Eagle Christians

Illus: If any of you watch professional boxing, you know that the weight of the boxers has to be within a few pounds, or they are not allowed to fight each other. They would not think of putting a "feather" weight, weighing just a little more than a hundred pounds, in the ring with a "heavy" weight who might weigh two hundred and thirty pounds.

There is an obvious reason for this. If a big fellow hit a little boxer with all his might, he would knock the little fellow through the ropes.

When David fought Goliath, there was a huge weight and height difference. It is believed that David was probably approximately five feet tall, and Goliath was probably over nine feet tall. With the height difference, you can imagine also the difference in the weight.

Illus: If Las Vegas was laying odds on that match, they would have given David one chance in a hundred million, of winning that fight.

But, there is something that the Las Vegas crowd does not know. That is, that the God who dwelt in David, was bigger than any giant in the land. In fact, He is more powerful than any force on earth. With God on David's side, the odds were 100% in David's favor.

Let’s take a look at this battle between David and Goliath. The Bible tells us that when David arrived at the battle scene, the Philistine army had defied the armies of the living God, and sent out Goliath, their champion.

Look at verse 24, "And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man,(Goliath) fled from him, and were sore afraid." Goliath probably got a thrill at seeing the men of Israel run away.

Saul saw how frightened his soldiers were, so he offered some incentive, hoping someone would go out and stand up to Goliath.

In verse 25 we read, "And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel."

All of the soldiers heard about the enticements, but there was no line waiting to see who would be first to take on this almost ten foot giant. Why? Because they were thinking, "What good are all the things that the king has to offer, if you aren't alive to enjoy them?"

The Bible tells us about the motive David had for facing Goliath. It was the reputation of God he was defending, not a desire for King Saul’s riches, or his daughter.

In verse 26 we read, "And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God."

When David was trying to find out what was being done to stop that uncircumcised Philistine, David's oldest Brother, Eliab, got angry at David and insulted him. Look at the terrible things that David was being accused of, because he felt that something should be done to stop Goliath’s big mouth.

Look at what Eliab said in verse 28, "...Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.”

He accused David of three things:

• “I know thy pride.” (Trying to be a big shot!)

• “And the naugtiness of thine heart.” (His heart was evil)

• “For thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.” (He was nosy)

It must have grieved David’s heart to be accused of these things.

In verse 29, David answered for his concern, "...IS THERE NOT A CAUSE?” Yes, any time the name of God is being disgraced, it should be a cause for concern to every child of God, and something should be done!

In this age, we need to ask ourselves, "Is there not a cause?", when...

• God is being mocked

• God’s church is being made a mockery of on television

• God's name is being blasphemed

• God's Word is being twisted, and replaced with translations that leave out complete passages of the Bible

• God's house is being neglected

Isn’t this a time when the dedicated soldiers of God should take a stand for the God they profess to love and serve? SURE IT IS!

David told Eliab, “…IS THERE NOT A CAUSE?” That is, shouldn’t somebody that sees what is going on, speak up and do something?