Let us come together and worship.
Sing with me: And can it be
===============================================
Time of prayer
Prayer is how we actively practice believing. Believing that God has the whole world in his hands. Prayer is where we let petitions and praises shape our worries into prayers, letting God know our concerns. Prayer is never the last resort of God’s people. It is our first point of action.
I invite you now, just to take some time to pray. Pray for your family and friends. Prayer for your Church. Pray for the sick, bereaved, lonely and war torn countries Pray for governments of the world . Also pray for yourself. Then we will share together in the Lords Prayer.
Lets share together in the Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
=================================================
Let us join together and sing: I the Lord of sea and sky
======================================================
A boy and a giant
At some point in life – we’re inevitably confronted by giants – they come in all different shapes and sizes, but inevitably they’re huge and they block our way. How do you overcome them?
Today we’re going to be joined by someone who, as a young man, put a whole army to shame. This is a man who, when people looked at him, what they saw was the runt of the litter. They never included him in the grown-up stuff. They always left him behind but this young man, well he had something that they didn’t. He had a strong heart and when this army was paralysed with fear because of the size of their opponents, this little boy steps forward and says, ‘I’ll go’. Perhaps you recognise him, David. He went on to become the greatest king that Israel ever had but when the army of Israel was confronted by this giant, Goliath, not a single man, not King Saul, not any of his generals or lieutenants, not any of his soldiers dared step out to face this mountain of a man. It took a young shepherd boy to stick his hand in the air and take Goliath on. But why? How is it that he could do that when all the grown men coward around him?
It’s tough being the youngest, David’s older brothers, were all out in the army and he was left behind to tend the sheep. He comes up to the front line, on this day, to bring them food which is how the soldiers received their rations. Let’s pick up the story; 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 20.
Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out as his Dad directed him. He reached the camp as the army was going out in its battle position shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battlelines and greeted his brothers. As he was talking with them Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, David heard him. When the Israelites saw the man they all ran from him in great fear.
Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father’s family from taxes in Israel.”
David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done to the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” And they told him what the king had been saying, “This is what the king will do for the man who kills him.”
When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him. “Why have you come down here and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked you are in your heart, you came down to watch the battle.” And David says, “What have I done now? I can’t even speak.” (1 Samuel 17: 20-29)
It’s tough being the youngest one. It’s tough being the runt of the litter, no-one takes you seriously, and you are always the last to know. It’s amazing how often it is that people, who are the closest to us, just don’t understand us. It was the same with David. David was different from the rest because God’s hand was on him.
David turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter and the men answered him as before. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul and King Saul sent for him and David says to the king, “Let no-one lose heart on account of this Philistine, your servant David will go and fight him. (1 Samuel 17: 30-32)
You see, there it is, David stands before the king and what does he talk about? He talks about the heart,
Let no-one lose heart on account of this Philistine, your servant will go and fight him.” And Saul replied, “You can’t go and do this, you can’t go against the Philistines, you’re just a boy and this is a fighting man.” David says to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, I struck it down, I rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. “I’ve killed both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the living God.” So Saul said, “Go and let the Lord be with you.” (1 Samuel 17: 32-37)
I guess we know the rest of the story, David slays Goliath but just before he stands out there, the whole Philistine army against him, shields and swords and here is this little guy with a sling shot, standing against the giant Goliath with his armour and he shouts out to Goliath:
You come against me with a sword and a spear and a javelin but I come against you in the name of God, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me and I will strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth and the whole world will know there is a God in Israel. All those who’ve gathered here will know that it’s not sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle belongs to the Lord and He will give all of you into our hands. (1 Samuel 17: 45-47)
The thing that hits me between the eyes here (pun intended) is that David’s heart for God was developed in difficult times, fighting bears and lions in the wilderness, in fearful times and yet God was in those places with David.
This is not so much a story about David as it is about God. God sees things differently to us. Right from the beginning He saw what was in David’s heart. David has been anointed as the king when he was a young boy. But now he’s a man who grows up having killed lions and bears and knowing what it is to have God in the wilderness with you. David learned what it meant to be close to God, not amidst comfort and luxury as you might expect of a king but on the cold and dark and lonely and dangerous nights, protecting his sheep.
This is an amazing story, this young man who has a heart for God that was grown in the most unlikely place. And this young boy, who has a heart for God, comes out, stands before his giant, and declares.
You come against me with a sword and a spear and a javelin but I come against you in the name of God, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.
So many people who want to be close to God think, I have to do better or I have to be different or God couldn’t be close to me. That’s false. When we think like that we’re looking at God through the world’s eyes and it’s just plain wrong. Being close to God is a heart thing and His heart is to be close to you and me. If God is for us, who can be against us?
I want to encourage you today, no matter who you are, where you’re at, what’s going on, God is in the business of growing your heart for Him just as He did with David and then when the giants come along, (and they will) all of a sudden we have the same boldness that David did, to get out there, to slay the giant when everyone else is hiding under a rock. Do you get it? God gets up close to us in those scary times and does something in our hearts, even in the very darkest hour where we would expect Him not to be.
Getting close to God, sure it happens sometimes in the comfort of a chair. I’m all for spending quiet times with God, but sometimes, in fact often, it happens out there on the battlefield where we least expect it. Amen
=========================================================
As we close our time of worship, join with me in singing : Seek Ye First
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Comments