Today we are looking at so.much.Scripture! Much of it is familiar, but that's when I love to press in and see new things that we've never noticed before. Today, God showed me many things that have never stood out to me previously. As we look at first Samuel chapter 17 through 20 and Psalm 11 and 59, we first encounter the story of David and Goliath and I hope we can have fresh eyes to hear it together... especially as we look for how it points us to the coming King!

Today's Reading: 1 Samuel 17-20, Psalm 11 and 59

Scripture Read or Referenced:

1 Samuel 17:17-29, 32-37a, 45-46a, 54

Psalm 59:8-10, 16-17

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Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

This is the Dwelling place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Cocks, and today we

are looking at so much scripture.

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Much of it is familiar, but that's

when I love to press in and see new

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things that we've never noticed before.

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and today,

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god showed me many things that

have never stood out to me before.

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As we look at first Samuel chapter

17 through 20 and Psalm 11 and 59,

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we first encounter the

story of David and Goliath.

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Scripture doesn't tell us how old David

is at this point, but because Saul

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references him as a boy, we know that that

word in the Hebrew commonly referred to

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someone between the ages of 16 and 19.

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Some estimate that he could have been

as young as 13 at 20 years old, men

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were required to go out to battle, and

only David's three oldest brothers.

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Are present So he would've had

several brothers between him and them.

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And the chronology of chapter 16

and 17 is a little complicated, and

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16, David was anointed king and then

brought in to play music for Saul.

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It's possible he may have had a

little bit more of a background.

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A role at that point.

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But after he defeats Goliath,

he comes front and center

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and in chapter 17 we read

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Speaker 21: But David went back and

forth from Saul to feed his father's

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sheep at Bethlehem for 40 days.

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The Philistine came forward and took

a stand morning and evening, and Jesse

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said to David, his son, take for your

brothers an iffa of this parched grain

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and these 10 loaves, and carry them

quickly to the camp, to your brothers.

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Also take these 10 cheeses to

the commander of their thousand.

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See if your brothers are well,

and bring some token from them.

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Now Saul and they and all the men of

Israel were in the valley of Eah fighting

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with the Philistines and David Rose

early in the morning and left the sheep

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with the keeper and took the provisions

and went as Jesse had commanded him.

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And he came to the encampment as

the host was going out to the battle

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line, shouting the war cry, and

Israel and the Philistines drew

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up for Battle Army against Army.

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And David left the things in charge

of the keeper of the baggage and ran

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to the ranks and went and greeted his

brothers as they talked with them.

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Behold, the champion, the Philistine

of Gath Goliath by name, came

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up and out of the ranks of the

Philistines and spoke the same words.

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It's before.

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And David heard him,

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all the men of Israel, when they saw the

man fled from him and were much afraid.

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And the men of Israel said.

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Have you seen this man who has come up?

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Surely he has come up to Defy Israel

and the king will enrich the man

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who kills him with great riches and

will give him his daughter and make

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his father's house free in Israel.

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And David said to the men who stood by

him, what shall be done for the man who

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kills this Philistine and takes away

the reproach from Israel for who is

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this uncircumcised Philistine that he

should defy the armies of the living God.

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And the people answered him in

the same way, so shall it be

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done to the man who kills him.

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Now, Elia, his oldest brother, heard

when he spoke to the men, and Elia's

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anger was kindled against David.

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And he said, why have you come

down and with whom have you left

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those few sheep in the wilderness?

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I know your presumption and the

evil of your heart for you have

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come down to see the battle.

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And David said.

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What have I done now?

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Was it not, but a word?

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Speaker 24: Let's pause here a second.

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If David was already anointed as king,

it's baffling to me that he's still

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watching the sheep at least part-time,

and that his brothers and his father

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still aren't giving him props for

being the future king of Israel.

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his brothers, even saying

he left his sheep alone.

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But we specifically read that

he left the sheep with a keeper.

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And even the food that he

brought, He left with someone.

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David is responsible, but more

than that, he's courageous.

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His brother claims there's

evil in his heart, but God says

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he's a man after God's heart.

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and next we see that he

has a shepherd's heart

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for the people of God.

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Speaker 21: And David said to Saul,

let no man's heart fail because of him.

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Your servant will go and

fight with this Philistine.

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And Saul said to David, you were not

able to go against this Philistine to

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fight with him for you or, but a youth.

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And he has been a man

of war from his youth.

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But David said to Saul, your servant

used to keep sheep for his father.

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And when there came a lion or a

bear and took a lamb from the flock,

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I went after him and struck him

and delivered it out of his mouth.

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And if he arose against me,

I caught him by his beard and

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struck him and killed him.

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Your servant has struck down both

lions and bears and this uncircumcised

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Philistine shall be like one of them.

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For, he has defied the

armies of the living God.

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And David said, the Lord who delivered

me from the paw of the lion and from

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the paw of the bear will deliver me

from the hand of this Philistine.

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Saul lets him go out and tries

to offer his bronze armor.

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David tries it on, but it's way too big

and way too heavy, who was at least

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a head taller than everyone in Israel.

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Speaker 23: Saul.

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Speaker 21: This reveals how ridiculous

it is that he's not going out to fight

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for the Lord and for Israel as he

should, but that he's instead allowing

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a teenage boy to go out for them.

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And David says to Goliath, you come to me

with a sword and with a spear and with a

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javelin, but I come to you in the name of

the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies

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of Israel, whom you have defied This day,

the Lord will deliver you into my hand.

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And I will strike you down

and cut off your head.

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With only a stone in his slingshot.

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David Hits the most crucial, vulnerable

spot on all of Goliath, right

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on his forehead.

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He falls face to the ground.

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He takes Goliath's sword since

he doesn't have his own and

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cuts off his head killing him.

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and something I'd never noticed before.

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It says, but he put his armor in his tent.

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Wouldn't that be a great souvenir to

have for the rest of your life as you're

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telling your kids and your grandkids?

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And just to remind yourself,

God helped me do that.

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What else is he gonna

help me do for his glory?

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If you've ever read.

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That you are David and God will

help you defeat your Goliath.

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That's missing the point.

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Instead of looking to every story in

scripture and trying to figure out

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where we fit, we should be trying to

see the Lord and David in so much of

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what he did was pointing to a greater

king of Jesus who will reign perfectly.

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We can learn a lot about how to

stand for God in this, but instead

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of thinking, what can God help me do?

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Let's think, what is God

calling us to do for him?

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One of my pastors recently preached

on this, he said, God prepares

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his servants in hidden places.

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David, when he was alone instead of

allowing the sheep to be carried away and

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killed, God taught him to fight for them.

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And it's that vigilance as a shepherd that

helped train him to be the shepherd of

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Israel and to guide and love God's people.

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And in an age of influencers

where everyone is fighting

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for their 15 minutes of fame,

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it's important that we are teaching

our kids that what we do in those

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hidden places matters to God.

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Our integrity matters,

our character matters.

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And we should be following people who

aren't seeking their own glory, but

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are seeking the fame of Jesus Christ.

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SA had promised that whoever won the

battle was gonna get his daughter,

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but he doesn't stay true to that.

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What's neat though is that

his oldest son, Jonathan.

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Is drawn to David and they

grow the deepest of friendships

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In chapter 18, there's a point

where Jonathan takes off his royal

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garments and gives them to David.

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He sees the favor of the Lord

on David's life, and he is

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not gonna stand in the way.

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Which is incredibly sacrificial

because Jonathan would've been

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next in line for their throne,

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Speaker 25: And even though Saul is

trying to trick David by sending him

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out into danger, he says, you can marry

my other daughter, Michael if you bring

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back a hundred Philistine Foreskins.

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After defeating them in battle, David

brings back 200 and does marry Saul's

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daughter Michael, who deeply loves him.

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Everyone loves David now.

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In fact, at one point it says

all the women sing to one

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another as they celebrate.

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Saul has struck down his thousands

and David has 10 thousands.

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This reminds me of the Prince Ali

song and Aladdin, where all the

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ladies are ing and eyeing over him.

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Saul notices and is absolutely jealous,

and David continues to play music.

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To calm Saul,

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but instead of gratitude, Saul hurls

his heavy spear across the room at David

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multiple times, attempting to kill him.

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David and Jonathan

realize it's pretty bad.

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We've gotta get you out of here.

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They promise to honor each other and

each other's line as long as they live.

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And then Michael, helps him escape.

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And David goes to Samuel, who's at Rama.

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It's at this point that David writes

Psalm 59, when Saul is sending men to

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watch his house in order to kill him.

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And the context is important, though

we may not have been in that same

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circumstance, we too can count on

the steadfast love of the Lord.

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Even in the midst of fleeing for his life.

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David has hope in the faithfulness of

God, but you, oh Lord, laugh at them.

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You hold all the nations in derision.

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Oh my strength.

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I will watch for you.

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For you.

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Oh God are my fortress, my God and

his steadfast love will meet me.

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God will let me look in triumph

on my enemies, and he concludes.

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But I will sing of your strength.

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I will sing a lot of your

steadfast love in the morning.

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For you have been to me, a

fortress and a refuge in the day

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of my distress, oh my strength.

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I will sing praises to you.

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For you.

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Oh God, are my fortress, the

God who shows me steadfast love.

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We read several times that David had

success because the Lord was with him.

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I wanna contrast this a bit with

Genesis 39 when Joseph was in prison

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and it said the same thing that the

Lord was with him giving him favor.

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I find it interesting that Joseph

was elevated and favored his whole

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life, and then he entered a long

season of trial and suffering.

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God taught him deep lessons of

forgiveness and humility through it.

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But David has been hidden

and humbled and it seems.

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Invalidated by his family

for much of his life.

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It may be that this humility of heart

was already present so that God could

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elevate him right from the beginning and

he had the character to withstand it.

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heavenly Father, just as you are

faithful to David, we thank you that

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we can trust you in all circumstances,

to be faithful in our lives,

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and just as David Rose up encouraged

for the battle to stand for your name.

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We pray that our children.

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Would Courageously stand for you as

we see the culture war before us,

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as Jonathan and David had the

richest of friendships, we pray our

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kids would have relationships that

would help them stay true to you

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and to walk in integrity and purity.

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We ask for your protection upon us and our

families, be our fortress and our refuge,

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and even in the lack of sleep from

caring for sick or restless kids.

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Help us to sing of your

steadfast love in the morning.

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Jesus, you are our victory,

and it's in your name we pray.

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Amen.