Sunday School this morning went great! \u00a0We nearly finished the entire lesson (a rarity). \u00a0Our discussion today was titled “Brave Heart”. \u00a0This quarter, as you may recall, is called “Heart for God” and we are studying old testament stories that show different ways to have a heart for God. \u00a0Today, we focused on God’s favor and what it means to us.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite old testament stories is the story of David and Goliath. \u00a0Most of us know the story pretty well, but it is great to read it over again. \u00a0One of my favorite lines of all the old testament characters is David’s response to the taunting of the Army of Israel by Goliath. \u00a0Here (NIV) is what he said:<\/p>\n
Who is this uncircumcised\u00a0Philistine that he should defy\u00a0the armies of the living\u00a0God?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n As you read the entire story, this supreme confidence in God that David displays is shown time and again. \u00a0David stated the reason for his confidence in the story. \u00a0God had shown his power to David on a number of occasions in the past, and David was utterly convinced that it would happen again. \u00a0As I read through this story, I get the sense that David was just dumbfounded that the entire army of Israel was cowering before Goliath. \u00a0He knew that Israel was chosen by God to be His people and he could not comprehend why THEY had seemed to forget that fact.<\/p>\n As I look back into my past, I can see a number of times when God’s hand was SO obvious. \u00a0I see it so often that what is MORE surprising is that I still struggle to trust him in my present situations. \u00a0The bible teaches that David was a man after God’s own heart. \u00a0I believe that one of the reasons this is true, is because of the kind of faith David displayed that day before the Philistine Goliath. \u00a0I pray that God will give ME that kind of heart.<\/p>\n Back to our lesson. \u00a0We were discussing this story in the context of God’s favor shown toward David. \u00a0David, you see, had been selected by God to be the King of Israel. \u00a0David was an inconsequential son (he was the youngest) of an inconsequential family in an inconsequential city called Bethlehem. \u00a0In other words, David was a nobody from nowhere. \u00a0When God selected him to be king, it was NOT about who David was. \u00a0It was a choice based on David’s HEART! \u00a0As Samuel (God’s prophet) was seeking the man chosen by God to lead Israel, he saw what HE thought would be a good king. \u00a0God told Samuel, in 1 Samuel 16:7 (again, NIV):<\/p>\n But the\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to Samuel, \u201cDo not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The\u00a0Lord\u00a0does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance,\u00a0but the\u00a0Lord\u00a0looks at the heart.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n David’s faith and love for God caused God to show him favor. \u00a0As a result of God’s favor, David quickly became very well known throughout the entire nation. \u00a0Just ONE event that was part of that journey is the story about his encounter with Goliath.<\/p>\n So the question becomes, what can I personally take from this story? \u00a0I mean, it’s great to read about the history of Israel, but what does it really mean to me? \u00a0The story of David’s selection by God and the favor shown toward him is not an isolated story. \u00a0There are 3 things that are important to take from this story. \u00a0First, if God was with David, then He will be with me, too. \u00a0In Hebrews 13:5(b), God has promised to never leave or forsake his people.<\/p>\n Secondly, we can understand that God is FOR us. \u00a0Read Psalm 124:1-5:<\/p>\n If the Lord had not been on our side\u2014<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Here, the psalmist could not even imagine what his life would have been if God had NOT been on his side. \u00a0David was able to accomplish what he did because God was on his side AND DAVID KNEW IT. \u00a0He also lived as though he knew it.<\/p>\n Finally, \u00a0David knew that God would help him. \u00a0Read Psalm 121:1-2:<\/p>\n I lift up my eyes to the mountains\u2014<\/span><\/em><\/strong> We can count on God to be there to help. \u00a0God has the POWER to help and the DESIRE to help. \u00a0He simply wants us to look to HIM when we need that help. \u00a0Like David, we should recognize that God CHOSE us and he is on our side and he is willing and able to help us in times of trouble.<\/p>\n As always, thanks for reading my thoughts. \u00a0You may agree or disagree and that’s ok. \u00a0Feel free to add your comments and thoughts to this post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday School this morning went great! \u00a0We nearly finished the entire lesson (a rarity). \u00a0Our discussion today was titled “Brave Heart”. \u00a0This quarter, as you may recall, is called “Heart for God” and we are studying old testament stories that show different ways to have a heart for God. \u00a0Today, we focused on God’s favor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,6,7],"tags":[36,14,21],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-personal","category-sundayschool","tag-bible","tag-god","tag-sunday-school"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Mji6-I","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/musings.butchevans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n let Israel say\u2014<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\nif the Lord had not been on our side<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\n when people attacked us,<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\nthey would have swallowed us alive<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\n when their anger flared against us;<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\nthe flood would have engulfed us,<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\n the torrent would have swept over us,<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\nthe raging waters<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\n would have swept us away.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n where does my help come from?<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\nMy help comes from the Lord,<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\n the Maker of heaven and earth.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n