Scripture
16For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army. 17One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. 18And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.” 19David’s brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines. 1 Samuel 17:16-19
Observation
40 Days of taunting. 40 Days of shaming. 40 Days of intimidating. 40 Days of hiding. That’s right. King Saul and all his warriors, including David’s brothers, were all hiding in their tents while the Philistine giant Goliath mocked Israel and their God. What did they do? They were hiding for their lives. King Saul was throwing all kinds of incentives at the troops. Have money, have a wife, have some land, have no taxes for life. None of these could entice the men to leave their tents. They were hiding. Not for one, not for three or four weeks. The armies of Israel were hiding for 40 days when David walked upon the scene and heard the obscene things Goliath was saying about his God. Note that David had not come to deliver Israel from their oppressor. No, David had come to deliver… cheese. Yes, like so many in today’s “shelter at home” realty David was delivering the groceries at his Dad’s request and was playing messenger boy for pops as well. He didn’t have weapons. He didn’t have armor. He didn’t even a position in the army. What he did have though, made all the difference. He had faith in the God who walked to that field with him. If we hear the lies of the enemy long enough we start to believe they are true. The army believed they were small in the shadow of that giant after 40 Days of lies and began to think that God was small too. David endured the teasing of his brothers (1 Sam. 17:28), the doubting of King Saul (1 Sam. 17:33), and the mocking of Goliath (1 Sam. 17:43) and yet the only words that defined him were the ones he heard from the Lord. “45David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!” (1 Sam. 17:45-47). Faith walked on to the field and there would be no more hiding. Deliverance was coming from the Lord. It was after 40 Days of hiding in Ark that God brought an end to the rain and clear skies of hope to Noah (Gen. 7:12). It was after 40 Days of hiding in the wilderness that God got the attention of Moses through a burning bush and called him into his divine design as a deliverer of God’s people (Acts 7:30). It was after 40 years of hiding in fear wandering through the wilderness that Joshua split the Jordan and led Israel to the Promised Land (Deut. 8:2-4). It was after 40 days of Elijah hiding from Queen Jezebel’s wrath that God met him with a whisper on Mt. Horeb (1 Ki. 19:8). It was 40 Days between the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the disciples spent most of it hiding behind closed doors. David was hiding too. David was hiding in the Lord as he describes in Psalm 32:7, “For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.”
Application
May 1st will mark 40 Days since Oahu gave the “shelter at home” order. How has your 40 days been? Same here. Some good. Some bad. Sometimes I’m hiding in the Lord. Sometimes I’m hiding in a binge of the medical show “House”. Though Hugh Laurie is an incredible actor it doesn’t work to hide there because he can’t help me fight my battles. One would think that there would be no place to hide when everyone is at home, but statistics show we, like the Israelites, have been hiding in our tents while the enemy of souls convinces us we’ve already lost the war. Domestic violence is on the rise as some hide in anger. Alcohol sales have jumped 243% since the lockdown as some have chosen this method hide from their pain. I say this because more than 1 in 3 people who die from suicide are under the influence of alcohol at the time of death. The very thing that promises escape actually traps us even more. Some have chosen to hide in their food consumption as studies show consumers bought about 50% more cookies and salty snacks than during the same time period in the previous year. Pornography has seen an 18% jump by offering fantasy and perversion as a hiding place as compared to the hard work of a real relationship. I used to judge the Israelite army for not stepping up to face Goliath until I realized I often retreat to the safety of my tents too. I hear the same taunts of the enemy as you do. You won’t be able to love your wife, your kids, your church the way you’re supposed to so why try? If God was really for you then why did He let this happen? You wasted your time, you lost your temper, you ate too much, etc. Then, Jesus, the Son of David, walks on to the scene and asks, “Who are you going to listen to, him or Me? Don’t let that giant tell you how big he is. You tell that giant how big Your God is. You don’t have to be the best Dad, just be a good one. You don’t have to cook a gourmet meal, just feed them. You don’t have to be perfect because I AM!” The question God is asking me right now is who I want to be on the other side of these 40 Days? Do I want to keep hiding in these tents of shame or do I want to take a stand in His Name. Two years ago I stood where David stood in the valley of Elah. It looks pretty much the same today as it did all those years ago. Guess what? There’s nowhere to hide, but there’s plenty of room to fight. I took five stones from that river bed (pictured below) and prayed that God would help me teach my five boys how to slay the giants in their lives. God is answering that prayer right now as we’ve all been enrolled in Giant Slaying 101. It starts with a choice to stop hiding in false escapes and to hiding In Him.
Prayer
It’s almost bedtime. I meant to journal in the morning. That’s how crazy this day has been. But, this moment right here is a win. Instead of doing what I felt like doing, which was to watch a show, I sat down and let You speak to my heart. God-1, Giant-0. I choose to hid in You and to not hide from the house cleaning You are doing in my heart… and in my actual house. By the time May 1st rolls around I want to turn 40 Days of Hiding into 40 Days of Fighting the enemy and winning!
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