WHOSE CHILD ARE YOU?

 

1 Samuel 17:55-56 (NLT)

[55] As Saul watched David go out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of his army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” “I really don’t know,” Abner declared.

[56] “Well, find out who he is!” the king told him.

Let me give a context for the above scripture by dramatising the first chapter of Samuel, verse seventeen.

The Bible records a mighty battle in ancient Israel, popularly known as David vs. Goliath. It was one of those weird battles for Israel because, in this battle, the opponents didn’t want the entire army to attack each other but wanted them to select one strong man in their camp to stand against their champion. In other words, the champion of Israel against that of the Philistine. Though this would have been easy for Israel to do, the problem was that the champion of the Philistines wasn’t the height of the average Israelite (1 Samuel 17:4-7). How could this be fair in their sight?

Already exhausted by the thought of his height and how he was well-built to be called a warrior, the cheat of a giant goes ahead to resound his proposal to Israel. Goliath said, “Why are you all coming out to fight? I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!”

When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken. How did the once-powerful Israel, who used to be feared by all because of the numerous wonders of their God, get to this point? What happened?

Anyway, while that was happening on the battlefield, there was a young man called David whose three elder brothers were on the battlefield. His father, Jesse, had called him from the field while shepherding their flock to come and get some provisions and deliver them to his brothers on the battlefield. Like every good last-born who was proud of the efforts of his big brothers, he journeyed to the battlefield and met his brothers. As he exchanged greetings with his brothers and a few friends of his brothers who he knew from their neighbourhood, Goliath’s voice resounded the proposal to Israel again. (Let’s not forget that Goliath had recited the proposal for forty good days. In other words, he shouted his proposal each day for over a month, more than four weeks.) Without hesitation, the Israelites quickly began to hide behind each other as if they would disappear by looking away. “Ah! Why are they running? Aren’t these the so-called selected warriors to fight for Israel? What is happening?” David thought to himself.

Like every inquisitive young man, he quickly tries to get a good look at Goliath and shakes his head. “Is that the thing you people are running from? What is on the table for the man who can slaughter that thing?” David asked without batting an eye. The men couldn’t believe they heard this from the young man whose brothers were terrified. The eldest brother immediately tagged David as proud, but David only insisted on knowing the offer on the table for that thing’s head. They told him and later took him to King Saul because of his audacity. 

After a brief discussion with King Saul, who wasn’t ready to make him take that risk because he was too young and ill-trained for war, David’s story of how he fought bears and a lion while shepherding ordinary sheep one way or the other convinced King Saul to take a gamble on David. I say a gamble because King Saul knew what was at stake for the whole of Israel if this young man lost this battle, but again, this was the very young man who was skilful in the whole of Israel to play an instrument for an evil spirit to leave him. Who was he to doubt him now? David couldn’t be boldly speaking if he didn’t have anything or someone he relied on.

When he failed to wear King Saul’s armour to pass the army vibe check, Saul knew he had to fully trust the young man, David, to fight this battle his way. David quickly grabbed the sling and stones he had mastered as a shepherd and went before Goliath. While he walked boldly to face the thing that was making a mockery of his God and people, every single person knew he was the sacrificial lamb that was going to enslave them in a few minutes. Some shook their heads in shame because they weren’t bold enough to take the step, and others just pitied him for foolishly offering himself to the Philistine giant.

When Goliath finally heard that the champion of Israel was heading to the battleground, he quickly came out to see the supposed “weakling” he would destroy so that his people would revere him and his generation forever. He gets to the battlefield with his war accoutrements and finds a tiny human before him. “Are these Israelites joking with me?” Goliath thought to himself. Looking at Israel and then at David, Goliath asked, “Am I a dog that you come at me with a stick?” Out of anger and disgust for such disrespect, he cursed David by the names of his gods and said, “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!”

Before I get to the exciting part, let me quickly touch on verses 55 and 56 of the same chapter. Although they seem to come after what had transpired between David and Goliath, the Bible clearly states that it occurred between King Saul and Abner, the Commander of the Army, while David was heading to the battleground to face Goliath. King Saul could not understand the SOURCE OF DAVID’S BOLDNESS. King Saul needed to know if it had anything to do with his father or lineage. Doesn’t it intrigue you to find that question also being asked Jesus when he boldly spoke, confronted demons and healed the sick? It was the same for the Apostles when the Sanhedrin saw their boldness. The Sanhedrin thought the apostles’ boldness was because they had been with Jesus; they didn’t know that the apostles were boldly speaking, confronting demons, and healing all kinds of sickness because they had received the Spirit of God—the same Spirit as Jesus.

It was on the battlefield that David made the answer clear to Goliath. It was unfortunate that King Saul couldn’t hear it. David had only one Source in his life, and when Goliath had the guts to question that Source, he confronted Goliath with the authority of that Source. David said, “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. Today, 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! And 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!”

The Bible states that David began to run towards Goliath after boldly drawing the battle lines. The battle wasn’t between Israel and the Philistines—no! The minute Goliath cursed David with his gods, it immediately became a war between the God of Israel and the gods of the Philistines. (I believe the Philistines had forgotten that the God of Israel had already defeated them and made a mockery of their gods, especially Dagon, the day they mistakenly placed the Ark of God in the temple of Dagon (1 Samuel 5).

Fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, I know you have heard and repeated the prophecy of Zachariah to Zerubbabel, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him!” These are not mere words; they are the truths we must boldly hold onto daily. 

I know the demons from your father and mother’s house have been around for thousands of years, but I want you to know, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” I understand that the signs of you repeating the same generational errors are clear and can’t be denied, but I want you to know, “Anyone who is in Christ is a new Creation.” David could have chosen to shut up and walked away the minute his brother called him proud, but he knew who he was and who was behind him. If David took those bold steps with God based on a covenant of the blood of bulls and goats, how much more you, whose covenant was made with the blood of the Son of God? Why have you decided to shut up for those demons to be victorious in your family? Don’t you know the one to whom you belong? Who said you have to be a giant like Goliath to win the battle against Goliath?

Jesus won the battle years ago when He, the Son of God, nakedly died on that disgraceful cross and rose from the dead. Jesus took the keys and handed them to us to wave at the enemy each passing day to remind him of his defeat, yet we weep and accept the error as a must-have reality. Who bewitched us? You have the keys to walk out of that generation of diabetic patients, generation of untimely deaths, generation of failed marriages, generation of failed businesses, generation of unwarranted debts, generation of abusers, generation of people with an addiction, etc. Carry those issues to God in the place of prayer, and begin to disconnect yourself by making it clear to the enemy that you are of a different kingdom. Say it consistently until it is your default understanding of your identity. We may have come from a so-so-and-so family, but we are disconnected from their attachment to the kingdom of darkness. From today, as children of God bought with the blood of Jesus and transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, we only accept into our lineage what God has said concerning us. We can’t be a specimen for the works of darkness from that lineage. We only speak and live by the dictates of the kingdom of light for that lineage. We refuse their demonic realities and only accept into our lineage the realities of Christ in Jesus’ name. 

Fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, God didn’t place you in your family by mistake. You are an answered prayer for a generation. Stay with God, and you will see God’s mighty hand transform the family through you.

Remain in the blessings of God as you remain in Christ.

MD.