Life Here and There

Kevin Martineau just asked a few people to write guest posts on his blog, so I offered one and Kevin published it today. It’s all about charging at giants, and I love the image Kevin chose to represent the idea!…

Read Charging At Giants

Yesterday at Bethel, we kicked off a four-part sermon series on the story of David and Goliath called Killing Giants. I took a slingshot to church and picked up five smooth stones along the way. We had fun. Nobody argued with the sermon… no one dared!

This morning, I woke up with a semi-profound thought on my mind… slingshots don’t hurt people, people hurt people. David used his slingshot to bring down a giant. Goliath was a 9 foot, 3 inch mountain of a man, covered in brass, carrying steel, and guarded by a shieldsman. David slung a rock an hit a target the size of a post-it note, thereby putting all of the Philistines to flight. Awesome story! We’re learning a lot from it already.

Here’s the thought that hit me, however. How often do we take our slingshots and aim them at the wrong target? In fact, do we sometimes aim our slingshot back at our own army? It occurs to me that it wasn’t the weapon that really mattered to the story, it was the aim of David. And if his smooth stone took down a giant wielding an iron spear, what do our words do to those at whom we sling them?

You might say that all of us have a tendency to reach for stones when we feel defensive. David was defending the honor and glory of God, but I wouldn’t dare presume that my motives are always that pure when I’m slinging words around.

I know that this post, even by its very title, might offend the crowd in favor of slingshot control, but maybe we just need better tongue control?… or maybe we just need better aim!

Tomorrow, I’m beginning a new series of messages on the battle between David and Goliath. That’s where we are in our journey through the Word, right in the middle of 1 Samuel, and I’m going to slow down and dedicate the four Sundays of March to this wonderful story.

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In our journey through the Word at Bethel, we’ve come up to the historical books of the Old Testament. We jump right into the first two kings, Saul and David, who could not be more of a contrast. I’ve always been struck by the supreme difference between the two of them Saul would do anything for the approval of man, including live in direct disobedience to God. David, on the other hand, was crushed anytime he didn’t have God’s approval and obeyed God even when it cost him the approval of man.

My how we need to learn this!

And here’s a Youtube link to To Become A Man After God’s Own Heart.

There’s a scene in The Lion King I really like when the old wise monkey hits Simba in the head with his cane. Simba demands, “Hey, why’d you do that?” The monkey replies, “It doesn’t matter, it’s in the past.” There’s a lot of wisdom in that!

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