January 10 Bible Reading Plan

January 10

Pslam 46-50, 1 Samuel 17 

 

Have you ever played dodgeball? 

 

I feel a bit sorry for young kids today who aren’t allowed to play such violent sports during their gym time. When I was a kid, we played against older classes, and even often found ourselves defending against teachers as they tried to smash our faces with a dodgeball.  

 

One thing was sure though - there was always a really big kid in the class that everyone hoped to be on their team! If you were on their team, there was a chance of survival. First, because they wouldn’t be targeting you. But also, because you knew that you would be able to stand victorious against the weaker team. There was a kid named Jack in my class who was huge! He was stronger than most of the teachers, and was tough enough to fight anyone who tired to oppose him. I remember how relieved I was one day when I ended up on his team for dodgeball. He was the type of kid who could catch a ball in one hand, while completely obliterating a kid with a ball from the other hand at the same time. He was huge!!!!

 

At the end of the day, no one came up to me and said, “Oh, Jack was on you team, that’s why you won!” No one said, “Hey Michael, great leadership of your team! Without you they wouldn’t have been able to do it!” Instead, it usually sounded like people saying, “Well you only won because you had Jack on your team.” Which was true. . . He was unstoppable. When we read David and Goliath as a story, I think it is easy to assign this same type of strength to God. It sounds like us saying, David won because God can’t be defeated. While this is true, this isn’t the reason David won. 

 

God had a plan for Israel. He would establish his throne through David’s family line. God would bring Jesus into the world and allow humanity to be saved through the Israelites as the vehicle for bringing Jesus here. 

 

So while God has the power to crush any threat against his plan, the reason David beat Goliath, is because the Philistines were threatening to wipe out the Israelite. They were actively working to destroy God’s plan this was bigger than the Israelites. This was God’s method for salvation that was being threatened. And this, David knew, God was not willing to let go! 

 

So he confidently stood up and said to Goliath, “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.” It wasn’t about David defending the Israelites. It was about David defending the plans of God. He was making sure all people knew that God would stop at nothing to keep his plan of redemption from being ruined! 

 

If you didn’t know this, God would do anything to be with you! Nothing is able to stop this! David understood this and found strength in being on God’s side to bring salvation. As Paul tells us in Romans 8:39, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God would do, and has done, absolutely anything it takes to be sure and make a way to be with you. That’s how much he loves you. Anything that threatens his relationship with you, rest assure, God can and will destroy it just to be with you. 

 

So, may you find strength in knowing that God’s biggest desire is to be with you! May you stand strong when you feel like giving in. May you know what God almighty is doing to make a path for you to be with him. And may you find extreme value that God’s focus has always been, on being with you! And nothing can ever separate you from his love!