Five Stones and Faith

“He picked up five stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.” – 1 Samuel 17:4

The story of David and Goliath says that he picked up 5 stones, and put them into a pouch and went out with his sling.  But he also took with him his shepherd’s staff.

If you don’t know about the staff, you don’t know how he truly killed the giant.  Let’s just think about this.  How often have you heard of a man being killed by one rock? Hmm?  How often have you heard of a young boy with a slingshot using it as a weapon in a homicide?  Yea, it’s pretty far from what we see as reality, right?  If this appeared on the 6 o’clock news tonight it would be with a heading like ‘Incredible story of a young man who killed a villain who was tormenting their town with just one small rock.  More on that in our newscast.” It’s unexplainable!

Unexplainable, that is, until you realized what the staff represents.  The Shepherd’s staff was a tool of warfare for a shepherd.  It was used to fight off predators from the sheep he was entrusted to protect.  When a fight was done, they would often carve into the staff a history of what they had fought.  It was sort of like the old gun shooters notching their belts for the number of kills. For David, these were his credentials given to King Saul to allow him to go to war single handedly against the giant.  In 1 Samuel 17: 34-37 he tells Saul:

“I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death.  I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God!  The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”

Lions and Bears defected, the giant wasn’t that scary to this young man.  Can you imagine being as bold as to chase down a lion or a bear and club it to death?  If you read that last sentence again you’ll see where his boldness came from.  David didn’t put his faith in rocks or wooden objects.  His faith was in God, and that was his true weapon!  He realized that it was the Lord who had fought those battles, and delivered him.  He was ready for the next battle because he again had faith that God would deliver him.

Friends, every single day we fight a battle.  There are battles inside us for our will over God’s will, battles around us for us to conform to the world, battles in the workplace for us to be silent and conceal our faith, battles in the marketplace for us to devote ourselves to the desires of the world.  Here a battle, there a battle, battles battles everywhere! More often than we should, we all lose battles. 

Today, remember you do not fight those battles alone.  You’re a tool in the hands of Mighty God.  If you will submit to Him, He will win those battles for you.  Pray and stay in touch with him.  Keep your faith in Him.  We can often lose faith in ourselves and our abilities to fight the temptations we face.  But when we recall, when we pull out from our memories of all the things He has conquered for us, the carvings on our shepherd’s staff, we realize that there is no fight God isn’t strengthening us to fight.  There is no time when He will send us to war alone.  You CAN do ALL things THROUGH CHRIST who gives you UNEXPLAINABLE strength! (Philippians 4:13)

Now, go out and watch the enemy tremble! Raise a victory banner over each of your battles! God has empowered you to fight!

Happy Monday Ya’ll!