The Enemy is not Meant to Kill you but to Crown you

1 Samuel 17:25 So the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel."

These men of Israel had been at the battle front for 39 days and had watched Goliath come up and defy Israel. They had attended the special briefing that the King gave and the reward he had promised to anyone who would kill the giant was apparent. They kept on repeating the words of the King to one another but none among them believed in them or himself strongly enough to take action and slay the giant.

No one could marshal enough courage to face Goliath. For 39 days they would wake up to the battle front, Goliath would appear and in his characteristic defiance would send the soldier scampering in fear. They went to sleep anxious and woke up no different. They somehow hoped that someone his equal would arise and fight him. The only problem is none of the soldiers of Israel thought they could fight Goliath and win. They had forgotten who they were, the armies not of King Saul but of the LORD.

The men just talked, but when David arrived that morning, he couldn’t believe what he saw, “the armies of Israel were chickening at the threat of one man.” Probably the men would runaway from the sight of the giant and begin to converse in low tones. They would divide into their cohorts, to talk but never to act. David stood over to listen to one of the cohorts and one man was speaking with passion, “Riches, a beautiful wife, the daughter of the King and exemption from taxes for his entire family is what the King had promised to the person who kills the giant.” 

David listened intently moving from one group to another. Every where he went, the men confirmed that the king’s promise was indeed true, but he sensed in their voice hopelessness, despair and fear. The atmosphere was sickening. The soldier’s morale was low. They had listened to Goliath’s threats every day for the last 39 days and believed him. As everyday passed they knew it was just a matter of time before they fell into the hands of the Philistines. Fear melted their courage and paralyzed the brave among them. It short circuited their memory. They couldn’t see the greatness of their God, only the mightiness of the giant. Like the spies of old they saw themselves grasshoppers. They had become the product of what they listened to every morning. The threats of Goliath had yielded the results he desired, Fear, paralysis, loss of faith, identity and national pride.

Up until David came they had surrendered and become the subjects of the philistines though no battle had been fought yet. Nothing would motivate any to rise up and fight. They listened to the enemy and MENTALLY became his slaves. David came with a fresh mind and energy. He said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."  The only problem to them was THAT his body size couldn’t match his words. Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." But David knew something more than all the soldiers of Israel that day. He said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,  ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.  ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.  ³⁷ The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."

 

He was a veteran of war but from a different front and he fought for the smile of His heavenly commander, who endued him with strength to overcome every adversary on all occasions. When He stepped out everybody doubted his ability to win even Goliath dismissed him as some kind of a joke. But in the spiritual front where the battles are won David was taller and stronger than Goliath and all the armies of the philistines combined. 

In 1 Samuel 17:45-46 David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  ⁴⁶ "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

With that ultimatum the war was won before it began. God had given David victory and he knew it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. He had the substance and he produced the evidence. The rest is the history we share upto date.

So what battles are you facing today. Don’t lose your faith or forget your identity. You are not an ordinary man. In your DNA there is a streak of divine nature. Nothing is impossible with you because you serve a mighty God. Match out to the battle field, the enemy is not meant to kill you but to crown you, to identify you. You are called to greatness and though you face great battles, they all serve to authenticate your position and rank spiritually.