Just One Story VI: It’s Not About David
Let’s wrap up this series about David and Goliath. The message to this point has been important, but the final lesson is more important yet. The most important lesson from the story of David and Goliath for the church is that this story is not about David, but about God. We are naturally self-centered and try to make everything about ourselves, but that is not what our faith is all about. Our focus cannot be on us, but on God. Several years ago I was at a family gathering in the home of a relative who had small children. I was having a hard time participating in the family festivities because I had lost my voice to fall allergies, so I was simply watching the children do what c

Can You Hear Me Now?
What was God trying to say when he used a boy with a sling to defeat Goliath? I am reluctant to speculate about God’s motives because his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. To believe I can discern what was in God’s mind at that time would be the height of arrogance, but there are at least three lessons in this story that were relevant for King Saul’s constituents and are important for us as well. The lessons are clear. The only question is whether we can hear them. First, God’s people can trust God to fight their battles. First Samuel 17:47 says, “. . .that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spea

Just One Story IV: Don’t Bring a Knife to a Gunfight
    We have all heard the expression, “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” Again, I am not sure of its origin but it was very popular after the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark came out. In that movie one of the bad guys prepares to fight Indiana Jones, the “good guy,” with a large, curved sword. The crowd becomes very quiet because it is evident that the bad guy knows how to use this sword and everyone expects things to go badly for the good guy. Then, in a humorous twist, Indiana Jones nonchalantly pulls out a pistol and shoots the guy wielding the sword. So much for the bad guy. God’s people often make the same mistake. We take the wrong weapons to the