"five Stones For My Child"

"Five Stones for My Child"

1 Samuel 17

A sermon for 6/19/22 – Father’s Day

Pastor John Bright

1 Samuel 17 “40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.”

Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You have to choose.

The best definition of Father’s Day I ever heard came from a child that explained it’s just like Mother’s Day, you just don’t spend as much money to buy a present. 😊 Besides a day when millions of cards are given, it marks a day to honor the men in our lives. Why do we bother? I think it’s because of all that fathers give their children. These are the children that must go out into the world to face their giants – just like young David in 1 Samuel 17.

This is another one those stories I heard all along when I was growing up. It was in my story Bible. We talked about it in the youth group. All along, I had the idea that David picked up five little rocks. That’s what we used when we made slingshots with tree branches. So, what if that’s not what David used that day long ago? Actually, people around the world still use slings made of long leather straps with a pouch at the end. Here’s some info I found about their use as weapons in the ancient world: “Surprisingly, a good slinger hurled a stone as far and accurately as a good archer. Roman military texts recommended archery target practice at about 200 yards. Slingers are known to hurl their projectiles even farther, as much as 440 yards - a quarter of a mile. As for accuracy, one ancient writer noted that the best slingers “would wound not merely the heads of their enemies, but any part of the face at which they might have aimed.” Experiments demonstrate that stones leave a sling in excess of 60 miles per hour.”

https://christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-slingsforkids.html

Children around the world today learn to hunt with a sling using small stones, but as they grow and hunt larger animals, their stones get bigger - approaching the size of a baseball or tennis ball. This is how David told of his past victories – “34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.” I believe he went after lions and bears and giants (oh, my) with a bag of baseball-sized stones that would be deadly.

When my children were young, I offered them each five things, like the stones David carried onto the field of battle. I want to encourage all the men here that still have influence over your kids or grandkids to offer these again and again.

Men, teach your children to be prepared.

“17 Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. 18 And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.” 19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”

Like so many things that come along in the lives of our children, David finds himself in the Valley of Elah - seemingly by chance. His father, Jesse, had sent him with supplies for Saul’s army. When he arrived, he saw the Philistine’s champion, Goliath, taunting the Israelites. These men were cowering in fear. I believe this is right where God wanted David to be that day, but nobody, especially David, could have known.

Fathers can’t teach their children how to handle every situation they will confront in life. I doubt Jesse ever had a long talk with David about the birds and the giants. 😊 Yet we find out that David is prepared. As adults, your children will have to be prepared to face anything that comes along. They will face life and death. They will face joy and pain. They will face triumph and defeat.