Today's Devotional

August 26, 2003

Subject:  Lessons From David And Goliath  - Never Go To Battle With Unproven Weapons Or Defenses

1 Samuel 17:38 - 39 And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.  And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him."

1 Samuel 17:45 - "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."

Once the war starts, you've got to go with proven weapons.  Just prior to the 1991 Gulf War, the Patriot Missile Defense System was still undergoing testing.  However, because of the imminent war with Iraq, we prematurely deployed the weapon system for the defense of Israel, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.  Initially heralded as a huge success, it was later revealed that the system had actually not done as well as first thought.  The system simply needed more testing to be as effective as desired.

This is the point David was making about using King Saul's armor and his sword.  The battle was now on with Goliath and as stated, "once the war starts, you've got to go with proven weapons."  The King's proven weapon was his sword and armor as also was the Philistine Goliaths' for he had slain many.  However, David's proven weapon was the "name of the Lord of hosts."  While David eventually killed Goliath with a rock, he killed him with "The Rock," the Lord of hosts.

How are you fighting your enemies today and what is your proven weapon?  Do you rely solely on your ability and talents as weapons in your warfare?  What do you have the most experience using as a weapon?

Today we need to "prove" our spiritual weapons of prayer, patience, love, hearing God, peace, obeying God and so on.  All of these things and more are weapons in which we need daily training.  When the war starts, you won't be able to make use of "unproven" weapons and you will either fight with burdensome, untried weapons and defenses, or like David, you will go to battle "in the name of the Lord."

Carlen