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Topic: Be Not Dismayed
[DCLM Daily Manna 26 August 2019 Daily Devotional by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi]
Text: 1 Samuel 17:1-11 (KJV)
1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.
4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.
7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.
8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
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9 If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.
10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
Key Verse: “When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid” – (1 Samuel 17:11).
MESSAGE:
Here is a child’s response to his parents’ traumatic feeling and expression: “Dad! Mum! But you taught me to trust God whenever I am afraid. Let’s trust him. He will save us”. In the same vein, the psalmist says, “what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Psalm 56:3). But when King Saul (who was supposed to be a champion himself and a match for Goliath in battle) and the army of Israel heard the threats and the disdainful utterances from the champion of their opponent, Goliath, they were engulfed with fear and worried.
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Goliath appeared invincible before Israel and so both the sinful king and his followers trembled before him. In the sight of God however, he was like anyone else and his utterances were worthless and vain. Were it not for loss of fellowship and communion with God, Saul should have known that Goliath’s fellow giants were conquered in the past and that he was a defeated foe as well.
Believers need to be careful and watchful so that they do not take the grace and mercy of God for granted as this could predispose them to sin, thereby making them cowards and defenseless before the enemy. You must not be dismayed or perturbed when surrounded by giant-like situations and vicissitudes of life because there is no mountain so high that God cannot make a plain. Whatever giant is before you today – problem, challenge, affliction, persecution, trial or the general economic financial situation – arise in courage and firmness and confront such through faith.
Thought For The Day: Fear empties one of strength.
The Bible In One Year: Psalm 36–38
