At the brook, he picked five stones: five stands for the grace of God.

(…continues from part three…)

4)            For forty days Goliath stomped the war zone between Philistines and Israel 8) “And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. 9) If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. 10) And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together” (1Samuel 17:8-10). David was a teenager of a height of five feet probability. Placed by Goliath’s around ten feet David looked like a midget. 1Samuel 17:43-45 43) “And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44) And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. 45) Then said David to the Philistine, 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.”

                Grace, an uncommon, unmerited favour from God, is what must account for David’s unexpected victory. It was important for the Holy Spirit to direct David to take a visit to the ‘brook,’ nachal (nakh’-al) in Hebrew: ‘a stream, especially a winter torrent; (by implication) a (narrow) valley (in which a brook runs); also a shaft (of a mine).’ At the brook, he picked five stones: five stands for the grace of God. All that David had to do was to do the spiritual needful: he showed an unwavering faith in Jehovah and making sure he spoke the last word – out of faith – to the enemy.

Goliath, who defied God’s children, fell down: dead.

                After having spoken the last word, necessary for a Christian when the Devil comes with his war of words of derailment, David threw one of the stones and God did the rest and Goliath, who defied God’s children, fell down: dead. David did not use two stones at a time. Four being the number of creation, David left that number of stones: giving room for God to create a miraculous and deadly path to Goliath’s forehead. The truth is that, David’s past experience of successfully killing a preying lion and an intruding bear in his pastoral work is not the same as facing a tactical, legendary, and warmongering Goliath. What did God do? The LORD God suffered an absolutely abecedarian teenager to defeat, in a one-on-one combat, the long serving, dreaded Philistine general.

Shunammite dead son brought back to life (2Kings 4:35)

                In the Book of 2Kings 4:27 we read, “And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.” The great man of God, Elisha, admitted, “…and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.” God wanted to do what He alone does – miracle – and in grand style. Why did God not make His prophet stay a bit longer to witness the boy’s ailment and lay his anointed hands of healing on him? God allowed the lad to die, so that, through His power, “Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes” (2Kings 4:35). To give glory to the LORD we read from next verses, “And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. 37)  Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out” (2Kings 4:36-37). God did not even inform His prophet of what He was about to do: for He must do it, in the fashion of the Divinity, in style.

Jesus, the grace of God, has appeared to all men.

                Knowing that Adam would run foul of His word, and because He must save an Adamic remnant, He issued a reenactment of soteriological protocolary captioned “election of grace.” Salvation of man remains graciously an act of Him, through Him and to Him. Romans 11:6 “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” This work of grace is captured in the express words of the Word of God Himself in John 3:16-18 16)“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” The LORD God made it so incomplex to be a recipient of His salvation. All I have to do is just believe in His finished work! “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out” (Romans 11:33)!

                Getting born again is a conscious effort on the part of an individual. Get born again. Say this sinner’s prayer.

“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”

(…to be concluded…)

Read part Three here

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