the Armor of God

Let me start with an apology. I have had a hard time coming up with a topic today, so I am posting late, and this will be a short post.
In Ephesians 6 it talks about the armor of God.
It tells us to protect our heads with the helmet of salvation. Heads are important, because that where our brains are, that’s where we think. It’s important that we keep our minds stayed on Jesus, and that we protect our thoughts.
It tells us to wear the breastplate of righteousness. This is to protect our vital organs, but most importantly, our hearts. We need to keep our hearts directed Heavenward; we need to love God with all our heart. We should not let anything interfere with our love of God.
It tells us to have our feet shod with preparation of the Gospel of Peace. We need our feet to be able to take us wherever God would have us to go, and we need to be prepared to share the Gospel with anyone we meet. Most of the people that we meet are not going to be interested in the Gospel, and that okay. We shouldn’t try to force it on them, but to be ready to share when an opportunity arises.
It tells us to carry the sword of the Spirit. The Bible tells us that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. Even if we don’t have a physical Bible with us, we should have the substance of the Scripture in our hearts. We should always be ready to give an answer of the hope that lies within us.
We should have our loins girt about with truth. We should not allow ourselves to be drawn into compromising situations; we should always be setting an example.
We must carry the shield of faith. It is a shield of protection. No warrior would ever go into battle without some form of shield. We always need to defend ourselves against the things that come against us—the fiery darts of the wicked.
Notice that it never says anything about protecting one’s back. You only need your back protected if the enemy is behind you; that should only happen if you are running away from the battle. Never run away from the battle; always run toward it.

David and Goliath

I have touched on this before, but it occurs to me to weigh in on one of the most well-known stories in the Bible: David and Goliath. It is interesting to me that out of all of the army of Israel, there was not one man that had faith enough to stand against the giant. Of course, part of that was because it was God's plan. He wanted to show Israel that He intended to use David, but still... Also, part of it was that David had faith as a little child. None of the men in the army had that. The Bible tells us that David's father, Jesse, had eight sons, and the three eldest were in the army, but David was the youngest. It was understood, in those times, that if you were old enough to serve, then you did. Now, if David was the youngest, and only the three eldest were old enough to serve (which was thirteen, by the way), then how old was David? And how desperate was King Saul to let this youngster fight the giant?

We don't have to look too deep into this story to see that God intended for this to be an unconventional battle. First of all, David didn't carry a sword or a spear: he took a sling and five stones. Why five? I don't know; if the first one had missed, he probably wasn't going to get a chance to sling a second one. Some have suggested that it's because there are five letters in the name, "Jesus," but that wouldn't be true in Hebrew. David also refused armor; to be honest, though, the armor would have been ridiculous: I don't think that they made armor in David's size. King Saul tried to give David his own armor, which was just that much worse: Saul stood taller than the rest of Israel, David would have had a hard time just walking in Saul's armor.

It has been suggested that Goliath was probably a victim of gigantism, a disorder of the pituitary gland that, in addition to causing abnormal growth, also frequently causes the bones of the skull to come together--usually leaving a "soft spot" in the front of the head. This would certainly explain how one stone from David was able to sink into the giant's head and kill him. Some would have you to believe that somehow makes David killing Goliath less than miraculous. I would have to disagree. If Goliath had such a soft spot (and I will admit that it seems likely that he did) such a thing must not have been common knowledge: Surely Goliath could have had a helmet crafted that would have protected his vulnerability. Further, I suspect that David was really just aiming for Goliath, not some alleged soft spot, and trusting that God would guide the stone. David didn't know about the soft spot, wouldn't have known where it was if he had known about it, and probably couldn't have hit it on purpose if he had known where it was. Tell me that's not a miracle.

The lesson, of course, is that sometimes things loom large in our lives, but God has a simple solution. Sometimes His solution makes about as much sense as sending a boy into battle against a giant, armed with a toy (let's face it, a sling was not considered a weapon--ever know anybody else in the Bible to carry a sling into battle?--no, it was a kid's toy). Is God telling you to do something that just doesn't make sense? Do you trust God? Don't misunderstand me--make sure it's God, but be ready to step out in faith.