Bible Mining 101

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. -- 1Samuel 17: 4-7 (NIV)

We have a tendency sometimes to turn stories like this in veggie-tales in our mind. We lose sight of the fact that this really occurred in history. There was a man named Goliath who stood nine feet tall and he was terrorizing the fighting men of Israel. David was only a shepherd boy at that time who was only there to deliver cheese to his older brothers who were "fighting." David surveys the scene and the first thing from his mouth was -- who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? The Bible tells us that his brothers thought he was conceited! The King thought he was nuts! Yet for David the only thing that mattered is one word -- uncircumcised. You see, David understood that the giant was not under covenant with God. Furthermore, David knew that he was. David had seen God deliver him from the paw of the bear and the paw of the lion when he was defending the sheep. The only thing that mattered to David was that he was under the protection of Almighty God and Goliath was not. Remember, this is not the first time Israel encountered giants and tucked tail to run:

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." -- Numbers 13: 31-33 (NIV)

When Israel first had a chance to possess the Promised Land they sent 12 spies out to scout the land. Ten of the spies brought back the report above. Giants were in the land. The Sons of Anak. Goliath himself was a descendent of these giants. Only Joshua and Caleb brought back a report that like David centuries later, acknowledged God as being bigger than the giants they were facing. God sends Israel into the wilderness until the entire faithless generation except Joshua and Caleb are dead.

Now David stands within the boundaries of that same Promised Land. He sees the mighty men of Israel again forgetting the covenant agreement God has made with His people. When he sees the giant he only sees nine feet of pagan. Nine feet of someone who is not under covenant with God. Nine feet of an uncircumcised Philistine. No problem, God's got this. Scared in his humanity? Absolutely; but confident in his God. He picks up his slingshot and goes down to the stream. There he picks five smooth stones, not because he was worried about needing more than one but because according to 2Samuel 21, Goliath had four sons. David takes five stones just in case they wanted a piece of the living God too! As we know, while all the fighting men of Israel were trembling in fear, David slew Goliath. All because of one word -- uncircumcised.

That is a heck of a nugget sitting there in the middle of a grand story. Not only does it give us insight into David and the nature of Israel but the Spirit can speak it into our lives if we let Him. Whatever it is that is facing you today you need to properly assess what it is and who you are. You are a child of the living God and you are under covenant with Him, just as David was that day in the Valley of Elah. Too often we act like the fighting men of Israel and we cower in fear of the circumstances we are facing. I am sure they appear like nine foot giants in front of our eyes. Like the 10 negative spies we speak life into the giants that they do not deserve. We need to speak life into our dead situations as Joshua tried to with Israel:

If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them." -- Numbers 14: 8-9 (NIV)

The Lord is with you -- do not be afraid of what stands before you. No matter how big it may appear. This is what Bible mining 101 can do for us. We can look at one word, tucked away in the middle of a huge story and allow God to use that one word to take us on a grander adventure. We travelled thousands of years in the past to when Israel stood just outside of their promised land. We travelled thousands of years into the future to see the Apostle Paul explain to us the difference between understanding the things of this world versus the things of God. We gained an insight into the Shepherd boy David and the recurring failure of Israel to see God for who He should be to them. Most importantly, we were able to apply it directly to our own lives. As we stand just outside of our Promised Land and we spy out those giants that appear insurmountable to us. As we stand in our own Valley of Elah and see the giant Goliath bellowing before us. We now know that it doesn't matter how big and bad Goliath thinks he is. It doesn't matter if all the faithless people around me are hiding under their desks. All I need is a slingshot and smooth stone and quite honestly, I do not even need that. All I need is God.

Who is this Philistine that stands before you today and defies the armies of the living God, of which you are a soldier? I'll tell you who he is -- he is uncircumcised.

Happy mining!

Reverend Anthony Wade -- August 27, 2012

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