✓
June 1927
379
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
Fred S. Shepard’s Blackboard Outline
they would like to send us forth with the world’s equipment. “I cannot go with these,w said David, “I have not proved them” (v. 39). Furthermore, he had de clared that this was “the Lord’s battle,” therefore he must go in simple depend ence upon God for success. Right here is;the golden truth of this whole story. Faith may uSe means such as the. Spirit of. God may indicate, but to carry the forgings of unsavèd men spells doom. David was by no means un armed. His weapons were simple but proved. While the Philistine “looked about” (v. 42) «David looked UP. He was free ¿-from all weights. .He could move like lightning. All this Goliath had no thought of. A smooth stone from the brook went straight to its mark. The brook is living water, the Scrip tural symbol of the Holy Spirit in ac tivity (Jno. 7:38; Isa. 44:31). Stones, instrumentalities out of the brook, speak of instruments furnished by the Spirit and by which He operates in power. Does this not suggest the Word of God (2 Tim. 4:2)? One verse has brought many a boasting infidel to his face. Let us be sure that we have chosen stones (v. 40) which can be sent straight, and true to their mark. . David had five stones. One would have answered, but faith, if it fails at first shot, does not intend to take to the woods. Let us have ammunition enough as well as an eye well trained. Hear the big Philistine rage ! Would they insult him by sending a mere strip ling to face him, unarmed at that? “Am I a dog?” he cries (v.- 43).- “I will give thy flesh to the fowls and beasts” (v. 44 ). As we see him a moment later sprawled Upon the ground, knocked out by a peb ble, we see that he was, after all, not much more than a dog to the man of faith. The giant’s last words were brags. Presumption is usually the presage of ruin. Straight out of Bethlehem’s hills, where he had tended sheep by day and night, comes one who has walked with God. The days between David’s first meeting with Samuel and the meeting with Goliath had been days of discipline and exercise of faith. We, too, would go forth to great achievements if we came from the place of communion with God in prayer and Bible study. The giant never had an opportunity either for assault or defense. All was over before he knew what was up. The Lord of Hosts had guided the aim and nerved thé arm of David. A sling and stone prevailed against sword and spear and human strength. Goliath lay in a heap. Quick as a flash David grabs the giant’s own sword and saws off his head. It was David’s first step on the way to the throne to which God had resolved to raise him. All the army of Israel shout ed, but one hears no shout from David. He did not vaunt himself. The man who walks and fights by faith is never a man who boasts. David might easily have turned the event to his own advantage, yet with only the rewarding conscious ness of God’s blessing he went back once more to his lowly calling of tending his father’s sheep, calmly awaiting God’s time and further summons.
the time had come for him to take his place as king, for Saul’s life was not ended. David must wait his time; we are told the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that time forward, getting him ready to be a true king. (Teach M. V.) Did you know God was watching you boys and girls to see if you are getting ready for the work He has for each one? Prayer.
D is c o v e r y ESIGNATION EVELOPMENT Neglect not the gift that is in thee. I 1 Tim. 4:14.
J uly 24, 1927 David and Go lia th Lesson Text—1 Sam. 17
need of young-men like David who will not stand for dragging God’s Name in the mire, regardless of the attempts of their older brethren to silence their testimony. Strange to say, Eliab, David’s eldest brother, who became afterward a great man, was the first to raise his voice against David’s brave offer. “His anger was kindled and he said, Why earnest thou down hither?” He spoke as .Saul might have done. No doubt, back of it was envy. How much of this harsh and Uncharitable judgment we often see man ifested by people who ought themselves to have gone to the firing line ! They are ever ready to dampen the enthusiasm of any one else who has a vision. If. David : had a wet blanket thrown upon him, he quickly dried it off. “Is there not a cause why I should go?” he asked (v. 29), and .his proposition to meet Goliath was made known to Saul. It is not easy, when one’s spirit of self- sacrifice has met with undeserved abusé, to refrain from returning railing for rail ing. Many a man would have turned on his heel. If God’s people will not stand back of us, what’s the use? But David’s admirable ' spirit of self- command marked him then and there as à ruler of men.' There is no time to quarrel with brothers when the Lord is calling us to face the adversary. Certainly we will never be a champion for God until we 'are victors over ourselves. Saul listened to David’s proposition, but was immediately skeptical. “Thou art not able . . . thou art but a youth” (v. 33). Have your pffers for service been met with similar words? Take a lesson from David. Refuse to be frozen out. David saw God upon the scene. Saul could see nothing but a tower of brass. David heard the call of God. Saul heard nothing but the derisive boasts of the giant. Have you tested God out in the past? Have His promises sustained .you and made you victorious ? Then why cannot you, too, recite the deliverances of the Lord, as David told how God had enabled him to slay the bear (v. 37), and then tackle new things for God ? The God who protected David while he fought for his father’s sheep would certainly not fail him when he fought for God’s own fold. Saul decided to risk young David, but he insists upon putting his own armor upon the youth. When the worldly can not dissuade us from obeying God’s voice,
V\7'E have in this lesson one of the most ’ ’ graphically told incidents of the Old Testament. It is one that has al ways' gripped the minds of the young,'
while at the same timé it has a depth for mature Christians which few have fa thomed. The Philistines, a powerful people of the southern seacoast plain of C,a n a a n ,
were ever seeking to oppress Israel. At the time of Saul’s decline, two. armies were camped in hostile array on either ridge rising from the vale of .Elah. The delight of the Philistines was to taünt the Israelites by the challenges of their cham pion, Goliath. His gigantic appearance (9 feet) and the enormous size of his armor are described in vs. 4-10. It is not strange that the Israelites, at a time when their leader’s eyes were not turned toward God, should be filled with terror at the sight of this hideous giant (whose name means “Exile”), and at the sound of his clanking tramp under ,two hundred weight of metal. Who cared to settle the contest be tween the two nations according to this fellow’s proposal—engage in single com bat with this fiend whose thundering voice was ever daring any one to approach him ? Certainly it was not a tempting in vitation to Saul. This giant is a good type of our adver sary, the devil, who goes about as a roar ing lion seeking whom he may devour, yet who will take to his heels at the sight of the humblest saint upon his knees. At this juncture, divine providence brings a new sort of hero to the Hebrew side. As Goliath strode down the hill for his morning challenge, along comes the youthful shepherd of Bethlehem, already the secretly anointed king. Sent by his father, Jesse, with army supplies for his older brothers in Saul’s army, he hap pens- there just at the right moment to hear Goliath’s insults. It made his young blood boil, and especially because he saw the panic among the Israelites. Was there no one who would put a stop to this ? Did no one feel the insult heaped upon Israel’s God ? ,Was there not a man among them who had enough confidence in Jehovah to go forth i n ’His Name and avenge His honor and wipe out this re proach ? The Church today is sadly in
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