August Meditation
A Giant of a Name
Even as an adolescent, David had an awareness of the power of identifying with the name of the Lord--an awareness that made him unique among the warriors of Israel. As his bigger, stronger, and more worldly wise brothers trotted off to battle as members of King Saul’s war machine, David was relegated to stay home and tend his father’s sheep. Only an occasional assignment to take care packages from the father to his brothers and return to him with news of the campaign broke the monotony of his daily life. On one of those random occasions when he was commissioned to visit his siblings at the battlefield, David found his brothers and the entire army cowered before the Philistine giant who had challenged them twice each day for the past forty days to a one-on-one battle. No one from the multitude of men encamped there was willing to step forward and take up the challenge; rather, they were all terrorized by the very appearance of the giant.
David stepped out in the midst of this dysfunctional battle array and proclaimed that he was not only willing, but ready and able, to take on themenace. Careful observation of the text describing this encounter reveals what made the difference between this young upstart and all the veteran warriors.
In reading the full seventeenth chapter of I Samuel, we notice that these soldiers are repeatedly referred to as “the men of Saul” and “the army of Israel.” When David stepped to the plate, he questioned, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the army of the living God?” It is only this young lad who saw himself and the men around him as the army of the living God--not the physical army of a nation or a king, but the spiritual representatives of the almighty deity of the universe. Whereas everyone else identified with the name of their king and nation, David proclaimed the name of his God--a name which he would not use in vain, but one that he knew would invoke victory as the Lord defended His reputation. David would later express what must have been in his heart that day when he penned the words of Psalm 20:7, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses:but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” One interesting point in the encounter between David and Goliath is that, even though he intended to attack his opponent with a sling,
the shepherd boy took with him his staff as he went out to confront the giant.
(verse 40)
Is it possible that he held on to the stick as a reminder of the name through which he intended to overcome the challenger? Notice too that it was the stick in the lad’s hand that drew Goliath’s attention. “And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.” (verse 43) More significantly, notice that David’s answer to the question about the stick in his hand was that his real weapon that day was the name of the Lord, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.” (verse 45)
It was not only the Philistine in the Valley of Elah who has met his Waterloo at the
name of the Lord, but every giant throughout history has learned to fear the
authoritative power of the name of the Lord. In Acts chapters four and five, the first Christians were imprisoned for preaching the gospel. When they were brought to trial, they were offered what might have beenthe original plea bargain in that they were to be released if they would agree to never preach in “this name” again. (Acts 4:17) There was no concern about their preaching, healing, doing any sort of ministry--as long as they didn’t use the name of Jesus in the process. Modern society has demonstrated a paranoia of the name of Jesus with community after community and state after state passing legislation to prohibit the use of the name of Jesus even when celebrating His own birthday. A representative from a federal agency advised me that our college
should change the catalogue listing of our Christmas break to “winter break”
because using terminology which incorporated the name of Christ disqualified
our students from receiving their benefits. When my pastor was invited to open the Indiana State Legislature in prayer, he wound up being listed in a law suit because he used the name of Jesus in his prayer. A legislator who was a member of our church tried to bring the issue into focus by saying that she had sat in sessions which were opened in prayer to Native American spirit deities, Allah, Buddha, and various New Age expressions; however, not one of these names had stirred up the nest--only the name of Jesus!
This article is an excerpt for Delron's latest book, In This Sign Conquer. To obtain a free copy, donate on line today.