Well, I'm happy to report a second day of faithful study. I feels so good to be working again.



Today, my reading took me to a most famous portion of the Bible-the story of David and Goliath. It comes on the heels of a different kind of story-the very short tale of Saul's ascension to the Kingship and his subsequent fall from grace.



Nearly everyone-even the unchurched-knows this story. The Israelites are about to make war with the evil Phlistines who live to the West of them. But just when the battle is about to begin, a Philistine champion named Goliath steps out and proposes that the entire war be decided in single combat. The Israelite's best man would fight Goliath, and the loser's army would become the slaves of the winner's army. Fair enough-except that Goliath is over nine feet tall and strong enough to bench press my house! So no one is willing to take the Philistine up on his offer, until a young boy named David (who would probably be in the fifth grade, if he lived in modern America) steps forward. He accepts the Philisine's challenge, and does not even put on armor or take a sword in order to slay the giant. His reasoning? That the Lord has always taken care of him in the past, and He will give him the help he needs to slay Goliath. Armed only with a slingshot, David then kills Goliath with a single blow and uses the giant's own sword to cut off hs head.



I think people try too hard to make something profound out of this story. They analyze every line of dialogue, and even find some significance in the number of stones David picked out of the river to load into his slingshot! What they tend to miss is the main point of the passage, which God is making as obvious as possible. A FIFTH-GRADER, ARMED WITH A SLINGSHOT, KILLED A FULLY-ARMED, NINE-FOOT-TALL, EXPERIENCED SOLDIER! OW IS THIS HUMANLY POSSIBLE???!!! It isn't-and that is the point. It happened because God made it so. And it didn't matter how unevenly matched these two were; God determined the outcome. his is the way it is with the entire universe: God is in total command of everything; He decides that a thing will happen, and it does. The wise warrior will make certain that he is fighting on God's side.

Here are today's verses:



Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.



When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years, and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.