This morning I thought about King David. Before he was king, he was a shepherd boy tasked with taking supplies to his older brothers. He found his people surrounded by the Philistines. Outnumbered, outgunned – so to speak and challenged by one of the mightiest men of war the world had ever known: Goliath.
David did not look at Goliath or the hoard backing him and tremble in fear. He asked aloud “ who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” He said he would face Goliath. Was he drunken with his youth? No. He was faithful. David eschewed Saul’s armor and sword, instead taking up five round stones for his sling. He only “needed” one stone.
In David’s words:
1 Samuel 17:37 David said moreover, The LORD* that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD* be with thee.
*Note: This word “LORD” in scripture is translated as the word “Jehova” – in the Hebrew this word is JHWH (pronounced yä′wĕ) it is the Hebrew Tetragrammaton representing the name of God. The scholarly work of Rev. Ken Burns, M.A., Pastor and my own studies indicate this is truly the proper name of our Heavenly Father and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.
Today I am sure many will scoff at this as a fairy tale. Some will admit is is plausible. How many will see the parallel? We are surrounded by the Philistines. Goliath Looms. Goliath, of course, is our own government. Can anyone deny our government controls the mightiest war machine this world has seen? The war machine itself is only part of our Goliath. The Philistines? We are surrounded by the hoards of the globalists, the controllers, the left. They claim false gods and threaten more and more each day to destroy us.
This is the analogy of what I see in front of all of us today.
Today’s Philistines do indeed surround us. Their champion, Goliath, deploys fearsome weapons – ungodly laws and regulations, enforcers endowed with physical might and open jail cells. Meanwhile both work together to destroy us. They use their media to turn public opinion against us. They use their economic might to limit our options. Search engines avoid our messages. Banks void our purchasing power. Even devices we buy are turned against us to spy on us – from automobiles to cell phones to television sets. While they operate in secret behind closed doors the loudly demand to know what we’ve got to hide that we do not open up every nick and cranny of our lives for their inspection.
Their goal is to disarm us, silence us, subdue us. They don’t just want our guns, they lust for our very souls. Already they’ve enslaved us by stealing our labor and then forcing us to pay to spend the pittance we are left with. To add insult to injury, they demand we spend much of our earnings on goods and services of their choosing, leaving us with even less “discretionary” funds.
We are indeed surrounded but all is not lost! As David did we need to stand up and ask “Who are these heathen to defy the armies of the Living God?” Forget about carnal conflict. Nobody wins when the weapons of man clash. Our battle is spiritual. Our weapon of choice should be the Word of Truth. This is the ultimate weapon – the one weapon that makes the controllers shake in their boots because they cannot defeat it. They cannot take it away from us. Indeed if God be for us, who can be against us! (Romans 8:31b)
Consider the context of this verse:
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Again: our nation, our constitutional republic, is a gift to us citizens from Almighty God. The rights outlined and defined in the constitution also come from God and cannot be rightfully denied by mere men. Who is this Goliath? Who are these controllers, these ungodly Philistines to defy our Holy God?
David, before he was king, killed the mighty Goliath with a single stone thrown from a length of leather. Without armor, without proper weapons of war, a teenage boy not only defeated the Philistine champion but turned the tide on the Philistines themselves. David succeeded not because he was a fierce warrior but because he trusted Almighty god.
Who are these Philistines that surround us? They are mere men. I contend they will crumble if only we will stand up and claim our God-given birthright in the name of Almighty God!
God bless,
Andy
