Whose Cloak - Your Cloak or God's Cloak

1 Samuel 17-18:4

Are you wearing a “cloak” of insecurity and self-doubt because you don’t believe what God says about you?  Or, are you wearing the “cloak” God gave you.  A “cloak” woven with promises and certainties about whom you really are because God, as your creator, knows what you are made of.

Saul and his entire army saw Goliath’s size and heard his taunts then looked at themselves compared to the giant,  Goliath and stood wanting. Saul was more concerned about appearances because he cared only for what others thought of him. It appears from today’s text that insecurity about who and what you are leads to the concern of appearing as if you are in charge instead of being in charge.

You run out in your armor, you shake your spear, pull down the face piece on your helmet and you march out to the battle line, but go no further.     Insecurity leads to lust, the desire to benefit self at the expense of others.  Unable and unwilling to do the work to take down the enemy that taunts you, you try to enlist others by promising rewards.  In other words, you drum up a posse and feign outrage and disgust, appealing to the emotions and pocket books of those you supposedly lead.

1 Samuel 17:24-25 NLT  As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright.  (25)  "Have you seen the giant?" the men asked. "He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man's entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!"

But David, secure in his knowledge of himself and his abilities, the ones he discovered while tending his father’s sheep and goats, knows who he is because he knows his God.  Know God, know yourself; don’t know God, don’t know yourself.

1 Samuel 17:33-37 MSG  Saul answered David, "You can't go and fight this Philistine. You're too young and inexperienced--and he's been at this fighting business since before you were born."  (34)  David said, "I've been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock,  (35)  I'd go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I'd grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it.  (36)  Lion or bear, it made no difference--I killed it. And I'll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive.  (37)  GOD, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will deliver me from this Philistine." Saul said, "Go. And GOD help you!"

David’s response shows many things, among them

1)   David loved the animals he took care of; Saul didn’t love the men he led into battle, more correctly, pretending to lead into battle; however, he did love himself more than any other in the face of his insecurity.

2)   David was willing to risk his life to protect the animals he had charge over; Saul was willing to risk the lives of his men before he himself faced Israel’s enemies.

3)   In going up against the lion and bears, David strengthened his faith “muscles” at each and every encounter.  He also knew from each encounter that it was not his strength that defeated the lion and bears but it was God’s strength; Saul never “tested” God’s intervening strength during the forty days Goliath stepped out morning and night, delivering his challenge. 

a.   I’m a new exerciser (Feb. 2006).  When I first began, I l could only do 15 minutes and took an hour to recover—I also continued by faith, believing that the future benefits of my exercise sessions would benefit my type II diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol.  I can know do a three hr session taking less than 15 minutes to recover.  When I first began my body spoke to me, telling me “You’re going to die, you’re going to kill us, now stop it.”  Yet, I heard God’s still small voice telling me to go on.

4)   David, having dwelled in God’s presence, knew that God was always with him; Saul didn’t know that he was in the presence of God while speaking with David because he never took the time to dwell with God.

There are probably many more things to discern when looking at the David and Saul responses when challenged by an imposing, powerful and loud advisory but I’ll leave that for you to discover. So go fish.