The Power of the Covenant

The Power of the Covenant

When David was still a young boy, he was sent to visit his elder brothers at the battlefield. Whilst there, he was shocked to listen to Goliath the giant abusing and ridiculing the Army of Israel. David asks that powerful question which has always been on my mind - Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he can dare to defy the armies of the Living God? (1 Samuel 17: 26 ESV)

That Question right there revealed the true identity of David. On the one hand, he was Covenanted (in a relationship with God) and thus He knew who God was and what that relationship meant (This is very similar to what Joseph had earlier said - '...How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” ...' (Genesis 39: 9). These two young men showed that they had a deep relationship with God. This showed that they must have mastered their relationship at a very young age and that is a lesson we shall explore later. Suffice to say there is a duty on us as parents to teach these words to our Children (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 New King James Version 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:11, Isaiah 55:3, Psalm 119:105)

Now back to David - He not only heard about GOD - but he knew Him well enough to understand that God is not one to be defied. It was this personal relationship which we see God "testify" about this Himself. 1 Samuel 13:14 (New King James Version)14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” In the same way that He did for Moses,

5 Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. 6 Then He said,

“Hear now My words:

If there is a prophet among you,

I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;

I speak to him in a dream.

7 Not so with My servant Moses;

He is faithful in all My house.

8 I speak with him face to face,

Even plainly,[c] and not in [d]dark sayings;

And he sees the form of the Lord.

Why then were you not afraid

To speak against My servant Moses?” (Numbers 12: 5- 8 NKJV)

Job -

And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1: 8)

and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ….

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mathew 3: 17 NKJV). Immediately we are reminded about the Scripture that says Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! (Psalm 33:12 ESV)

.......

It is therefore that kind of relationship which made David certain that Goliath would not withstand the onslaught that was about to happen to him. David did not trust in weapons, nor experience (although he had practiced with bears and lions

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.)

Rather, David trusted in that covenant relationship with God as stated in 1 Samuel 17: 26 ESV. It is for that reason that he responded to Goliath thus

“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”

The lesson we learn from this is that when we are in covenant with God, it gives us a confidence many will not attend (see Eliab’s response in (1 Samuel 17: 28 -30). More so, that God will do exceedingly abundantly over what we can expect or imagine because of that covenant

Amen