated to following His instructions, this comes with His approval and presence to enable us to excel and succeed in His pursuits.

That ability to succeed in what we do in line with His will is the sweet spot of understanding what it is to be anointed. Just as Isaiah would refer to something that Jesus would announce near the start of His earthly ministry, it’s for us to look to God to ask what He’s equipped and sent us out to accomplish. It’s for us to do that knowing that we will face opposition. Yet the focus on fighting the right battles in the right way and behaving in humility and integrity otherwise is the platform on which we give God glory even as our lives are being threatened by those who oppose us.

Next, there are some fascinating consequences for us to learn and apply to the mission in the light of this episode.

For His Name’s Sake

C. L. J. Dryden

Shalom