What have I done now!

I have lost count of the times either those words have come out of my mouth, or at least I have thought that!

How come a simple question at times can bring out the worst in someone else?

Sure, it depends on the question, the way it may be asked, but, that doesn’t mean I have the right to bite someone’s head off, figuratively speaking of course!

One of my favourite bible stories is found in 1Samuel 17, the account of David and Goliath. Every time that I read this chapter I feel the same stirring in my spirit as I read of David running towards Goliath, no natural sword, just five smooth stones and a sling shot! And a belief, and faith in the greatness of his God.

But first I want to explore this story from Numbers 13.

Twelve spies went out to view the land.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel. From each of their fathers’ tribes you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them.”

Notice everyone of those twelve men were leaders. They had seen with their own eyes the miracles that God performed through Moses, all the plagues, the Red sea parting, the quail, water from the rock etc. Forty days they spied the land! Yet only two came back excited and thrilled at the prospect of living in a land flowing with milk and honey.

‘Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol (cluster of grapes), and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two of them, with some of pomegranates and the figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol (cluster of grapes) because of the cluster of grapes which the sons of Israel cut down there.’

Eventually they returned to camp. Ten of the leaders gave this report.

‘They reported to Moses and said, “We went into the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. But the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified (walled) and very large; moreover, we saw there the descendants of Anak [people of great stature and courage]. [The people descended from] Amalek live in the land of the Negev (South country); the Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the [Dead] Sea and along the side of the Jordan.”

Can you imagine for a moment, that God has spoken to you about healing you need, or moving house, starting a business, some new venture. You’d got excited, shared the vision, began preparing, whatever that looked like. Then, out of the, let’s say you shared it with twelve friends, ten of them focused on the ‘buts’. But, the markets are unsteady, what about the kids, what if, what if, but, but! Faith can quickly be drained, and fear knocks on the door of your heart. This sent the people into a full-blown panic!

Yet two of the leaders, Joshua and Caleb said this,

But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses.

“Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

Then came the voices of fear. The whole community were in uproar.

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are too strong for us.” So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we went, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

How are you viewing yourself in the midst of your situation?

Fear caused virtually a whole community of several million people to allow fear to bring them to the brink of mutiny! They began to moan and complain.

Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained. “Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”

Where would you and I be in this situation? Four standing against many!

Maybe I would have agreed with God when he said this:

“How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them? I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!”

A very tempting offer! Moses prayed for the people and asked God to pardon them. To which the Lord replied:

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “How long must I put up with this wicked community and its complaints about me? Yes, I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making against me. Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

‘You said your children would be carried off as plunder. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised. But as for you, you will drop dead in this wilderness. And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.

‘Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.’ I, the Lord, have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!”

The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion against the Lord with their bad report— were struck dead with a plague before the Lord. Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive.

When Moses reported the Lord’s words to all the Israelites, the people were filled with grief. Then they got up early the next morning and went to the top of the range of hills. “Let’s go,” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the Lord has promised us.”

But Moses said, “Why are you now disobeying the Lord’s orders to return to the wilderness? It won’t work. Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the Lord is not with you. When you face the Amalekites and Canaanites in battle, you will be slaughtered. The Lord will abandon you because you have abandoned the Lord.”

But the people defiantly pushed ahead toward the hill country, even though neither Moses nor the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant left the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attacked them and chased them back as far as Hormah.

Words carry power, life and death are in the power of the tongue!

There are consequences to our words. Blessings and curses can and often do come out of the same mouth! Their words became self-fulfilling prophecy!

The only two of that generation to enter the promised land were Joshua and Caleb. Moses didn’t enter because he struck the rock at the waters of Meribah Kadesh instead of speaking to it! One act of frustration and…….

But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. 1 Sam 15:22

You may be thinking how does this connect to the story of David and Goliath.

I have a thought, what if Israel had ignored the ten spies and listened to the two, taken those towns and cities, wiping out those giants and establishing Gods kingdom, then those giants Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim) Goliath’s line, in all probability would have been destroyed once and for all!

What legacy will you leave for those who follow?

God chose David whom he described as a man after his own heart to replace Saul as king. I often wonder about David, what caused him to love God, deal with lions and bears. Was it the testimonies of the past that ignited a fire inside of him, was it all the long nights looking after the sheep, gazing up at the stars. Did he lie there playing his harp, worshipping God, having fellowship with him. One day I will get to ask him!

David wasn’t perfect, far from it. If I was having an inner healing session with him, we would certainly be dealing with the sexual sin door! I think he also would have benefited from some parenting classes!

David had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah murdered to hide his adultery and her pregnancy. If David had been doing what he should have been doing, then possibly Uriah wouldn’t have died.

‘In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”’

2 Sam 11:1

The enemy goes around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour! The enemy will use our vulnerabilities to destroy us. Things like anger, pride, unforgiveness, lust etc. Unhealed areas of our hearts often let the enemy in and keep the Lord out!

Are we doing what we are supposed to be doing. Are we in the right place, at the right time with the right people doing the right thing?

However, David’s heart was tender towards the Lord, He was quick to repent, even when the Prophet Nathan had to point out his sin to him. He had integrity, he was a good king, more than anything he loved God and knew how to encourage himself in the Lord when things and people turned nasty!

What if he had allowed himself to be offended towards his father, he must have felt an afterthought when Samuel came to the house! What if he’d been offended with his brothers, their accusations, ridicule, jealousies. It couldn’t have been easy to be anointed King in place of Saul, by Samuel, in front of his whole family being the youngest and seemingly overlooked at that!

David experienced great highs and lows, all that life threw at him, betrayal, assassination attempts, family tragedies, some of his own making, but through it all God sustained him, blessed him and gave a nation victory over its enemies and peace in the land.

What Goliath are you facing today?

A health issue, financial, relationship, emotional, whatever the issue is, the bigger it is the harder it will fall!

David had the attitude that Goliath was too big to miss. He didn’t enter into discussion with him, David told Goliath who God was and how big he was. David bragged on his God. He didn’t rely on the armour of someone else, David took off running declaring the greatness and might of His God.

Your Goliath may have a big mouth:

Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall! He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds. He also wore bronze leg armour, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armour bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.

Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves!

I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.

Today, face your Goliath and run towards him with your greatest weapon, God’s word!

Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.

David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”

As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.

So, David triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone, for he had no sword. Then David ran over and pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head.

Here are some scriptures to encourage you as you run towards your giant, the accuser of the brethren and as you release God’s word watch it fall!

Some giants fall immediately, others it’s a process, but either way the moment you release the word, that giant begins to drop!

“Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” Luke 11:22-25

So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).Romans 10:17

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

Hebrews 10:35-36

For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervour; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance.

2Cor 5:7

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” Mark 16:15-20

“I can’t afford to live in reaction to darkness. If I do, darkness has had a role in setting the agenda for my life. The devil is not worthy of such influence, even in the negative. Jesus lived in response to the Father. I must learn to do the same.” Bill Johnson