"God Is Mighty To Save" Part 1

And it was so, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.  1 Samuel 17:48-51

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Today's message is going to be short and to the point and you might find it strange that I am beginning at the end of David's encounter with the Philistine, Goliath. I start here because this is where the Lord started this message with me, with this phrase, "David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine." It says that the Philistine started forward so David's immediate response was to start running toward the army to meet the Philistine. I don't know about you but I think I have always had this image in my mind of David standing there, slingshot twirling overhead waiting as the giant charged him but that is not what it says. It says that he ran forward toward the battle. He didn't even have the stone in the slingshot already. It tells us that he reaches in his pocket for the stone after he is running toward the battle. He takes the battle straight at the Philistine army. It wasn't a defensive shot He was 100% on the offensive. Running straight at them!

The next thing it says is the giant goes down but he doesn't stop there. He continues to run to the giant, takes his sword, kills him and takes off his head. Then, he and the rest of the Israelite army take off after the Philistine army because they are now fleeing at a dead run. There is a whole lot of running going on in these four verses. James 4:7 says that we should submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. That is exactly what we see taking place here in this encounter. David's last words as he gets ready for this encounter were submitting himself and the battle into God's hands..."Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands." David doesn't declare the battle to be his to win! He declares that the victory is God's and God's alone. This battle was won and the Philistines were defeated, not just Goliath, but the whole army of the Philistines were defeated because a shepherd boy knew to take the battle too them! He ran toward the giant and the Philistine army with nothing but a slingshot and a stone because his confidence was that God went with him! He knew His God was way bigger than any big scary giant around!

You have a giant threatening you? Submit it to God and take Him straight at it!