Introduction
Last week, in the Valley of Elah, we saw David’s breakout. He was no longer fighting the bear or fighting the lion to save his sheep; he was now fighting a giant named Goliath because he was mocking the greatness of Israel's God. And David was not going to stand for that; so, David went out into the Valley and did battle with the giant, and we know that David walked away the victor. It was his breakout moment.
But in this valley as David is having his breakout moment; King Saul and the Israelites are stuck; they are stopped in their tracks. As good as this moment is for David; it is the complete opposite for King Saul and the Israelite army; it is their sad moment. And so, what we learn from this story is that two people may enter the same Valley, but they may come out of the Valley with completely different outcomes. David is flying high; his faith in God has hit new levels; he trusted God to bring victory and God did not disappoint. Saul and the Israelites come out of the Valley not growing in their faith at all. Their faith in God did not grow; at best, they stayed stuck or maybe even had a decrease of their faith.
If I have a choice of how I am going to walk out of a Valley, I want to walk out like David with my faith in God soaring to new heights; I don’t want to walk out of the Valley like Saul and the Israelites stuck right where I am.
So, in today’s sermon, I want to know what caused Saul and the Israelite army to stay stuck; to be stopped right there in their tracks so that it does not happen to me in my walk with God. If you are spiritually stuck or you think your faith is growing like it should be, then this sermon is for you.
So, if you have your Bibles or if you would like to read from the bulletin please look at our Scriptures from 1 Samuel 17.
Points
#1
YOU WILL NEVER WALK OUT OF THE VALLEY LIKE DAVID IF YOU ATTEMPT TO FIGHT A SPIRITUAL BATTLE IN YOUR OWN STRENGTH.
1 Samuel 17:2-3(NKJV)
2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
Saul and the Israelite army wanted to fight this battle the conventional way. You line up your men and we line up our men and each of us start throwing spears and shooting arrows at one another and engage in some hand-to-hand combat. And the last army standing wins.
David arrives in the camp at the instruction of his father, Jesse, to bring supplies to his brothers. He drops them off with the supply clerk and then David runs to the battlefield to check on his brothers. He hears the words of the giant and he says, “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David saw this battle for what it was- a spiritual battle. Saul and the Israelites missed that.
I am afraid there are a lot of us that are like Saul and Israelite army and we miss that the Valley we are in and battle we face is a spiritual battle. We fail to call something a spiritual battle because we are only looking at the situation from our natural eyes and not our spiritual eyes.
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Listen, if we are wrestling with something in our life right now there is a high probability that it is a spiritual battle, and we need to call it for what it is. Saul and his army didn’t do that; David did.
You may be wrestling with an addiction today, but I am here to tell you there is some physical elements to addiction, but it is a spiritual problem. I have seen people sell out to God and that addiction came under control.
You may be wrestling with a financial problem today. Certainly, there is a financial element to it, but it may be a spiritual problem. God may have told you it is not time to buy a certain thing and you went ahead anyway and purchased it. Call it for what it is, a spiritual problem.
You believe that you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at an early age but now as you have gotten older you are just not certain; fear grips your heart. But your pride will not allow you to come forward and get the matter settled today once and for all and be at peace with God knowing everything is right. It is a spiritual problem that is keeping you from finding peace with God- your pride. You are worried: What will people think about me? It is more important what God thinks about you.
David walked out of the Valley of Elah a victor because he knew what he was facing was a spiritual battle. And you and I can walk out of our valleys if we can realize what we are wrestling against is a spiritual battle.
#2
YOU WILL NEVER WALK OUT OF THE VALLEY LIKE DAVID IF YOU FAIL TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR NEED FOR GOD’S HELP IN YOUR SITUATION.
1 Samuel 17:16 (NKJV)
16 And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning, and evening.
1 Samuel 17:25 (NKJV)
25 So the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely, he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel."
1 Samuel 17:37 (NKJV)
37 Moreover David said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
We are told that the Philistine named Goliath presented himself to the Israelites for forty days day and night. So, twice a day for forty days, Goliath made his presence known to the Israelites, and issued his challenge. That is eighty times in total. So, I started searching 1 Samuel 17 knowing in my mind that a good Israelite would go to God after each encounter with Goliath pleading for God’s help. So, I expected to see a Scripture that says the Israelites spoke with God just as many times as Goliath spoke to Israel to come out to battle. But do you know what I found; the Scripture was silent. In other words, it is not recorded that they spoke to God at all.
But what I did discover, is that Saul did talk to all his men about what he would offer the soldier who went out and successfully kills Goliath. Saul says that he would enrich the soldier who defeated Goliath and the soldier will get to marry Saul’s daughter. In addition, the soldier’s father will enjoy exemption from any taxation in Israel. What Saul was doing instead of looking to God to fight his battle, he was looking for one of his soldiers to fight his battle.
Let me just be blunt, there are some battles that you are going to face that mom and dad cannot bail you out. There are some battles that you are going to face that your best friends will sit on their hands and do nothing just like these soldiers did after Saul made the offer.
And then there is David, who says that I will fight the Philistine, but my help is going to come from God.
David walked out of the Valley of Elah a victor because he was the only one there that acknowledged that he needed God’s help.
#3
YOU WILL NEVER WALK OUT OF THE VALLEY LIKE DAVID, IF YOU CANNOT REMEMBER THE THINGS THAT GOD HAS DONE IN YOUR LIFE PRIOR TO THIS POINT SO THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO MEET THE CHALLENGES YOU NOW FACE.
1 Samuel 17:37
(NKJV) 37 Moreover David said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
Did you know that there are one hundred human fatalities at the hands of lions each year? The reports went on to reminds us that lions are predators and humans are easy prey. So, the fact, that David was able to defeat the lion had to be a miracle from God, and David knew that.
Did you know that in 2020 two people were killed by black bears, and that exact same number were killed by brown bears in North America? So, four people died in 2020 from bear attacks in North America. So, the fact that David was able to defeat the bear had to be a miracle of God, and David knew that.
So, if God has done these two miracles in David’s life, it was not a far stretch in David’s mind to believe that God will do another miracle and allow David to kill the Philistine. How much more difficult is it for God to allow David to kill the Philistines then it was to protect David from the lion and the bear? Absolutely none!
Saul never talked with his soldiers about the miracles God has done for Israel. Saul never talked about how God parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River. Saul never mentioned how God destroyed the Egyptians chasing them as they were leaving bondage. Saul never told his soldiers about how God defeated Jericho in a most unusual way. Saul never told them about how God provided food to eat and water to drink to the Israelites in the wilderness. Saul never told his soldiers about how God lead them by a cloud by day and fire by night. So, standing there in the Valley of Elah and looking up at a giant 9 feet 9 inches tall and not remembering anything that God has done in the life of Israel to this point, then Goliath looked like an insurmountable task for Saul and his soldiers.
For David, Goliath is defeatable because God has done great things in my life.
David walked out of the Valley of Elah a victor because he knew that God has done great things in his life, and that God would continue to do great things in his life.
