"God Is Mighty To Save" Part 2

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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In part one of "God Is Mighty To Save" we took a look at David's actions and heart attitude as he ran toward the battle. The second thing that I wanted to look at is the fact that it says that he ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.  We often talk about this battle being between David and Goliath to the point that we forget that it was actually bigger than that. It was a battle that was with the whole Philistine army and then with Goliath in particular. When David started running it says that he started running toward the army and the Philistine. I looked up the word Philistine in the Strong's. It means rolling, i.e. migratory and comes from a root word that means to roll in dust, and is translated; to wallow. I find it interesting that this army that had come out against Israel comes from a word meaning to wallow. Isn't that the tactic that was at work here? Hadn't they, by parading their big bad and ugly out there day after day been able to put the whole army of Israel in a state of wallowing in fear?

By using Goliath to threaten and intimidate they had the whole army of Israel, including king Saul wallowing in a in a defeat that hadn't even happened! They were able to get the focus onto Goliath and how big, strong, and scary their champion was and because they were able to get the Israelite's focus on and wallowing in his attributes they forgot God's. They forgot that He was with them and that He is Mighty enough to save. They forgot that He had promised to never leave or forsake them. They were so focused on the size of the giant in front of them that they forgot that God is way bigger!

Anything that comes along in our lives that would cause us to wallow in fear or despair is just simply a giant or rather a tactic that is meant to take our focus off from who God is, It is meant to take us out of the battle and to convince us that we can't win. We need to be like David and remember, no matter how big and ferocious the giant in your life looks he will always be very small to God. David declared to king Saul, "He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." 1 Samuel 17:37 What filled his heart as he took on this army? Faith that His God was mighty enough to save!

So anyways, if the enemy has you sitting in a good wallow, feeling defeated and afraid to fight, its time to stand up! Get your eyes on how big the God you serve is and run straight at it with the weapon He has put in your hand. After all the battle is the Lord's and He is mighty enough to save!

Strengthen the weak hands,
 And make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
 "Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
 with the recompense of God;
He will come and save you." Isaiah 35:3-4