"David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." v. 37. David knew that one was as easy to God as the other. When we are in communion with God, we do not put difficulty by the side of difficulty; for what is difficulty to Him? Faith measures every difficulty by the power of God, and then the mountain becomes as the plain. Too often, beloved, we think that in little things less than Omnipotence will do; and then it is that we fail. Have we not seen zealous and devoted saints fail in some trifling thing? The cause is that they have not thought of bringing God by faith into all their ways. Abraham could leave his family and his father's house and go out at the commandment of God, not knowing whither he went; but the moment he meets a difficulty in his own wisdom, and gets down into Egypt, what does he do? He constantly fails in comparatively small things. Once in a wrong position, one which we have chosen, and how weak we are! Faith knows no little things. Faith discerns our own weakness so clearly that it sees that nothing less than the power of God can enable us to overcome in anything. So faith never makes light of danger, for it knows what we are; just as, on the other hand, faith never faints at danger, because it knows what God is. This true estimate of our weakness and peril always gives a chastened tone to the confidence of faith. Measuring ourselves by our foes, what do we appear? "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Eph. 6:1212For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12). And what are we compared with such? what our strength compared with theirs? "We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight!" Numb. 13:3333And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:33). Therefore, "Put on the whole armor of God." Thus does faith discover the reality of our own weakness, while it rests secure in the might of the Lord. Thus faith knows what the flesh is, though the flesh knows not itself; and, consequently, he who is strongest in faith will least glory in self. "When I am weak, then am I strong."
Thus it is here with David. He well knew that he was no match for Goliath. None need tell David that. David was not acting in pride of heart. Far from him was any thought of his own strength when he saw the terrible giant of Gath. He felt himself to be less than either Eliab, or Saul, or Goliath thought him to be. Nevertheless he could go forth in most perfect confidence. He knew that he should be delivered. Out of weakness, he was made strong.
"And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee." Having said this, Saul clothes David in his own armor. "He put a helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail." Saul could say, "The LORD be with thee"; but Saul knew not how to trust in the Lord as David knew. He sought to aim David as Goliath was armed; he brought forth his own carnal weapons. But they will not suit the soldier of faith. The moment David had got Saul's armor on, he could not move at all. All was constraint, all was effort. Now, beloved, there is no effort in faith. Whenever you and I are acting beyond our faith, we are conscious of effort, we are awkward. Whenever there is simple faith in the living God, we see saints go on quietly, easily, unobtrusively, and (it seems to me) victoriously. There is a happy liberty in the service which faith renders to God, which no skill or effort of the flesh can assume; and we must watch against mistaking effort for faith. There are many modes in which such effort is made to imitate the faith of others. For example, to make sacrifices because another has made them is one mode. I believe that all this is very sad. Whenever there is real strength from the Lord, persons move on easily and quietly, laying aside and relinquishing all other resources because of what they have learned in the cross.
"And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them." David feared not to go, the Lord being with him, as Saul had said; but he could not go with these also. Faith never trusts in part to the Lord and in part to man. David had no helmet of brass, no coat of mail, when he slew the lion and the bear; then he went, the Lord alone being his strength. And, as he says, "the Lord delivered him." Just as Paul said, "No man stood with me.... Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me,... and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." In like manner had David proved the faithful arm of the Lord, but Saul's armor he had never proved.
But how often have we clothed ourselves, or allowed ourselves to be clothed, in such encumbrances, without detecting at once, as David did, their unfitness, and casting them from us! Have we not often worn them complacently; yea, gone forth to fight in them! Have we not often acted as though God's work needed help by this or that form of human power, as though what was begun in the Spirit could be made perfect by the flesh? and therefore we have had to learn our folly and unbelief in our discomfiture and loss. But it is not so with David here. He instantly detects that the wrought and polished armor of Saul befits not the soldier of faith. The word of Saul was good but that word was belied by such arming as this. And I believe that those with whom God deals much in secret will be like David here. They will quickly, intuitively, as it were, discern and reject the advances of the flesh. They will thus distinguish between the precious and the vile. There will be an acuteness of spiritual sense (Phil. 1:99And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; (Philippians 1:9)) in such, which is acquired nowhere but in direct communion with God. And hence, when out among the snares and wiles of the foe, if a film pass for a moment over the eye of their faith, and so a false object attract them, its falseness is felt even when not seen. Thus it is here with David. He stands a moment, indeed, to put on the whole armor of Saul; but just when Saul must have thought him armed for the battle, David felt himself fettered and burdened! The world's most skillful aids are faith's surest hindrances.
"And David put them off him." Thus does faith strip itself of all carnal weapons, for faith stands entirely in the power of God. Now our learning this is often the hardest part of our lesson—that which we most slowly learn, and soonest forget. But if we knew more of secret dealing with God, we should much more speedily rid ourselves of all carnal weapons. The soul which, like David, has been much exercised in secret before God knows the utter worthlessness of everything but God's own strength. And having thus learned this blessed lesson, it readily casts off those things which the flesh so esteems as aids, and feels itself set free by their loss. How far more blessed this way of learning the flesh, and denying it, than any other! But, for want of such direct living before God, we have to learn this in painful discipline, and after many failures; and it is the hardest part of our discipline to be stripped of those things which by habit and education we have all thought necessary—to stand aloof from modes of action in which, after the manner of Saul, the name of the Lord and human authority, or human wisdom, are combined; such combinations, often called judicious and useful, are most elusive and dangerous. How we see the Apostle rejoicing to count all those things esteemed by men loss for the sake of Christ! Why was not this a hard thing to him? How could he thus thoroughly renounce and put from him these things? He had learned to "rejoice in Christ Jesus"; to be "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."
Remember therefore, beloved, that he who has much to do with God in secret cannot use these carnal weapons. And surely this should show us the importance of coming forth from the presence of the living God into all our service, that we may be thus prepared to detect and to mortify all the pretensions and advances of the flesh. For it is sad indeed, through want of this, to see a saint trying to fight in the Lord's name, but clothed in the world's armor. Thus the world obtains a place in the Church. Its principles and its powers are recognized in the very place where God has written, "Love not the world"; "All that is in the world,... is not of the Father"; "The friendship of the world is enmity with God."
This is often done in controversy. Argument is met by argument, instead of the simple use of the word of the Lord; Saul's helmet of brass and coat of mail, instead of the sling and the stone, and the arm of faith, are opposed to Goliath's brass and mail. How often does the Lord vindicate His own word when used in faith, carrying it with divine power to the heart! And how does He humble us by showing us how little our strong arguments avail, save it be to stir up heats and strife! The Lord make us more simple in all this!
But David goes not forth unarmed to the fight, though he casts from him the armor of Saul. He took his staff, the five smooth stones in his shepherd's scrip, and his sling; thus aimed, he drew nigh to the Philistine (v. 40). Thus he strips himself of one sort of armor, only to array himself in another. But what
simple armor is this? If David overcomes Goliath with this, surely the victory must be the Lord's. This armor was never wrought by art and man's device; the running brook had given these stones their smoothness. But faith is always thus armed. The armor of faith, therefore, is always weak and foolish in the eyes of men. God's mightiest victories have been won by instrumentalities which man has most despised. The foolishness of preaching (a foolish thing in itself, and a foolish subject, Christ crucified) man treats with disdain; yet it is "the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Preaching has ever been as foolish as David's sling. But what we want is much more of such simplicity, remembering that we have the truth of God to address to men's consciences. We have weapons "mighty through God," if we had only simple faith to trust to them alone, rejecting the armor of human energy, wisdom, and authority.
"And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David." v. 41. And disdaining David and his armor, Goliath says, "Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?" Remember this, beloved, that the flesh always thinks itself insulted because our weapons are not such as itself uses.
The flesh likes to see sword opposed to sword, helmet to helmet; the flesh loves its own. But David said, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." Thus David put the question on its true basis. It is now simply a question between the Lord of hosts and the Philistine. David puts David quite out of the question, and brings God Himself in as the antagonist of Goliath.
Thus should it always be with us. What are we? What is the foe? It matters not what we are, or what is the power of the foe; it signifies not, however mighty the one, or weak the other; will not God vindicate His own name? David came in the name of the Lord of hosts; and will not God be jealous of His own name? Will He allow the Philistine to triumph over that? Never! Here then is the might of faith. Faith always brings in omnipotence. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" is ever the word of faith.
Now David would never have stood thus at this hour, if he had not learned God as his God in secret. Therefore he could say, "Let no man's heart fail because of him"; and therefore he could thus meet Goliath. The name of the Lord must be our strength against evil, whether within or without. Suppose the worst kind of evil, sin by a saint (and I trust that we all know that sin in a saint is far worse than sin in another), and what is our refuge? "For Thy name's sake, 0 LORD, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." You have only to put God in remembrance of His own name, and He will be jealous for that name. Thus faith can always use the name of the Lord as its strength against every foe. So instead of there being pride in David's heart here, he was shrinking himself into nothing and making God everything. His most confident words are his most humble ones. And is it not the name of Jesus that we have to set against everything—against every trial, every anxiety, every enemy?
And living before God in secret will ever make us act, if I may so speak, on the aggressive. This is remarkable in David. He says (vv. 46, 48), "This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee;.. that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel! And David }lasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine." David tarried not, faltered not, but instantly used his simple arms, and smote his foe to the earth (v. 49). "So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David."
It was not then that David merely waited to be attacked, but he hasted and ran to meet the Philistine. The confession of the name of the Lord proceeds most powerfully from us when we have learned in secret the value of that name. Then grace and wisdom are often given, even to act aggressively against evil. But surely we have learned how much grace, how much of Christ, it really requires to stand in testimony against evil! How we fail in this for lack of more cultivated communion with God! Mark how calmly and deliberately, though instantly, David took the stone. There was no show of effort. It was done just as though he had been in the wilderness with no eye upon him but God's. And the Lord directed that stone, just as He had enabled him to overcome both the lion and the bear.
Thus David prevailed; and thus does faith ever prevail. I believe that at this present moment there is much opportunity for such service of faith, but power for it must be sought by secret living before God.