The bible tells us that Christ is the full expression of who God is. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). In other words, Christ is God in the flesh. If you want to see God or to know what God is like, then look at Christ. We are called to be imitators of Christ because he is the perfect man who lived perfectly on this earth. Everything we couldn’t, do he did. Therefore, we look to him to learn about the ways of God. However, imitating Christ can be very daunting since to our human standards he is too flawless; He shows no signs of struggle and so it seems we are not able to identify or relate with him. Fortunately in the bible, we have other examples of men and women who exhibited Christ-like character and feel more relatable. These men and women lived lives honourable to God, they stood on the word of God firmly and boldly. Today, I want to talk about one such man, king David. Particularly how he upheld God’s Name and trusted Him in the face of opposition.
You might be very familiar with the story of David and Goliath. It is a story that is popular in Sunday school classes; one that has been read many times and is known by heart by many of us except if we are truthful we seldom pause to see the supernatural in it. In the first book of Samuel, we are told that the Philistines – Israel’s enemy nation – were getting ready to battle against Israel. The armies of the Philistines were stronger and bigger than Israel’s armies. They were very well equipped compared to the Israelites and to top it off, they had a giant amongst their midst! Not any giant mind you, they had a giant warrior named Goliath. You can tell he was strong on all fronts. Being fully aware of the Philistine’s advantage in the battle, Goliath came out to the Israelites and defied them to find a man who would fight him (1 Samuel 17:9). If the man chosen by the Israelite won, the Philistines would submit to Israel but if the contrary happened, Israel would submit to the Philistines. Goliath was that sure of his strength! Well his defiance and taunting caused havoc and panic in the Israelites camp. They were filled with fear except for one man: David.
David was not part of the army of Israel, so he was not in the battlefield among the soldiers. He would not have known of Goliath’s words if he had not been summoned by his father to bring provisions for his brothers who were part of the army in the battlefield. While David, is at the war camp, he hears Goliath’s words and how he taunts and defies Israel. Unlike all other men, David is outraged at the words of Goliath who dared to speak against the people of God and “defy the armies of the Living God”. Such utter disdain towards the living God must be addressed and even punished, hence David decides to fight against the man. The news of David putting his candidacy forward to be the man that would fight against Goliath reaches the king’s ear and he gets summoned by king Saul. Saul, like anyone else thinks David is out of his mind and that he has no chance in this battle. He wants to dissuade David at first but when he sees that he has no further arguments, he ends up giving him his blessing to go fight Goliath. There are three things that are important to note in David’s attitude/character: first, David knew his God. He knew his God was powerful, that He had no equal, that His Name was not to be maligned, that He deserved honour, etc. Second, David knew who he was. He belonged to the people of God, the people God himself chose and saved mightily from Egypt the oppressor. He knew he was God’s prized possession which meant he could never be without help from above. Third, David believed in the power of God to save and rescue. He believed that God was faithful and was able to save him from the hands of Goliath “the uncircumcised” just as He had done with the bear (1 Samuel 17:37). He also believed in exalting the name of God. This was not a name to be trampled on, nor was it a name to misuse. These beliefs allowed David to have a different perspective to this battle. First, David came into this battle without fear which gave him the courage to go fight against his enemies. Moreover, David, did not let the fear of others contaminate him; he was focused on who God was and what He said rather than on the enemy. Second, David understood that going in battle and fighting in the Name of the Lord was the key to winning. David knew he was not fighting on his own, nor was he fighting for his own rather he was fighting for the Lord. In fact, the Lord himself was going to fight for him and that is precisely what happened. David understood that the battle was the Lord’s.
I believe David exemplified what it means to be secure in Christ. Just like Jesus sleeping in the boat during a storm, David also was not moved by the taunting of Goliath. As Christians, we have been given the authority and the means to dominate our life’s circumstances. We have been elevated in Christ where he is seated in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). We have the spirit of God living in us, yet we often let situations take the best of us. Like David, we ought to focus on God and what He is able to do rather than on our dificulties. We have to learn to uphold God’s Name and character knowing He is faithful and does not lie. May the Lord grant us the grace to renew our minds so that we would start living in our full potential.
A Word Aptly Spoken 