One of the first stories in the Bible that I remember learning about in Sunday school was the story of David and Goliath.  Everyone loves a good underdog story!  David was the youngest of 8 sons who helped care for his father’s sheep.  One day his father told him to go bring his 3 oldest brothers grain and bread to their camp where they were fighting the Philistines. When David arrived on the scene, Goliath went up in front of the battle and challenged the men of the army saying “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.  If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us” I Samuel 17:8. When David heard these words, he was stirred that a Philistine thought they could prevail against the army of the Lord and volunteered to fight Goliath.  When he was presented before the King as the one to go before him in battle, the King was not convinced that David was the right man for the job.  He looked at him and verse 33 said: “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”  But David replied and told Saul that “your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them.” Saul lost perspective!  He saw David as too small to fight the Giant.  But what he should have seen was that God inside of David was bigger than any Giant on the battle field! Perspective is everything when viewing the giants in your life.

David went onto the battle field with his staff, 5 smooth stones placed in a pouch and a sling in his hand.  It may not have seemed like much to the other warriors on the field as they were equipped with helmets, breastplates, and spears but it was what David was trained and skilled in using. If he would have walked into battle wearing the full armor, he wouldn’t have been able to even walk, let alone win a battle.  When David went out on the battlefield, he took a stone out of his worn, little bag, slung it in the air and hit the Philistine right in the forehead and he fell face down!

The armor that the soldiers wore for battle was very heavy and cumbersome.  It was used to protect them from head to toe.  No matter how much good the armor would have done in “covering” David from head to toe, it was too heavy and would have weighed him down. 

Here’s a different perspective, are you wearing armor to protect yourself or are you wearing it to hide? Maybe you put on the armor from head to toe to hide behind it versus actually going out to do battle.  We would rather sit on top of the battlefield looking like we are ready to do battle instead of being in the battle!

Or maybe you are letting the things of this world weigh you down.  Are you wearing the sins of your past? Your failed marriage? The weight of depression or sickness?  Or the weight of paying your bills?

It’s time to take off the heavy weights that the world tells us to wear.  It might make you feel vulnerable and naked at first like David felt walking out onto the battlefield, but you will feel something else – something that David felt once he took off the heavy armor and walked out onto the battlefield – you will feel victory! Victory in overcoming the things of this world.  Victory in knowing who you are and what God has called you to do

1 Pet 5:7 (Phi) “You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.”  You don’t have to continue to wear the armor.  It’s not easy to walk in. You can’t function to your fullest.  It might seem like it is protecting you from some things but let God do the job of being your armor – let God be your Protector and stop hiding behind the heaviness of the armor.  

Not all armor is bad but we need to make sure we are putting on the right kind! Instead of putting on the weight of our problems, put on the armor of God.  The breastplate of Righteousness when we feel that we are unworthy.  The helmet of Salvation when we need forgiveness and the belt of Truth to combat the lies of the enemy.  Only then are we ready to go into battle prepared to defeat the enemy.

Lauren Clark

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