Dance With Wolves

Goliath was a nine-foot-tall soldier from Gath. He bragged that he could beat any Israelite soldier who would fight him. But all the Israelite soldiers were afraid to fight him. David was a young shepherd boy who believed in God. He said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." David took his sling and five smooth stones from the brook. Then he went to fight Goliath. King Saul wanted to put his heavy armor and helmet on David. He also tried to give David a big sword, but David said he could not wear them. He knew that his strength and protection came from God. Goliath cursed the boy coming out to fight him. David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." David threw a stone with his sling at Goliath. It hit Goliath in the forehead and the giant fell face down. Without a sword in his hand he struck down the giant and killed him.*(See note below) David believed in God, and God helped him win over the giant. * The giant fell when the stone hit him. Then David used the giant's own sword to kill him. What does this story mean to me? David trusted God to help him even though the giant was much larger than he was. Do you have any "giants" in your life? Is there something so big that you don't see a way to overcome it? Ask God for help in meeting this enemy. Go to your parent, teacher, or a trusted adult for their wise counsel. Don't try to solve the problem by yourself. This story David and Goliath can be found in the Bible in First Samuel 17. Memory Verse David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. One night, camped outside of Jericho, a soldier appeared to Joshua, and said that he was the captain of God's army come to fight for Israel. I guess *he* told Joshua what to do. All Jericho must've laughed when they saw the Israelites war tactics. Joshua had seven priests with rams horns walk in front of the Ark of God and blow their horns. All the men at arms walked before the priests. Joshua gave them very strict orders that no one was to shout or make any kind of noise at all. They were to all walk around the city one full time and come back to camp. The people had to do this for six days. Maybe God was testing them a little bit by not letting them talk. Remember forty years ago their parents had grumbled that they didn't want to fight and God had not let them even come into this land. Anyway, on the seventh day everyone was to walk around the city *seven* times. Imagine how boring that must have been. Thousands of people marching around that big city kicking up all that dust. And the heat. March, march. Sweat, sweat. Cough, couch. Frown, frown. Boy, I'd frown too. I'd sure want to quit; or at least take a mumble break. Now comes the very best part of all. The walls. Two amazing and wonderful things happened at the same time. When the Israelites finished the seventh round of the city, they stopped, the priests gave a special blast on the rams horns, and the people turned to the walls and gave a great shout. The first wonder was that the walls, both of them, fell in flat upon themselves. They just became a big ring of piled-up rocks. The second, Rahab's house, the one on the wall, because it had the red cord haning out the window, *didn't* fall down with the rest of the walls. All her family and their relatives were saved, too. They were in the house with Rahab. It's hard enough to imagine those walls falling down from a shout, but can you picture the walls of a mile-square city crashing down with only one small section being left standing nice and high above the dust cloud, a small red banner fluttering in the updraft? What a sight! Well, that pretty well tells the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. He went on to beat all the other kings that lived around there and never lost a single man in battle; except when some disobeyed God's order not to keep any of the gold and silver. That time they were turned back and thirty-six men died. Isn't it interesting how God showed us how these different people acted in trust on God's promises? The priests walked into the river, not knowing it would slow down to a trickle. Rahab and her folks were saved by merely hanging a ribbon out the window, and the mighty walls of Jericho fell flat because some people had enough *trust* to march around and shout at the city. Faithing takes a lot of courage and trust. I hope that by hearing how the heroes of faithing in the Bible acted on God's word that He'd help them, you might know that He's there for anyone who believes in Him, and that He said He'd be there if you only ask; and act. Be sure to check out the other Heroes of faithing listed in Hebrews, chapter eleven. See if you can tell what each did that showed he trusted things that God had said. I also invite you see how the whole book of Hebrews talks about faithing.