The wrong Armor

August 18: 2017

1 Samuel 17:38-54

I hope the Holy Spirit is speaking to you as He has been addressing me about how I will apply the lesson of obedience.  Now it is important to state that anything other than doing what you are told at the time you are told falls short of obeying.  It is also interesting when it comes to King Saul and David how each man looks at what obedience is, and the difference in each persons experience is putting their trust in God to do it all for them.

I believe the first lesson a warrior in the Christian army must learn is the armor design for another will not fit or work for you.  My calling was not the same as my pastor, I do not have the right armor for his battles, nor would he be equipped to enter into the battle God has for me in the business world.  Each of us has a place in the line, and if we move out of this location, there will be a VOID.

King Saul wants David to wear his armor but it does not fit, and David has the understanding not to enter the battle in someone else's armor. “Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.”  We often quote Jeremiah 29:11a, “For I know the plans I have for you, declare the Lord.”  Those plans call for you taking your place in the line, not trying to do the work of ministry, but allowing the Spirit of God to work in you with the gifts and talents to fill your place in the battle line.  The soldier in Christ’s army will have his/her mind set on Goliath, but God is all you need if you understand the battle is the Lord’s.

My reference point is going to be very different than yours, but can you put yourself in the place of a Goliath.  He has disdain for a young boy coming against him with no armor and a stick, and he cursed David and told him he was going to be bird food after he finished with him.  I’m sure you have experienced such things in your business life, and those giants may not want to kill you, but they may try to get you fired.

Listen to David’s response, and ponder on it, what is your take away when face to face with a Goliath?  “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with 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 defied. 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.”

David was smarter than the average follower of Christ; he understood it was not his battle to win or lose, but that he was God’s warrior, and that God had the right tools, talents, and equipment to accomplish what He desired.  David knew whom Goliath was taking on and had faith the battle was won before it began.  The question that needs asking is, do you and I understand this fact?  We are going to encounter our Goliath, and will need to set our hope in the Lord.

The next verses 48-54 are a must-read.  But let me report on this when the Philistine came at David, David ran toward the battle line to meet Goliath and took a stone from his bag and put it in his sling and it struck the Philistine in his forehead and the giant hit the ground face down.  And David took his head and armor back to his tent in Jerusalem.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice