The LORD doesn’t see things

the way you see them.

People judge by outward appearance,

but the LORD looks at the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7)

 

Battle Setting: the Valley of Elah

 

Main characters:

Goliath – the antagonizing bully who stood over 9 feet tall.

David – a young shepherd boy who was dark and handsome and had beautiful eyes.

 

The two were extremely unevenly matched for battle, but in a way the surrounding soldiers didn’t understand. The bully was in way over his head—but he just didn’t know it.

 

The bully’s taunt: I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me! (1 Samuel 17:10)

 

The shepherd’s response: Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God? (1 Samuel 17:26)

 

And then armed with his shepherd’s staff, slingshot, (and the LORD of heaven’s armies), the shepherd set out across the valley to fight his giant.

 

“Am I a dog that you come at me with a stick?” roared the bully. (1 Samuel 17:43)

 

The shepherd’s reply, “You come at me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

 

Today the LORD will conquer you…and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

 

And everyone assembled here will know that the LORD rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the LORD’s battle…” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

 

And so it was.

 

I love the unleashed power stories of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies in the Old Testament. They flow seamlessly into the New Testament descriptions of continued battles that we fight daily.

 

For we are not fighting against

flesh-and-blood enemies,

but against evil rulers

and authorities of the unseen world,

against mighty powers

in this dark world,

and against evil spirits

in the heavenly places.

(Ephesians 6:12)