Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. Father, continue to call out to us. Spark in our hearts a hunger for your presence, your joy, your peace, your word, your son, your people, all that is yours. We are starving for a lack of you and all that you are offering to us. In the name of your son Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit, awaken our hearts and minds to how deeply and desperately we need you. And may our obedience be our heart-deep, daily thanks and praise to you!
Your Morning Song: "My Lighthouse" by Rend Collective
Your Monday Morning Sermon Recap: 1 Samuel 17 (esp. v. 45)
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
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At the heart of the overly-familiar story of David and Goliath seems to be facing the giants of our own lives in God's name and by his power, and not attempting to face them on our own.
And there is truth to that. We ought to face our "giants" by trusting in God and not ourselves. But it is so easy to forget the last four words of this verse, "...whom you have defied."
All of the fighting men of Israel, including the very tall and imposing Saul (who is described himself in giant-ish language), sat there on the hill in the valley of Elah, hiding while Goliath defied them and their God. For forty days they hid on their hill from Goliath, terrified. And then, David.
David hears Goliath's insults and defiance of God and is immediately and deeply upset. David displays the true heart of this text, which is not trusting God to fight giants. The heart of this text is really a question, "how much do you value God's glory?" Within this question there is certainly room for trusting our glorious God while facing giants. But how often is God's glory why we face giants?
Are we moved to act against what defies God? Do we even read the bible often enough and seriously enough to understand what and who around us defies God? Do we even see the giant shadow of sin lurking in the darkness of our own broken flesh? Its power has been defeated but its presence remains.
Do our hearts leap to face the giants defying the glory of our God? Even though we wage a different kind of war than David did, the need to respond with action remains.
Church. Embrace God's Word to us as if it were more than bread. And wield His Word as if it were sharper than any double-edged sword. Let our war be waged from the inside out. Beginning with our own great sin and giant pride. May the Holy Spirit make us able and make us wise. And from out of our inner war, may we overflow into our everyday life a desire to defend God's glory in all spaces and all places, with gentleness and respect.
Are we willing to act when God's glory is defied? Whether in the world around us, or inside? Are we willing wield and eat the Word as those ready to come to any and all battlefields for the love of the name of the Lord Almighty?
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