1 Samuel 17:26 (NKJV) Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
I want to take some time to look at how being covenant minded changes things in real life. We have found that after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, God used the vehicle of covenant to bring man back into relationship with himself. This process actually began in the Garden itself and found its fulfillment in the New Covenant in the Blood of Jesus. We live in this New Covenant. What does that mean to us as we go through life and its challenges.
One of the most famous stories in the Bible is the tale of David and Goliath. I encourage you to read all of 1 Samuel 17, but I want to point out some things that show us the difference between a covenant minded man and one who does not understand the power of covenant with God. David was a man who walked daily with an awareness of, and faith in his covenant relationship with God. We will see that because he was, he responded very differently to one of the greatest challenges ever to face Israel.
As we begin chapter 17, we find that Israel is at war with Philistia. Saul was the King of Israel. He is described as being “head and shoulders taller than the tallest of the rest of the Israelites. The Philistine army was on one side of a valley while the Israelites were on the other. For forty days the Philistines sent out a man to challenge Isreal. His name was Goliath. He was about 9 ½ feet tall. A normal soldier wore battle armor that weighed about 62 pounds. Goliath’s weighed 270 pounds. Goliath’s spear was 10-12 feet long with a head that weighed 15 pounds. Both were much larger than any normal man could wield. Goliath was a true giant.
He stood before Israel every day and challenged them to send out a champion to fight him alone. If the Israelite won, the philistines would surrender and serve them. If Goliath won, the Israelites would lay down their arms and serve the Philistines. Goliath ended his challenge with these words.
1 Samuel 17:10 (NKJV) And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”
How did Saul and the Israelites respond? The next verse tells us.
1 Samuel 17:11 (NKJV) When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
The entire Israelite army was paralyzed by the challenge of one man. Saul, the biggest man in Israel, and a man of war himself, should have been the one to take the challenge. However, when he saw the size of Goliath, he stayed in his camp. Every man in that army believed that there was nothing they could do. The fear that they felt in this situation would not let them see beyond the giant before them.
That is what often happens to us. 1 Peter 5:8-9 tell us that we have an adversary. Peter declares he is the devil. He goes on to say that this adversary goes about as a roaring lion “seeking whom he may devour.” I believe that there is always a roaring lion when we face adversity. Our enemy is not someone we can see but he is just as real. Goliath was the “roaring lion” in this story. The purpose of Goliath in this scenario is intimidation. We become so focused on the “roaring lion” that we cannot see past him. We are convinced that we cannot defeat him and the size and perceived power of the problem causes us to forget that we are not alone.
In Ephesians 2:11-13, Paul says that because the gentiles had no covenant with God they were “without hope and without God in the world. Verse 13 reminds us that our condition is different. We have hope and God is our ally in every situation because we have a covenant with him. In the story told in 1 Samual 17, the Israelite army has forgotten their covenant relationship , so in their minds, they are without hope and without God in their world. That can happen to us as well.
It is interesting that Peter uses the term “roaring lion.” A lion hunts by stealth and speed. If a lion roars before it attacks, it will warn the prey, and they will have a chance to escape. The roar of the lion has a very different purpose. If you have heard a lion’s roar, you will never forget it. I have, and I can tell you that it is one of most frightening sounds you will ever hear. Nevertheless, the roar of the lion has never killed anything.
A lion roars to establish territory. His roar can be heard up to 5 miles away. Its primary purpose is intimidation. If a lion is roaring, all you have to do is stay away. If there are lions in the vicinity, it is when you cannot hear them that they are truly dangerous. Peter speaks of the roaring lion because he wants us to understand that the devil’s main weapon against us is deception. If he can intimidate us into believing that there is no hope, the problem we face may well devour us. What we must remember is that the lion’s roar is not really a problem if we understand that we are not alone. We have a covenant partner who has pledged to be with us and for us, never forsaking us.
The purpose of the roaring lion is to intimidate, so we forget what we have and who we are in Christ. That is precisely what Goliath did to the army of Israel. Into this situation comes a young man named David. It is likely he was between 17 and 19 years old. He was sent by his father Jesse to bring provisions to his brothers. While he was there, Goliath makes his daily challenge. Once again, the soldiers fear the size and power of this man. They do not know what the king is going to do, but they are going to stay in their positions away from this threat. David is different.
King Saul had established a reward for the one who would kill the giant. David hears Goliaths challenge and questions the soldiers around him about the reward. What the reward was is not really relevant. What is relevant is that David was not intimidated by the roaring lion called Goliath. He saw how big he was. He could not possibly defeat this massive man. Yet he wants to know what he would get if he did. What did he see that the rest of the Israelite army could not? What did he understand that King Saul did not? The answer is in today’s scripture.
He asks, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God. In the context of this story, circumcision can only mean one thing. It was the physical sign that a man was under the Abrahamic covenant. David was circumcised, therefor he had a covenant with God. No matter how big Goliath was, nor how loud he roared, he was uncircumcised, therefore outside of the covenant of promise and without hope and without God in the world. David not only understood this as a fact, but it defined his view of life, challenges and himself. He could not defeat any of these soldiers because of who and what he was, but with God almighty as his covenant partner, he knew that Goliath did not have a chance.
When we understand that we are in Covenant with God, we will stand before the roaring lion of adversity unintimidated. We do not discount that the problem may indeed be big and powerful, but he is not nearly as big and powerful as my covenant partner, almighty God. As long as I stand in the truth of God’s Word, I cannot be defeated. That does not mean there will not be a battle. There was certainly one in this story. However, I can understand what David and many others in the Old Testament understood. The battle is already won because the battle is not mine but God’s.
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