Recently Braxton has requested the story of King David as his preferred night-night story. Braxton loves stories of kings and queens. In his own little world, Ma-maw is the patriarch, I am the king, Shannon is the queen and he is the "David." Greyson is just Greyson, bless his heart. We all rule over Ridgewood Street and Chico and Lucky are our only subjects. This is a shot of B and I patrolling our kingdom. We were also collecting bait to catch fish to feed the Royal Family.
"This is how it all went down. The Israelites (the good guys) were at war with the Philistines (the bad guys.) The Philistines had one certain soldier that was a big boy. I mean this dude was huge. They called him Goliath. Even today when you hear the word Goliath, you think of something big.
Not only did Goliath have a big frame, but he also had the big ego to go with it. Every day he would come out and taunt the Jews. He was so sure of himself that he made the deal that if one man killed him, then the Philistines would become the slaves of the Israelites. He did this daily for forty days.
Now our boy David was a shepherd. That means he tended sheep. Not the most glorious job back then but an important one nonetheless. He had heard there was a battle going on and decided to go down and check on his brothers. He was prepared to see his people whip up on some Philistine tail. But when he got down to Elah, he saw just the opposite. (just a side note about David... this fellow is anointed. God has big plans for David and this kid is chock full of the Holy Spirit.) So when David heard G-baby come out and give his daily threats to the Israelites, he took personal offense to it. He said one of my favorite lines in the whole Bible. Allow me to quote David; "Who is THIS uncircumcised Philistine who DARES defy the army of the Living God? Don't lose heart over this dude anymore! I will go and kill him. When a lion or a bear tries to attack my sheep, I take him out. When the wild animals turn on me, I grab them by the hair and handle my business. This Goliath defies MY God and I will neutralize this threat with extreme prejudice."
They tried to put armor on David but he didn't want it. He didn't need it. He got five stones from a stream and his trusty sling and moved out. When Big Boy saw him coming, he got mad. He was offended that a young man was coming at him with just a few rocks and a sling. Goliath had some heavy metal in his arsenal. But David not only had his usual side arm, he was also packing the ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction....
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD ALMIGHTY, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:45-47.
Krav Maga /krɑːv məˈɡɑː/ (Hebrew: קרב מגע [ˈkʁav maˈɡa], lit. "contact combat") is a tactical martial system developed in Israel that consists of a wide combination of techniques. Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations and extremely efficient and brutal counter attacks.
Krav Maga encourages students to avoid confrontation. If this is impossible or unsafe, it promotes finishing a fight as quickly as possible. Attacks are aimed at the most vulnerable parts of the body, and training is not limited to techniques that avoid severe injury.
Students learn to defend against all variety of attacks and are taught to counter in the quickest and most efficient way. (thank you wikipedia.)
What David did next was awesome. He ran to Goliath, whipped a rock from his sling and knocked Big 'Un down. He then took Goliath's own sword and cut the giants head off. Talk about Israeli Special Forces. He took out the enemy in a matter of seconds. David just took hand to hand combat to a whole new level. Israeli Krav Maga in the Old Testament.
All the odds were against David. He was small, he was armor-less, and under armed. But he had something that Goliath didn't. God had his back and he knew it. He entered the battlefield knowing that God would take care of him. If only I had the faith of David.
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with trying to do everything right. I want my kingdom to run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. It's hard for me to keep the faith that David had when I'm facing my Goliaths. It's easy to run and hide like the Israelites did in the face of a major threat. There is a Chris Tomlin song that is being played to death on Christian radio right now, but I love it. "Whom Shall I Fear." I wonder if David had a psalm like that in his head as he was facing the giant?
"I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side"
