1 Samuel 17

DAILY DEVOTION

FOR

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15

SCRIPTURE:1 SAMUEL 17

BY: Jeremy Witt

One of the most famous events in the Bible comes in today’s chapter.  Remember back in Numbers (13:32-33) when the 12 spies went into the Promised Land to spy out the land.  One of the things they saw were giants, and they were frightened by them.  Now Israel is at war with the Philistines and they face one of these giants, Goliath, over 9 feet tall.  Saul is the tallest Israelite and pales to Goliath.  Not only is he tall, but Goliath is strong based upon his armor and weaponry.  When we think of tall today, 7 foot something is the most we think of.  King Og of Bashan in scripture was tall and had a bed that was 13 foot long (Deuteronomy 3:11)  Sure, we can look in the Guinness Book of World Records to discover that Robert Wadlow, an American, was 8 foot, 11 inches.

Rather than go the traditional route, let’s look at Goliath.  He was a giant.  He was a champion, and he put fear into his enemies based upon his size and strength.  He was an intimidating force, and he alone put fear into the Israelite army.  He put fear into King Saul.  (read verse 11)  He does this for 40 days as we read in verse 16. 

Goliath messed up when we overestimated his opponent.  He focused upon the outward appearance of David.  He was consumed with his strengths and never thought that he might be weak in some areas.  Pride can do this to every one of us if we do not hold pride in check.  Humility can be a powerful tool for us.  An even bigger tool is what David used.  No, I am not referring to his sling.  Read verses 45-47.  His biggest strength was his faith in the LORD and what he has learned how the LORD has worked in his life in the past. 

The next way that Goliath failed was in the battle itself.  Read verse 48.  David quickly ran to get the vantage point to attack first.  Goliath never prepared himself.  Notice that the armor bearer is ahead of him, but we never see the armor bearer from this point on (reread verse 7 and verse 41).  I am not sure if the armor bearer did his job if he was in proper position, or possibly was full of pride as well and wasn’t protecting Goliath.  People around us can be impacted by our overconfidence as well.  Regardless, pride got into the way.  We have to understand that pride has no place in a believer’s life because it can cost us greatly as Goliath discovered.  Our confidence should be in the LORD and not in our flesh or even in those around us. 

Once David launches that stone, the armor bearer is never mentioned again, and Goliath falls.  He is killed with his own sword.  Goliath is done because he trusted in himself and didn’t utilize all the tools he had because he was overconfident. 

David was the opposite of Goliath.  He was not trusting in himself.  He trusted in God and His power.  He knew that the LORD had brought him success in the past and that strengthened his faith as in verses 34-37. 

David also prepared for more.  Read verse 40.  David picked up 5 stones.  Go read 2 Samuel 21:15-22.  Whether David knew of Goliath’s brothers or not, we do not know, but we can know that David knew that there would be more enemies to fight.  Just like David, we must be prepared for the attacks by our enemy the devil. 

1 Samuel 16

DAILY DEVOTION

FOR

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13

SCRIPTURE:1 SAMUEL 16

BY: Jeremy Witt

God is sovereign and in control.  As we have begun this book study of 1 Samuel, it has been very apparent to me since discovering that Bro. Joe was resigning to the similarities that we will soon be facing.  By no means am I comparing our pastor to Saul, (so please don’t it like that) but we must pay attention to what God seeks in a person, not as man does. 

Read verses 6-12.  The oldest son, Eliab, had the outside attributes of a king and Samuel expected him to be anointed as king, but God said no in verse 6.  Why?  The answer is in verse 7.  “For the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”  Church, we must be praying now for our next Senior Pastor.  We must be praying for God to reveal to this man and to his family that they are to lead here.  We must be praying for God to reveal to us, His church in our 3 locations, that this man is the senior pastor.  Our eyes must be fixed upon God not the outward appearance, popularity, and/or church size of his previous church, but we trust God to reveal to us the one that He has for us. 

As we read in the story, Samuel looked at all the sons of Jesse and no son was chosen by God as we read in verse 11.  So Samuel asks if all of his sons are there, and the youngest is out tending the sheep, the job that no one wanted to do.  Samuel tells Jesse to get him and that no one will sit down till he comes here.  So they have to wait!  Church, we must be patient.  We must be patient and not to rush who God has for us.  We must be willing to wait upon the LORD.  This will make some of us uncomfortable because we live in a fast-paced culture.  But the last thing we want to do is to get the wrong man.  We need God’s man even if we have to wait.  It applies to us personally as well.  Waiting can be one of the hardest things to do, but in this waiting, if we will trust and wait on the LORD, we will see God and learn things we would never learn otherwise.

I realize that this passage is not about FBC Marlow, but the principles are there for us to use in our situation.  We could look at the transition of Moses when his time as leader of Israel was about over.  We read of how God had selected Joshua and prepared Joshua to lead.  We can take those principles and apply them to us as well.  In the meantime, we must be strong and courageous just as the LORD told Joshua.  Go back and read the end of Deuteronomy and the first chapter of Joshua. 

We have been led well by Bro Joe.  We have had many victories and successes as the people had with Moses, but now we need our Joshua.  We need our next pastor as Israel needed David, who was to come. 

Okay, okay, I will get back to chapter 16.  What amazes me is that even though David was anointed as king, he was not immediately put in as king.  In fact, it would be years until he becomes king and there were many difficulties that David would face before becoming king. 

Notice in verse 13 something very important came to David.  “The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David from that day on.”  We want this on our next pastor, as Bro Joe has had upon Him. 

Notice that David served King Saul first.  He played the harp (verse 18) and then became his armor-bearer as well.  (Verse 21)  David learned from King Saul how to do things as well as how not to do some things as we will read in the coming days. 

Let us prepare ourselves for waiting, trusting, seeking, and relying upon the LORD over the coming days.  Let us thank the LORD for Bro Joe and Gayla and pray for their success in the new endeavor.  Let us pray for our next pastor.  Let us not focus upon the outside, but let us allow the LORD to bring the man in His time whose heart is His and who will lead His church in this place.