Built
For The Battle
Foundation
Scripture: 1 Samuel 17
Topical
Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:31-36
31When the words which David spoke were heard, they told
them to Saul, and he sent for him. 32David said to
Saul, "(AI)Let no man's heart fail on account of him; (AJ)your servant
will go and fight with this Philistine." 33Then
Saul said to David, "(AK)You are not able to go against this Philistine to
fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his
youth." 34But David said to Saul, "Your
servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a
lamb from the flock, 35I went out after him and
attacked him, and (AL)rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against
me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36"Your
servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised
Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the
living God." 37And David said, "(AM)The
LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He
will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine " And Saul said to David,
"(AN)Go, and may the LORD be with you." (1 Samuel 17:31-36 NASB)
The
battle will come; of this we can be certain. No amount of maneuvering will
allow any of us to circumvent the realities of this life. We will each face our
share of battles in this spiritual warfare. The question then becomes not if,
but when; and if when, will we be ready when the battle comes? Through
elucidation, the question simply is: Are you built for the battle? When the
enemy engages you on the battlefield of life, will you be prepared to stand?
When you are faced with the harsh realities of the battle that lies ahead, will
you stand in unwavering confidence or will you crumble under the pressure? We
are not promised a euphoric life of ease; in fact, we are told on more than one
occasion that the storm will come. We are told that there will be trials and
tribulations. When it comes to the day of the battle will you be able to say
with a certain level of imperiousness, “I’m built for this!”
I pray
fervently each day for each one of you; that at the day of battle, you will be
able to stand up, square your shoulders, look the enemy in the eye and say,
“I’m built for this.”
I’m
built for this; this is more than a simple of statement of confidence. It is a
state of mind; a state of being; a place in life when the Christian gains
stability by recalling the doctrine resident in his soul conjoined with the
memories of God’s divine intervention in times past. In this they find they
have been prepared for this very thing they must now endure.
As we
approach our scriptural text, we find a man or should I say boy who was
definitely built for the battle. David was a man known for his valor, and it
all began with him slaying Goliath, the giant that defied the army of the
living God. We all know the story of David and Goliath. We were told this story
as kids, but what about the story behind the glory?
By the
time David met Goliath he had already been anointed as Soul’s replacement as
Israel’s next king. For a detailed account you can read 1 Samuel Chapter 16.
Being anointed is only a part of David’s preparation for the battle that lay
ahead. Being anointed by Samuel with the anointing oil was actually semantic
symbolism of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to accomplish that which David
had been called [elected] by God to do. It is immensely important that when
performing certain rituals, we are aware of its symbolic inference. Here it is
not the oil, but what the oil symbolizes. Sometime we become so engrossed in
sacrament and ritual, that we lose sight of the truth that the ritual
represents; I digress. David has been anointed. Being anointed is the
empowerment to fulfill your designed destiny, but being anointed and being
aware of that anointing are two different things.
In
order to face any particular task, one must have confidence. Confidence is the
knowledge or cognizance of one’s ability to accomplish a specific task.
Confidence is an understanding of one’s capabilities in a given area.
Confidence is the endogenous source that produces efficacious results.
David
was “built for the battle”, pervaded with confidence. As we move forward, we
will find the source of this confidence and with the help of the Holy Spirit,
we will tap into the source as we ourselves, become “built for the battle”.
We will
begin this study with David having been sent out to the battlefield by his
father to take food rations to his brothers and to bring a report of their
condition to their father. When David arrives, he hears Goliath, the Philistine
warrior, shouting insults at the army of Israel. I’m not sure what astounded
David more, the insults of Goliath or the fear of the Israelites. Let’s look at
verse 26:
26Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him,
saying, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes
away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that
he should taunt the armies of the living God?" (NSAB)
David
inquires into what will be done for whoever kills this Philistine and takes
away the reproach from Israel. He wants to know who this uncircumcised
Philistine thinks he is, defying the armies of the Living God. It is important
to take notice that David indentifies with Israel, but more importantly, he
identifies with God. It is not that Goliath has disrespected the army of Israel
in itself, but that the army of Israel belonged to the one true and living God!
It was
never about David nor was it about Israel; it was always about God. This must
be taken to mind as we move through this ethereal journey of Christianity.
28Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the
men; and Eliab's anger burned against David and he said, "Why have you
come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I
know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in
order to see the battle." (NASB)
In
verse 28, we see Eliab’s envy revealed. As the oldest of Jessie’s sons, he had
been passed over by God to be King. God had said, in essence, that though his
outward appearance was stately and imposing, inwardly he was deficient in the
qualities necessary to be king of Israel. In other words, he looked the part.
He even fooled Samuel, but he was deficient where it mattered most. It is
obvious by his reaction that he has not quite gotten over the disappointment.
There are always going to be haters. Those who for whatever reason can’t stand
to see you succeed and prosper. We must never become engrossed or consumed with
concerned over those who wish for or seek our demise. They are placed there by
the enemy [Satan] as a distraction, but God will use them as an instrument of
preparation and elevation. As we will soon see, the battle is the Lord’s.
Let us
move on to the meat of the message. We find in verse 31 that someone reported
David’s words back to Saul and Saul sent for David. It may be worth pointing
out that Saul and David already have a brief history. Once the anointing left
Soul, he became restless and could not sleep, because he was troubled in his
sleep. David was a good harpist and Saul brought him in to play for him so that
his soul could be soothed and he could rest. David did such a good job that Saul
made him his armor bearer.
Now
this young boy tells his king basically, tell everyone not to worry, I’ve got
this. Verse 33 reveals a great deal about why David would eventually replace
Saul as king. Saul had failed to view the situation though the lens of divine
viewpoint. He was seeing the situation through a humanistic paradigm. Saul
tells David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him;
for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth (NASB).”
Yet, David’s response was inundated with doctrinal viewpoint. It is apropos in
this spiritual warfare that we avoid viewing our situations and circumstances
through secular paradigms. David did not see things as Saul saw them, he saw
God in the midst of the situation. David was built for the battle and he was
about to reveal how.
“Your
servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and
took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and
delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose
against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed
it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and
bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has
defied the armies of the living God.” (1 Sam. 17:34-36 NKJV)
In the
original Hebrew text, “keep his father’s sheep” carried the literal meaning of
“kept on keeping” his father’s sheep. This illuminates that David was not a
part time shepherd. He spent more time with the sheep than he did in the house
with his family. It becomes easy to see where David gets his endurance and
perseverance. I’m sure there were many cold nights and many hot days. Yet,
David kept on keeping his father’s sheep. How many of you are willing to keep
on keeping?
In
verse 35 David explains to Saul that in defense of his father’s sheep he had
killed both, lion and bear; and that this Philistine giant would be no
different. David, in essence, was saying, “I’m built for this.” We too, as we
face the vicissitudes of life must stand with an unrelenting certainty and say,
“I’m built for this.” The dark clouds of disappointment may be hovering over my
head, but “I’m built for this!” My so called friends have forsaken me, but “I’m
built for this.” Just as David, we too have been built for the battle. There is
one very important point I must reveal here: David was not pervaded with a
subjective arrogance or an inflated ego, but he was immersed in an implacable
confidence in God’s ability and willingness to guarantee victory.
This
was never about David it was always about God as I stated earlier. Both in
verse26 and verse 36, David refers to Goliath as an uncircumcised Philistine.
Where is the relevance in the fact that Goliath was uncircumcised? Circumcision
was a mark of God’s chosen people. By stating that Goliath was not circumcised,
David was illuminating the fact that a man, not of God, was defying God’s
chosen people. It was an abomination. David was not defending himself nor the
Israelites, but the honor of God.
It is
my prayer that if you gain nothing else from this message, you acquire a keen
awareness of the source of David’s Strength. For we all will have our giants we
must face. Some will face the Giant of addiction. Others will face the giant of
relational atrophy and yet, still others will face the nightmares of
uncertainty. However, as Christians, we must face these difficulties with the
calm assurance that we are built for this. Lamentations 3:21 says:
“But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: (AMP)
We
recall the power of God displayed in our lives in times past. We recall the
Bible doctrine we have stored in our soul. The old folks, in the midst of
difficult moments would say, “He did not bring me this far to leave me.” This
was based both, on the Word in their heart and their experiential observation.
When I
look back over my life, I realize that all the heartache, every disappointment,
and every struggle was preparing me for this moment and this moment is
preparing me for the next. Psalm 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. There is no coincidence
that David wrote this psalm. When the burdens of life become unbearable, when
the forces of evil are pressing me down, I recall the victories of my past, I
take a stand and declare “I’m built for this”.
I
didn’t come here to tell you there would be no storms, but I did come to tell
you that you can make it through the storm. God has not brought you this far to
turn around and leave you. Stare the enemy square in the eyes and declare “I’m
built for this”.
Feeling
lost and alone, I’m built for this.
The
enemy on every side, I’m built for this.
My
friends have become my accusers, but I’m built for this.
I’m
built for the persecution. I’m built for the battle. I’m built for the
pressure. Look the enemy in the eye and tell him, “No weapon formed against me
will prosper.” Hatred won’t prosper. Sickness won’t prosper. Marital
strife won’t prosper. Financial disarray will not prosper. Standing alone in my
moments of weakness will not prosper. For God has promised never to leave me
nor forsake. Give God the glory and praise. I declare and decree into your live
right now, that as you stand in faith you will emerge from this trial in
triumph. You will walk out of this battle with your hands up! Your perseverance
will be rewarded with promotion.
It is
rough for many of you right now as you face the toughest trial you have ever
faced, but know that God is in the midst of the struggle and he is saying, “ Be
still and know that I am God.” He is saying, “There is power in the hands of
those that trust me. You are now standing on threshold of your breakthrough.
Praise your way though. I dare you! He awesome power of God is about to lift
you beyond the pain of the moment. Praise God!
May you
be richly blessed!
Sincerely,
Dr.Rick Wallace
Founder
& President
Rick
Wallace Ministries
100 Men
of Purpose
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