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Episode 5: David vs. Goliath

Everything You Need to Know (about God) You Can Learn in Sunday School Series

The story of David and Goliath is one that most people know, even non-believers. It’s a story that when I have taught to boys and girls alike over the years they all lean in and want to learn more. For me, every time I read this story in the Bible something different stands out to me that I feel I have never read before. The scriptures hit differently as my faith and foundation in Christ grows. There are so many ways to look at David’s life and find modern day applications and analogies. He was so chosen by God, anointed, but also so human in all of his mistakes. He is someone that you can’t help but root for even when he sins or rushes into very serious decisions too quickly.

His Biblical story starts years before he meets up with Goliath. When he was a young boy the prophet Samuel (lead by God’s guidance) anointed David in secret to be the next king after Saul. Even with this promise he continued being a normal shepherd boy. The Israelites had been in battle with the Philistine army for a long time and his father sent him to check on his older brothers that were in the army.

When he got there he learned of something crazy that had been happening every day. The Philistine’s had a literal giant that towered over 9 feet tall! Every morning and night he would challenge the Israelite army to send one person to fight with him. During this time armies would present their “champions” to fight each other in order to save the lives of many of their soldiers. It was actually a pretty smart way to prevent a huge loss of life on both sides. The problem here was Goliath was so large that no one on the Israelite side was interested in his offer. Even King Saul and his military leaders were afraid and would not go into battle with the giant. This went on for 40 days and nights. I have read these scriptures and taught them many times but I do not recall paying attention to the number 40 being significant in this account.

The number 40 appears in both the New and Old Testament and it is thought to represent a period of trial or testing. What was the testing here? Was each person on the Israel side being tested of their faith? Could you imagine something happening twice each day and no one attempted to do something about it? I know that if something happens to me just a few times on repeat I start to lose my patience or find a way to make the recurrence end. David as a fifteen year old boy saw this happen and couldn’t believe that no one had the faith in God to go to battle with Goliath to make it end.

What is our Goliath? Who is our enemy? Satan of course is our ultimate enemy, but does he use anything or anyone to attack us daily?

When word got back to King Saul that David was questioning why no one had fought Goliath he requested he come to him. David told Saul that he would fight Goliath. I wonder what must have went through the King’s mind. He, himself, the king was not willing to fight Goliath or any of his military leaders… but a very young man with no military experience was willing to risk his life to put all of this to an end.

King Saul dressed David in his own personal armor, his tunic, helmet and a large sword. Little David began to walk around and realized that all of the weight would weigh him down and do the opposite of protecting him. Instead, he gave them up for his sling and selected five smooth stones from the stream. David was not comfortable in the heavy armor he was not used to wearing. He traded it in for the armor of God. He knew that what he needed was God’s protection and the weapon he had used many times with God’s help. We as Christians can have the ability to wear the Armor of God too as stated in Ephesians 6:10-18!

I’m guessing that you probably know the rest of this story. David goes to battle Goliath. Goliath actually says some belittling remarks to David and in his mind more than likely he had little concern about fighting the shepherd boy. David lets him quickly know that Goliath’s weapons mean nothing compared to what David has – the Lord almighty.

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, whome you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands…

1 Samuel 17:45-46a

I left some of the rest of the verse out in case you are sharing this article with younger innocent minds. I encourage you to read the scriptures of this battle on your own.

Goliath continued to press towards the shepherd, but David moved quickly (remember he is not weighed down with heavy armor) and this is when he was able to reach into his bag to remove a smooth stone, he slung it and struck the giant in the forehead. The giant comes crashing down to the ground. This is also another set of scriptures that you might want to look up away from little minds. This is where I usually stop reading and explaining when I teach younger children. If you are interested look up 1 Samuel 17:50-54.

The Israelites were so excited and they started to charge towards the Philistine army and they ran away! The Israelites win the battle!

The little shepherd boy wins the battle over the giant all with the help of a small sling and a big God. If this isn’t a story of faith over fear I don’t know what is.

What is your Goliath? How can putting on the Armor of God prepare you for the battle you have ahead?

Verses to check out on your own: 1 Samuel 17; Ephesians 6:10-18

Have a Blessed Day!

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** I am not theologically trained. This is just my explanation at a very basic level and hoping to make relatable for children and adults to understand to grow their relationship with God. The literature from my Sunday School class is from D6 – Elementary Teaching Guide through D6 Family Ministry – I have made all attempts to not reference their materials directly but they are great lessons and this is what I use in my class. I try to take as much from my own learnings from the Holy Bible in addition to the lessons for this blog. **

Episode 4: Paul and his conversion

Everything You Need to Know (about God) You Can Learn in Sunday School Series

Have you ever felt like you don’t deserve God’s forgiveness? Have you ever felt like you have done too many bad things for God to love you? I think that most of use have felt this way at some time or another. What if I told you that the man that God chose to write most of the New Testament and was once feared all over the land by Christians. This man was feared because he would hurt believers and even have them put to death! His goal was literally to wipe out all of Christianity. I’m sure you are wondering why God would choose such an awful man to one day be a great Apostle. Maybe after you learn about his conversion you will start to understand God’s plan.

Today we are going to learn about a man called Paul (formerly known as Saul). Paul has become probably my favorite person in the New Testament (other than Jesus of course)! When I really started to study the Bible a few years ago I became fascinated by Paul and his conversion. Whenever I would think about my past or if I could really be forgiven- Paul’s life would give me comfort. Even after I had turned my life to Christ- I would still find myself questioning if I deserved God’s forgiveness. I hope that the story of Paul can give you some hope and comfort as well.

We are going to look at Saul’s conversion to Paul in the book of Acts (written by Luke). To summarize: Saul was an extremely religious Jewish leader, a Pharisee, who had been trained by a man named Gamaliel. Gamaliel was considered the finest Jewish teacher as well a saint and Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law. Saul truly believed that the Christian movement was dangerous to his religion, Judaism, and persecuted any and all of the Christian believers without any mercy.

In the book of Acts it tells us that Saul was traveling far away from Jerusalem to a town called Damascus, where he planned on gathering believers of Christ to bring back to punish. On Saul’s way to Damascus here is what happened:

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

Acts 9:3 NIV

After this Saul and the men traveled on to Damascus. The Lord had already spoken to a man named Ananias and told him that Saul would be coming and to go find him praying. Jesus also gave Saul a vision of a man named Ananias would put his hands on him and restore his sight. Ananias was scared because he had heard the stories of Saul. This is what Jesus said in response:

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

The two men finally meet up and Ananias speaks with Saul and prays with him and of the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fall off of Saul’s eyes and he is no longer blind! He got up and was baptized!

Saul started preaching that Jesus is the Son of God! Everyone was amazed and could not believe this was the same man that had been so feared by all of the followers of Christ.

God took one of the worst people at that time and turned him into one of the greatest followers of Christ! Paul spread the word of Christianity even to the non-Jewish people. This had really not been done before. God used him to do something extraordinary that others had not done- and Paul did it extremely well! He used his intensity that he once used for bad to spread the word of God!

If we ever think that our pasts are too bad for God to use us, forgive us or to love us please remember the story of Paul. Who knows…. one day God might use you for something extraordinary too!

The Books of the Bible believed to be written by Paul (according to my Bible: Life Application Study Bible- NIV):

  • Romans
  • 1 Corinthians
  • 2 Corinthians
  • Galatians
  • Ephesians
  • Philippians
  • Colossians
  • 1 Thessalonians
  • 2 Thessalonians
  • 1 Timothy
  • 2 Timothy
  • Titus
  • Philemon
  • Partial- Hebrews along with others

Have a Blessed Day!

Please Like, Share & Follow to receive the next episode.

** I am not theologically trained. This is just my explanation at a very basic level and hoping to make relatable for children and adults to understand to grow their relationship with God. The literature from my Sunday School class is from D6 – Elementary Teaching Guide through D6 Family Ministry – I have made all attempts to not reference their materials directly but they are great lessons and this is what I use in my class. I try to take as much from my own learnings from the Holy Bible in addition to the lessons for this blog. **

Finding Peace among the Chaos

When everything seems to happen at once, can we find true peace?

I have always wondered what someone that does not speak English thinks when they hear words from our language. I have never been fluent in any other language but have taken courses in Spanish during high school. While on our honeymoon in Mexico I loved that I could understand this other language. When I was a very young girl we had a satellite dish that allowed us to watch programs from Canada. I would watch Sesame Street in French and then later in the day in English. Even then, I thought that words in other languages seemed so much more interesting than the boring words that I knew. As my faith has grown and my eagerness to study the “Word” my love for the Hebrew language has continued to fascinate me. It amazes me how scriptures when traced back to Hebrew or Greek can take on much more character. It’s like the words in English are black and white but when they are in their original form they have a million colors to describe the word.

Have you ever been acquainted with a word and then all of a sudden it seems to start popping up all around you? It may be that you have never taken notice and its always been there. Or, it may be that God is placing this word in your life so that you will take notice. I have recently had this happen to me and the word has literally brought me “peace”.

A few days ago I was reading a reading plan in my Bible app. The word shalom started to appear to me in all sorts of ways. I am very familiar with this word but wanted to remind myself of its meaning. This beautiful Hebrew word is used many different ways. In English the simplest translation is peace. As you get to know the word more intimately it means so much more. Then, today, I was listening to a radio program during my lunch hour. I was sitting in my car, alone, eating a salad, and the preacher on the radio starts a whole sermon on shalom! I know what you are thinking. That’s just a coincidence. Let me tell you why I think not. Everyone goes through peaks and valleys in their life of trials. Right now, my little family is in one of the valleys. Sometimes we have obstacles that come and go. I feel like the valleys sometimes are so hard to get out of because the trials are not alone. It seems they are usually accompanied by other trials. Sometimes they can all even be equally large trials all happening at the same time. We are in one of these times. The amazing thing is that I have felt a supernatural peace during it all. Several years ago if I would have experienced this amount of trials I would have felt like my life was in total CHAOS! As this word kept appearing I know it was God letting me know that the peace I felt was not just any peace, but– Shalom.

Wikipedia describes Shalom as a Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye.

http://www.wikipedia.com

I have prayed and been praying about these different obstacles. These are things that I really have no control over. In my past I used to worry and struggle with things that I really had no control over. I would work myself into a hot mess and tear my stomach to pieces. As my faith has grown, I have realized that some things in life we do not have control. The only one that has control in these times is God. I have learned to pray and fully trust God within these times and know that He has a purpose and a plan. This is another one of these things that is sometimes easier to say than to do. But I try my best to “do”. One of my favorite verses comes to mind when thinking of these times. Actually, I have this on the wall in my dining room. My sweet momma pointed it out to me this weekend, as it spoke to her also during these trials.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

If you have read any of my other articles you know that I have found comfort in different names for God. During this time I find comfort in the name Jehovah Shalom. Because He is the God of Peace. He is the Lord in Peace. He is the Lord our Peace.

In closing, I hope that the next time that you feel stressed or when things are out of your control, instead of giving into the chaos, please pray and know that we can have peace. We can have peace when we trust in the only one that is the God of our Peace.

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:20 NIV

God bless and Shalom