40 Days with Goliath -Part 1

For forty days the Philistine came forward
every morning and evening and 
​took his stand.

       Have you ever found yourself in a place where frustrations are mounting, tensions are building, and the desire to fix your situation in a less than God-honoring way seems more and more appealing?  Many times we come to spiritual battles where victory and relief seem distant.
          We have prayed, sacrificed and suffered. We have done all that we know to do, but the pressure keeps on us day after day.  The unique elements of our situation come up as reminders morning and evening, flaunting their continued presence in our lives, and mocking the faith and trust we have in a God who can deliver us. 
         They tell us that since He hasn’t gotten rid of that problem, that debt, that desire for drugs, that vindictive urge, that propensity to criticize, that it is just our personality, our genetics, our particular weakness.  We may see victory in other areas, but this one defeat is ours to keep.
          While many of us see David’s fight with Goliath as a one day event, it was not.  The victory he would ultimately have against this particular enemy of his soul was preceded by a series of choices that ultimately led, not only to his own victory, but victory for his family and nation as well.  His choices during his 40 days with Goliath would set a foundation for a life of victory—not only against one giant, but against them all. 
          It may seem like our story starts with David, a man who trusted God, but it does not:  it starts with a place.  A position:       
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Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 1 Sam. 17:1-3
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        Before we can even look at decisions and choices that may affect the outcome of our battles with our giants, the first thing for us to be aware of is our position.  Our place. 
        The first location named was a place village called Sochoh, which referred to a hedge, as one might plant around a vineyard so as to protect it from destructive animals or people.  These hedges were often thorny, and enclosed the vineyard completely. 
   The next location, Azekah, referred to digging about, or tilling, as a preparation for planting, perhaps a vineyard or another crop.
          The Israelites were encamped in the Valley of Elah, which means "low," or, literally "valley."  But its root word means to make low, humble, humiliated, dejected.  They lived temporarily in a place of depression.  Every morning they would have to climb out of their camp and go take their stand on the hill opposite Ephes Dammim in their battle array.  
           The fourth location, on which the Philistines were encamped, was called Ephes Dammin:  

            Boundary of the Bloods.          

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       Israel was God’s chosen people.  Jesus likened them to a vineyard, which the master had tilled, planted, and hedged about, and from whom He expected to receive fruit. (Matt 21:33) The vineyard owner would plant a tall, thorny hedge around the vineyard property, in order to keep out animals who would ruin the vines or steal the fruit.  The spike-laden bushes would prevent chewing through, and the density would mitigate crawling between. 
      For the Israelites, encamped in the Valley of Elah, the depression, degradation and humiliation in which they were living day after day was only serving to make them feel like there was nothing left for them but defeat.  They would get up every day, take their stand for a few moments, and then run away back to their camp---in the depressed lowlands. 
           As Christians, “grafted in” as God’s chosen people, we are also His vineyard.  Jesus has a loving, watchcare over us as His people, and a hedge of protection against the enemy, both in a spiritual sense, as well as in a physical sense.  In Job’s case, Satan could do nothing to hurt Job without getting express permission from God:
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Have not you made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.  Job 1:10
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       Most importantly, there is a “boundary of bloods,” poured out for us by Jesus’ death on the cross.  When Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, he laid an impenetrable boundary across which no thief, enemy or captor had any right or ability to cross.  Only our choice to walk over and hand ourselves into the captivity of the enemy yelling across the boundary could ever enable him to gain mastery over us. 
      
          It never stops him from trying, of course.  
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4And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. 1 Sam. 17:4-7

​      In modern terms, Goliath was approximately 9 feet, 9 inches tall, with a coat of mail that weighed between 126-200 pounds, bronze armor that weighed around 30 pounds, and even an iron spearhead that alone weighed between 15-25 pounds.  In all, Goliath would have been carrying from 170 to 255 pounds of armor or more! 
 
          To all watching, Goliath looked impervious, indomitable, and invincible.
 
        Don’t our giants look that way?  Giants of lust, pride, lies, addictions, disrespect, depression, rebellion, bitterness….the list goes on and on.  They rear up, and our necks crane back painfully as realize just how large they are.  
      We are reminded of our failures by our children, spouses, friends, and co-workers.  Our own thoughts race, in a circular pattern, down through the long night hours.  They spiral down when there is nothing left to distract us, no one to contradict them.  We haven’t beaten that giant in the past; by all experience and evidence it is unbeatable.  
          In a sense our goliaths gain a type of victory over us when we simply stay in the depression.  When we live, day after day, with that sense of defeat and impending failure.  Sometimes it is all we can do to put on our armor and walk up the hill for a few minutes--long enough to hear him shouting out his taunts---before we run back to our place of humiliation.       
          Satan would always rather we give up without a fight. He knows that if we are in Jesus he no longer possesses the ability to control, enslave or defeat us by force. Instead, his chief weapons against us are fear, intimidation, deceit and manipulation. 
          Nearing the cross, Jesus acknowledged three things to His disciples:  1) Satan temporarily had a princely rule and domination over the world; 2) Because of Christ’s sinless perfection, Satan had absolutely no claim or authority over Christ; and 3) through Jesus’ sinless sacrifice on the cross, Satan, the reigning prince over the world, would be cast out, disarmed, and triumphed over:  

I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming, and he has no claim on Me. John 14:30
 
Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. John 12:31
 
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Col. 2:15
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​          Because of Jesus’ blood, we are planted, nurtured and protected from the Evil One.  As long as we remain in Jesus, in His vineyard, the enemy cannot force us to submit to him any longer.
  
          However, the enemy does not fight fair.  Not only does he try to impress us with his great strength, but he also has another tactic. 
 
          Shame. 
 
        Goliath’s name means to uncover, strip naked, make exiled, and make captive.  It is a picture of the captivity and exile of slaves who were conquered, stripped naked, tied, and led away as slaves from their homeland into a foreign land.  It denotes abject shame, mockery, helplessness, hopelessness, despair and lifetime enslavement. 
 
          Hear the mockery in his voice as he shout to them across the valley:

 “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. 1 Sam. 17:8-11
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      Now what is really interesting is that the Hebrew word for “Defy” means to reproach, blaspheme, shame, mock, make naked, expose.  It is the same word used for winter, denoting the time after crops and leaves stripped bare.   In this context, it has the idea of a reproach, a mocking, because of a vulnerability, helplessness and weakness due to nakedness.  It implies shame and mockery heaped upon an already defeated captive.  Does this sound familiar?  It is the very purpose of Goliath's name. It is who he is and what he does.  
    Goliath was mocking the armies of Israel.  He was declaring their shame, vulnerability, helpless and inevitable enslavement, and he was mocking them for it as if it was already true.  He was declaring that their God, the living God, could have no power to save them from his strength and ability.  
         The enemy does this to us.  Our giants say that we are too weak, too vulnerable, to stand a chance.  They declare that we are naked, ashamed and entirely too guilty to win.  They seek our absolute and utter enslavement along with our obedience to whatever evil desire comes up as a temptation. 
         
       The goliaths in our lives come to us as impressive, terrifying addictions, problems, and sin-issues that seem impossible to defeat.  They make us feel ashamed, even in the temptation, as if we have already become their slave.  
 
          They tell us that we can never defeat them, that we are destined for a life of defeat, and that there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it.  To fight would only be worse.  They say we might as well give up and accept the inevitable, because it will be less terrible than the destruction they would inflict if we fight.   
          Their goal is our enslaved obedience.  That whatever lust or pride or selfishness that we are tempted with, we would follow, helpless to control our thoughts, appetites, emotions and actions.   
          However, the truth is that through repentance and faith in Jesus, we are clothed in His own, perfect righteousness.  There is a beautiful word picture of this transaction in Zechariah that I love:
          

“And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan was standing at Joshua’s right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” (Zechariah 3:1-4 KJV)

       It may seem like there is only a negative when our goliaths come against us.  Without the giants, it seems "normal."  That getting rid of the giants brings us back to "normal."  This is not how Jesus views each victory that we have, though!  With each goliath that we gain victory over, there is an increase in power, in abundant life, in joy, that we never had before. 
       Rather than view this opposition with terror and dread, if we are living in obedience to Christ as our king we can know that not only does He have a plan, but that He is positioning us for a victory through His blood that will result in an increase of freedom for our families, churches, communities and nations. 
         As we walk through the story of David's victory of the Goliath of their time, we will see exactly how David conquered him and brought freedom and joy back to his people. 

       But for now, realize your position: 

      You are a child of God, loved, protected, watched over.  There is a hedge, a boundary of Jesus' blood that no enemy can cross over.  Position yourself on your hilltop with an expectation that He has a plan for your victory.

               Because of the Boundary of Blood.