WILL you read the seventeenth chapter of the first book of Samuel, as I wish to point out to you some important lessons from that very interesting part of God’s Word. You see that David, when he was a youth, had killed three fearful foes, namely, a Lion, a Bear, and a Giant. The first letters of these three words are at the top of this little paper, all belonging to this beautiful little story and its meaning.
We are told what the foes did; and I think we may say that they may be fairly called,
A Roaring Lion,
A Hungry Bear, and
A Boasting Giant.
You would, I know, dear children, tremble to meet either of these terrible enemies; but David did not go out against them merely to show he was not afraid of them, and to prove his strength, of which he might afterward boast. That would have been a wicked thought, but it was not David’s. His object in slaying all these foes was to save others―a lamb from the Lion and the Bear, and his own people Israel from the threatenings of the Giant.
We do not learn that David told anyone of his having killed the lion and the bear, until a long time afterward, when it became right to do so. What a rebuke to proud thoughts this is! David was very fond of the sheep and lambs of his father’s flock; and it must have pained his heart to hear the gentle lamb’s bleating when the lion had taken it away in its mouth. If you had seen that little lamb in the jaws of the lion, you would, I am sure, have trembled for its safety. Every moment you would have expected to see it crushed to death by the closing of the lion’s jaws. You see that the little lamb could do nothing―it was helpless. Would anyone―could anyone rescue that lamb before the lion shut his jaws? That is the question, and what a question!
Well, this is a little picture of the state of everyone who has not been rescued by Jesus. Have you been saved by Jesus? If not, then are you in the jaws, not of a lion, who can only hurt the body―but of death itself―you are under the “power of Satan,” who is likened in God’s Word, to a lion roaring for its prey. Acts 26:1818To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18).
God says that you are a sinner, and that the wages of sin is death. Believe what God says as to this; but this is not all. The chapter presents another picture―look on it―it is very precious and beautiful. Would it not have made you rejoice had you also seen David instantly leave his father’s sheepfold, and go after that lamb, to have seen him smite the lion and “deliver it out of his mouth,” before he had closed his jaws to crush it?
But David did something more―the lion, enraged against David for depriving him of the lamb; arose against David, and the latter “caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.” Poor little lamb, thou wert nearly perishing, but now thou art quite safe. Tremble no more―thou art in David’s arms, and the lion is dead. What a wonderful deliverance! A moment since, in the lion’s jaws―now in the strong arms of David. How safe―how secure!
One thing more would have delighted you: namely, David’s naturally beautiful face, brightened up with the joy, satisfaction, and thankfulness he felt on returning to the fold with the lamb safe in his arms.
But how was it, do you think, that David did not flee away when he heard the lion’s growl? Because God was with him―and if he had fled we should not have been able to compare him to Christ Jesus, “who came into the world to save sinners.” David did expose his life to the fierce rage of the lion and the bear to save the lamb. But good as David was to the lamb, we have rather to contrast than to compare him to the Lord Jesus. David only risked his life, and he escaped. Not so the blessed Lord Jesus, He knew He must die before He could save one sinner from his sins. He came therefore from His Father’s glory on purpose to seek and to save that which was, lost; although He knew full well what a fearful thing it was to suffer the wrath of God against sin, He did not shrink from it, but “steadfastly set His face” to go to the cross.
Dear children, it was the love of Jesus to sinners which led Him to die for them, and it is joy to Him to receive all who come to Him. Will you let Him have the joy of receiving you? He has told us that He is the Good Shepherd, who goeth after the lost sheep until He finds it; but His heart is so full of joy that He calls to others to “rejoice with Him,” the whole of heaven rejoices with Him, and those on earth who know what it is to be saved and loved by Him, rejoice too. What a welcome there is for you in the heart of Jesus Christ, for He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.