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Our Vision Determines Our Faith

Let’s put ourselves into the story below to see how our vision determines our faith.

Whenever the Israelites saw the man [Goliath], they all fled from him in great fear…David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 1 Samuel 17:24, 26, NIV

The archenemy of Israel, the Philistines, were gathering for war. It was obvious they intended to invade the land of Israel.

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King Saul

Israel’s first king, King Saul, was on the throne. He had successfully beaten the Philistines before. He had seen the hand of God rout his enemies. He knew what it was to have God fight for him. In fact, in their previous encounter with the Philistines, he and his son Jonathan had been the only ones in the entire army with swords, yet God had still given them the victory.

Saul did what was expected of him. He mustered Israel’s army and went out to meet the Philistines. He probably wasn’t overly worried. He had his army with him, and God was on his side. God had won before; He could do it again.

Surprised By The Enemy

Then the Philistines took him by surprise. Instead of fighting each other with armies, they would send out a champion, and Israel would send out a champion. The man who was alive at the end of this single-handed combat would be the winner. The loser’s army would then surrender, and the war would be over.

It sounded good until Goliath stepped forward. King Saul was the tallest man in Israel, but he was a midget compared to Goliath, who was 9 feet, 9 inches. His armour weighed about 125 lbs. There were probably men in Saul’s army who didn’t weigh much more than that. His spearhead weighed about 15lbs, and those muscular arms could throw it with armour-piercing strength. If you got hit by that, it didn’t matter what you were wearing; you weren’t getting up!

As the general of the army and the king appointed by God, Saul should have been the man of faith to step up and accept the challenge. Instead, as we see from the previous verses, he was as terrified as everyone else. There was no way he was going out to fight Goliath! He offered every incentive he could think of to get one of his men to step up. No takers. They all knew dead men can’t spend money.

From a natural perspective, this was an impossible situation. The only way Goliath was going down was if a lot of men ganged up on him. That wasn’t going to happen in single combat. They looked at their natural abilities, they looked at their fearful leaders, and fear ruled the day.

Christians are sometimes in the same position. The world seems to have captured all the positions of power, positions once held by Christians. They threaten all that Christians hold dear, and there is fear in the camp. Yet many times when Christians look to their leaders for leadership, they see people who are just as fearful as they are or worse, people who are either hopelessly compromised with the world or infiltrators sent in by the world. Conservative Bible colleges routinely turn out graduates who don’t believe the Bible is the Word of God, who try to compromise with evolution, who refuse to believe in miracles, including the resurrection and who can’t even tell that murdering children and sexual perversions are wrong. If our faith is in our abilities or our leaders, we have reason to be afraid.

How Foolish!

Next, take a look at the ridiculousness of the situation. Every morning, the Israelite army would come out and line up for battle. They would bang their spears on their shields and yell fierce war cries. They are ready for battle. Then Goliath would step out, and they all turned around and went back to camp. They would do this every day for forty days. Forty days!

This is deep self-deception. Every morning, they go out to battle and return to camp in time for brunch. Every time they think something different is going to happen. What did they think was going to happen? Was Goliath going to have a heart attack in the night and not show up? Was God going to strike Goliath with lightning so they could stop quivering in their boots? Why did they think every day it would be different if they weren’t doing anything different?

Sometimes we Christians are the same. We talk a good game inside the church walls and among ourselves, but when Goliath stands up, we are nowhere to be seen. This occurs when we rely solely on our own abilities and strategies. We keep doing the same things over and over again, yet we expect different results.

Young David

David was different. The size and power of the enemy didn’t faze him. The fear emanating from everyone around him only embarrassed him for their sakes. The cowardly leadership didn’t matter. He was more interested in the size of the reward than in the size of Goliath. He had absolute confidence in God. He knew the will of God. He knew balance: he did not expect to accomplish it on his own, but neither did he expect God to do it without him.

Listen to his words in 1 Sam. 17:46: “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.” God would give the victory, but David would do the actions. Teamwork.

Our Vision Determines Our Faith

Our vision determines our faith. Where did David get this vision of his Almighty covenant God? He saw God prove Himself in little ways as he acted with courage. Every victory led to another test, and another triumph followed. We don’t know what led up to David’s confidence with the lion and the bear, but we know he was able to apply those lessons to the tougher tests. Then the lion and bear experiences gave him the confidence he needed to face Goliath. And that ultimately led to the kingship of Israel. Many Christians will never see the crown because they refused the training they needed to take down their lions and bears and Goliaths.

Yet God has an army of David Christians who are shaking the gates of hell by the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. They are pressing ahead regardless of whether others go with them or not. They know their God, and they are doing exploits. The Kingdom of God is advancing and will continue to advance until all its enemies have been put under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. This must happen before the return of Christ. So get your eyes off the heavens and onto the battle.

Certainly not everyone in this battle has the same mission or ability. God has given each person a role to play; some are out front, storming the enemy's strongholds, while others are support personnel or those assigned to hold the ground taken from a counterattack. One thing we know. Everyone is required to have courageous confidence in the leadership and ability of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our vision determines our faith. The question we must answer is whether we want to hide in the camp with Saul or take the battle to the enemy with David. Is our vision on Jesus Christ or on natural ability?

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