Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 17:40-51
Daily Lectionary: Genesis 13:1-18; Mark 5:1-20
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1 Samuel 17:45 ESV)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We are not David. Many Christians see the story of David and Goliath as a story of personal triumph over those things that plague us in life. We are encouraged to answer questions like: What are your five smooth stones? What is the Goliath in your life? How does God equip you to take down that Goliath?
The story goes that if we just trust in God enough, then we will overcome our personal Goliaths. If we just trust in God enough we can overcome the devil’s temptations, our pleasures of the flesh, and the world’s allurement. If we just trust in God enough then we will overcome all the bad things in our life and live a blessed existence. If we just trust in God enough then our life will be temporally blessed, just like David’s was.
However, this story is not primarily about our trust in God, but about Jesus’ defeat over sin, death, and the power of the devil. You see, David, shepherd, chosen of God, King of Israel, was a foreshadowing of Jesus—a “type” that pointed to Jesus.
Because Jesus has defeated the devil, paid the price for sin, overcome the world, and conquered death for us, we now trust in Him to overcome all that torments us. We don’t conquer sin, death, and the devil, but rather Jesus does it for us. Jesus defeats all these things, not by infusing into us some of His righteousness, but rather by forgiving us our sins when we do fail and transgress God’s law. Jesus is our great David who is victorious against all our Goliaths. Jesus is the One who comes with the Host of Heaven and does battle for us, on our behalf, and is triumphant so that we may dwell with Him forever. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
If God Himself be for me, I may a host defy; For when I pray, before me My foes, confounded, fly. If Christ, my head and master, Befriend me from above, What foe or what disaster Can drive me from His love? (If God Himself Be for Me, LSB 724:1)
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