July 20

”David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.…”

(1 Samuel 17:45 NIV)

The story in today’s Bible verse brings us to the well known story of David’s battle against the giant Goliath. God’s people were in a battle with the Philistines. They had a large and mighty warrior who mocked and challenged Israel’s troops. The Israelites pondered and wondered how they would be able to defeat the Philistines and specifically how they could defeat Goliath.

Then David enters the scene – the small boy, who was so young that he wasn’t even allowed to participate in the war. But David had that which the Israeli soldiers lacked. He had the right perspective. Someone has said;”the soldiers saw Goliath relative to themselves – and feared, but David saw Goliath relative to God and triumphed”.

It’s not difficult to draw a parallel with our current cultural ’giants’ who challenge and belittle God’s people today. And it’s not difficult to find Christians who tremble when facing today’s Goliath’s. But the Lord still seeks ”David” types, who have the correct perspective and understand that these giants are nothing when standing before the Living God and who dares act accordingly.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for being present with Your people today as you were in David’s day. Help us today to have the right perspective and not to measure difficulties in accordance with our abilities but rather, with Yours.