Episode 84 – Heart Lessons – The Courageous Heart

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Life is hard at times. Our hearts often get bruised and battered yet God offers us words that help and heal those hearts when we turn to him. Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast, where we study his word and find strength for the day. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole (00:28):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 84, The Courageous Heart. Sharon, it’s hard to be courageous. Are you a flight or a fight type of person when things get scary?

Sharon (00:40):

Is there a third option? Because I’m a ‘freeze’ most of the time. (Nicole: Oh yeah) You know, I just stay in place and think, oh dear, what should I do, and do nothing most of the time. I’m kind of numb. (Nicole: Oh yeah) So that’s sad, but I was sort of courageous once. Oh, shall I tell you?

Nicole (01:00):

Yes, please.

Sharon (01:01):

We were sitting at a lake, my sister, my sister-in-law and I, and our kiddos were young. Kinda your kids’ ages. Maybe a little younger, yeah, younger. And they were playing and it was, you know, a lake for kids to play in. So it’s super shallow and it had the little buoys on each side and you just had to stay within the roped in area. So, you know, I was sort of of watching, but not super watching cause it’s fairly safe.

Nicole (01:25):

Safe. Yeah.

Sharon (01:26):

So I happened to glance over and one of my nephews had gone underneath the rope. (Nicole: Oh yeah) And I saw his little head go under (Oh no) and come up and go under again. And I actually, I did, I ran.

Nicole (01:42):

Oh, Sharon.

Sharon (01:42):

I ran to save him. Of course, I thought I’d be able to stand, right? Because even though it was outside the ropes, I didn’t think I’d be over my head, which I was.

Nicole (01:53):

Oh no. Oh no!

Sharon (01:53):

So I rush in to save him and I am down in the weeds with weeds going around my, you know, my legs. It was awful, and I’m not a life saver. (Nicole: Right) So I kind of grabbed him and kind of shoved him up and, you know, shoved him over. It was the most embarrassing rescue you could ever see. But I did, I did save him.

Nicole (02:16):

But you saved him. Oh!

Sharon (02:16):

I did. So, but what I’ll never know is, would I have run so fast if I knew it was over my head? I’m not sure I would’ve, but I can at least cling to that moment.

Nicole (02:28):

That you did, you ran and you didn’t freeze.

Sharon (02:30):

I did. I ran toward more danger than I realized.

Nicole (02:33):

And your nephew’s alive and well because of your courage.

Sharon (02:36):

Yes. How about you? I mean, that’s kind of a pitiful example, but it’s the best I can come up with.

Nicole (02:40):

I love it. It’s funny. We are very similar except that when emergencies happen, I don’t know what it is, but everything goes still and I can think really fast. Totally a God thing.

Sharon (02:49):

That’s so cool. Cause I go numb.

Nicole (02:51):

I don’t know what it is. Yeah. I’m just like, okay, how are we gonna fix this? This, this. So cause I work as a dental assistant and part of the training is learning to be quick in medical emergencies.

Sharon (03:00):

Oh, that’s true.

Nicole (03:00):

So we’ve had a few scares before. I’ve been able to remove things quickly and you know, save people from a more serious medical emergency.

Sharon (03:08):

Uh-huh.

Nicole (03:09):

But for, at home, once we had, um, I had made bacon in the oven, the week before and I thought I’d cleaned up all the bacon grease, but it had gone all over the oven. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) So I was baking something that needed the oven really high. I can’t remember what it was, maybe pizza, but I walk into the kitchen and my oven is ablaze. Like it just looks like a little pellet stove fire. Like the whole bottom of the oven is in flames. And I was like, Oh!

Sharon (03:30):

There’s a reaction.

Nicole (03:32):

So I walked over and I had opened it and it got worse. So I closed it right away. And I turned off the oven and I very calmly got baking soda and water. And I was like, Hey, Josh. And I called to him as calmly, but urgently as I could. (Sharon: Yeah) I didn’t want all the kids to come running and freak out at once.

Sharon (03:46):

Oh, that’s all you, you need. Right.

Nicole (03:47):

And I was like, Hey Josh, I need you right now. And he caught it and he came right down (Sharon: Go Josh) and I’m like, water or baking soda? What do I put on it? It’s a grease fire. And he’s like baking soda. So we opened it. I threw it in and it was good. But I was so calm. And then afterwards, I always fall apart afterwards.

Sharon (04:03):

Afterwards, you get all shaky afterwards.

Nicole (04:06):

I’m all shaky and crying: “Leave the house!! And I’m so sorry!! The bacon!!” — And he’s like, it’s fine. You did good. You were really calm. I’m like, oh, I was calm.

Sharon (04:11):

That’s awesome. (Nicole: So that’s good) Well, here we are, we’re talking about a courageous heart and both of us. Well—

Nicole (04:20):

It’s not our first go-to, is it?

Sharon (04:22):

No, it’s not. It’s not. What was Ray talking about the other day? Oh, I know. We were in the welcome center at church. (Nicole: Oh yeah) And, I mean, this is kind of serious, but it just shows Ray’s heart for me. And I said, you know, we need to watch in case, you know, anybody bad comes in and then I’ll go up and talk to them and try to talk them out of shooting. Right? And Ray said, you will not! He said, you will be behind the counter.

Nicole (04:49):

I can just see you. Excuse me, sir, I see you have that gun, but do you really want to shoot people? No, Sharon. You don’t talk to them. You can pray as you duck from them.

Sharon (04:53):

So Ray’s cool with being the courageous one and me staying safe behind the counter. I just love him.

Nicole (05:04):

Oh, that’s cute.

Sharon (05:05):

So, but today we’re gonna talk about a courageous heart. (Nicole: Yeah) Cause we do need one in this day and age and seriously we do. We do. I mean a lot of hard things happen and sadly shootings are happening and there may come a time where we do need to have courage in a very hard scenario. Oh my. So I also need courage to speak up for what I believe is true when necessary. And I’ve done that before with the abortion issue. (Nicole: Yeah) But my heart pounds frantically, you know, and I can’t say that I do it fearlessly because I don’t like arguments. I would rather everybody be happy with me all the time. Right. But I do share my views when necessary on it and I try to do it as kindly as I can. So I really wanna learn from David about a courageous heart. (Nicole: Yeah) Actually I’d like a more courageous heart and as the times get darker, I may need one. I really might. So we’re gonna spend a lot of time today actually actually reading this story that made David famous back in the day and keeps him famous. I mean, it’s kind of THE story.

Nicole (06:04):

Yeah. Even the world knows about David and Goliath.

Sharon (06:05):

Yeah, exactly, the story of David and Goliath. So we’re gonna read 1 Samuel 17, the story itself in four different segments. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) You get the first segment. And this part is the threat, the reason to be afraid, the villain, Goliath.

Nicole (06:22):

Enter Goliath.

Sharon (06:23):

Enter Goliath. Go for it.

Nicole (06:24):

All right. So 1 Samuel 17, Goliath Challenges, the Israelites. “The Philistines now mustered their army for battle and camped between Socoh in Judah and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. Saul countered by gathering his Israelite troops near the Valley of Elah. So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other on opposite hills with the valley between them. Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath came out from the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet, tall. (Sharon: Wowsers) He wore a bronze helmet and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds.” (Nicole: Just the coat)

Sharon (07:08):

Can you imagine?

Nicole (07:10):

I can’t even. It’s crazy. He also—

Sharon (07:12):

It’s more than my mother weighs.

Nicole (07:13):

Oh my word! So on top of the 125 pound coat of armor, “He also wore bronze leg armor and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds.”

Sharon (07:32):

Goodness.

Nicole (07:32):

“His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.” This is a big guy.

Sharon (07:37):

Yeah.

Nicole (07:37):

“Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. Why are you all coming out to fight, he called? I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me. If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves. I defy the armies of Israel today. Send me a man who will fight me. When Saul and the Israelites heard this they were terrified and deeply shaken.”

Sharon (08:05):

Oh yeah. That’s crazy scary.

Nicole (08:09):

That’s, wow. When I think when I read this Goliath kind of sounds like a Marvel super villain, you know?

Sharon (08:15):

Yeah, he does. He does.

Nicole (08:16):

Like, just like the one that no one could defeat. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) He was no ordinary man. He was big.

Sharon (08:21):

Nine feet.

Nicole (08:22):

Nine feet. My husband is 6’3″. And he’s a big guy. And I can’t imagine a man over three feet taller than my husband.

Sharon (08:29):

Yeah.

Nicole (08:30):

Carrying your mother strapped to his back.

Sharon (08:32):

Yes, my mother (laughing).

Nicole (08:34):

You know, and talk about his armor and spear that weighed so much at the tip of his spearhead it weighed 15 pounds, not including the wooden shaft, like this man was massive.

Sharon (08:42):

And he’s carrying it like it’s nothing.

Nicole (08:43):

Right. To use it as a weapon, you have to be able to move it around. So this man is huge. You know, the only person I can think of to compare him to in present day, would’ve been like Andre, the giant from The Princess Bride.

Sharon (08:56):

Oh, my word. Yes.

Nicole (08:56):

But he’s so like soft and gentle and squishy that I can’t, he still doesn’t— (Sharon: He’s not Goliath) exactly inspire the fear that Goliath would’ve. You know, and then to have him yelling and taunting you as he towered over you, man, no wonder, they were shaking and trembling. This is, this is scary.

Sharon (09:12):

It is really scary. And how nice for the Philistines? Because he’s on their side.

Nicole (09:16):

They don’t have to be worried.

Sharon (09:17):

They don’t have to even worry about fighting. They just shove Goliath out there everyday.

Nicole (09:21):

Yes, Goliath, go out there and make everyone quake in their boots.

Sharon (09:23):

And the Israelites, I mean, who would walk out there? (Nicole: Yeah) You know, I think Goliath’s like, I’ll just slaughter you one at a time. Come on, come on.

Nicole (09:30):

Right.

Sharon (09:31):

So, basically there’s a standoff it sounds like.

Nicole (09:33):

Yeah. Cause there’s no physical way.

Sharon (09:34):

He’s going up every day taunting and they’re just sitting there going, oh, what do we do?

Nicole (09:38):

Who do we send out?

Sharon (09:39):

And how humiliating? (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Right? Because I mean, Ray loves to be brave. I mean, my Xavi, my little grandson loves to be brave. (Nicole: Oh) The other day I was on Marco Polo (Nicole: Yeah) and Mary said, Xavi, show Nina your something, something moves. I don’t even know what kind of moves they were, but he picks up this couch pillow that’s like a couch cushion that’s as big as he is. He slams it to the ground. He’s pounding it. And it’s so adorable so I think. And on and on, and I’m like, I am so afraid, you know? I actually was.

Nicole (10:19):

What a cutie pie.

Sharon (10:20):

So even at four, Xavi’s already like, I am cool. I am big. I am hero. I kill pillow, (Nicole: Yes) So all these men who wanna be seen as, you know, heroes?

Nicole (10:31):

Yeah.

Sharon (10:32):

Have been humiliated.

Nicole (10:33):

They’re out there fighting for their families and their lives and they can’t even fight.

Sharon (10:37):

They can’t even fight.

Nicole (10:38):

Well, if you look at it from a human perspective, there’s no physical way they’re gonna win this, this battle.

Sharon (10:42):

No they’re not.

Nicole (10:42):

So they’re sitting there going, we can’t do this.

Sharon (10:45):

They’re frozen.

Sharon (10:46):

You know? Oh, hey, there’s the third. Fight, flight or frozen.

Nicole (10:50):

Oh see. There’s the third. The whole Israelite army demonstrates for us that there’s a third option.

Sharon (10:54):

There we go. They’re frozen. So, all right, now I’m gonna read 1 Samuel 17:12-31. We’ve met the villain. Now we meet the unassuming hero. Our David, still quite young and too young to fight.

Nicole (11:08):

I forget he was still so young here.

Sharon (11:09):

Dun, Duh, da dun dun dun—-. Okay. Verse 12, I’ll pick up the story. “Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. Jesse was an old man at that time and he had eight sons. Jesse’s three oldest sons, Eliab, Abinadab and Shimea had already joined Saul’s army to fight the Philistines. David was the youngest son. David’s three oldest brothers stayed with Saul’s army, but David went back and forth so he could help his father with the sheep in Bethlehem. For 40 days every morning and evening the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.” (That’s more than a month.)

Nicole (11:49):

That’s a long— I didn’t realize it was so long. Feels like a week maybe.

Sharon (11:52):

Yeah, that’s slow. Talk about really humiliating. “So one day Jesse said to David, take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread and carry them quickly to your brothers and give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain.”

Nicole (12:05):

Feed them. Maybe that’ll perk ’em up.

Sharon (12:06):

Ahhh, a little bribery there, give it to the captain. “See how your brothers are getting along and bring back a report on how they’re doing. David’s brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the Valley of Elah fighting against the Philistines. So David left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries.”

Nicole (12:31):

They were trying to rally.

Sharon (12:33):

They’re trying to rally again on day 41. Oh my goodness. “Soon, the Israelite and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army. David left his things with a keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks” (Oh yeah, cool) “to greet his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel. As soon as the Israeli army saw him, they began to run away in fright. Have you seen the giant, the men asked, he comes out each day to defy Israel? The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes.”

Nicole (13:19):

Oh, that’s a good deal.

Sharon (13:20):

(I know) “David asked the soldier standing nearby, what will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?And these men gave David the same reply.” (They said, yeah, that is the reward. They didn’t say, yeah, I’m reading wrong.) They said, according to the New Living Translation and it’s not ‘yeah’. “They said, yes, that is the reward from killing him.” (I’m getting too involved in the story here.) “But when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard David talking to the men, he was angry. What are you doing here anyway, he demanded? What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just wanna see the battle. What have I done now? David replied. I was only asking a question. He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer.” (David wanted to be sure about the reward of it.).

Nicole (14:15):

Apparently, yeah.

Sharon (14:16):

“Then David’s question was reported to King Saul and the king sent for him.”

Nicole (14:21):

Hmm. (Sharon: Okay) He noticed him.

Sharon (14:22):

So first of all, that deal about being exempted from taxes sounds awesome.

Nicole (14:26):

I know.

Sharon (14:26):

For life. Are you kidding me?

Nicole (14:28):

I know. That’s pretty good.

Sharon (14:28):

Yeah. They say always two things are sure in life, death and taxes. (Nicole: Yeah) And there it is back, you know, thousands of years ago.

Nicole (14:36):

They had it then too.

Sharon (14:37):

It kind of made me laugh and I kind of love that David left his sheep in the care of another shepherd.

Nicole (14:42):

I saw that too.

Sharon (14:43):

Isn’t that nice?

Nicole (14:44):

Yeah. Like even with all the excitement and the big, important job of going to the army.

Sharon (14:47):

Oh cool I get to go to the battle.

Nicole (14:48):

Yeah. He still made sure.

Sharon (14:49):

He’s like, take care of my sheep. (Nicole: Yeah) He was was a good shepherd.

Nicole (14:51):

He was. He had a good heart.

Sharon (14:53):

Yeah. We love you, David. But most of all, I love David’s response to Goliath’s threats.

Nicole (14:58):

Isn’t that awesome?

Sharon (14:58):

Who is this pagan anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God? David goes right to the heart of the matter. (Nicole: Yeah) Hey, we have the one true God on our side. And some pagan is going to terrify us? David’s faith here is awesome. He knows God. He knows how huge God is and how mighty. And therefore he’s simply disgusted with the army, which might be why Eliab was getting mad at him. Right?

Nicole (15:23):

Probably.

Sharon (15:23):

It aggravates his big brother to no end. Siblings can irritate each other, can’t they, Nicole? Ever had that experience.

Nicole (15:31):

I have three siblings and yes, yes, I have. I’m the oldest. So I think it’s like, our job as the oldest to be affronted by most things our younger siblings do.

Sharon (15:40):

Absolutely. And about how our parents do not hold to the standard that they forced on us.

Nicole (15:45):

No, especially that. We have like, me and my sister are three years apart and then there’s a ten year gap. And then when I was 12 and then 15, my mom had two little boys. (Sharon: Ah) So it’s almost like parenting two different generations.

Sharon (15:56):

That’s true.

Nicole (15:57):

So I have quite often spoken to them on how they should make sure they’re parenting the boys as firmly as they parented us but to no avail.

Sharon (16:05):

You keep telling them.

Nicole (16:06):

I keep trying, but you know.

Sharon (16:08):

That’s funny,

Nicole (16:08):

But no, yes, siblings can really get to each other sometimes.

Sharon (16:11):

Yeah they can.

Nicole (16:11):

And it’s funny how annoyed he is with David. Probably because he’s been there for 41 days (Sharon: Yeah, yeah, yeah) dealing with this and David comes out.

Sharon (16:17):

And David’s like, what is wrong with you guys?

Nicole (16:19):

What are you guys doing?

Sharon (16:20):

And Eliab’s looking at this kid going, (Nicole: Go back to your sheep) go back to your sheep. Exactly. Well, I have a sister who is two and a half years difference and we are super close. Best friends, really, really close. But growing up she would get me so mad on Saturday mornings. Cause Saturday morning was clean the room morning. (Nicole: Yes) And you know, she was messier than I was, but somehow her room was always cleaned first and it got me mad.

Nicole (16:44):

She’s fast.

Sharon (16:45):

So she’d just, you know, walk out and go play with her friends and I’d be slaving away until the day we found out that there’s a little cubbyhole at the back of her room that goes into the attic.

Nicole (16:55):

Oh no.

Sharon (16:56):

She would just shove everything in there. I know.

Nicole (16:59):

That sounds like my Ellie.

Sharon (17:00):

As the oldest, I felt it my duty to tell my parents (Nicole: Yes! Absolutely) about this which did not endear me to my sister. So yes, siblings can be aggravating.

Nicole (17:09):

Oh, that’s funny. Wow. Okay. Moving on. So we’re gonna read 1 Samuel 17:32-51 now. So we’ve met the villain and the hero and now we have the epic battle. (Sharon: Ta Da!) But first the hero has to convince the king that he can do the impossible. I love his confidence in this part. So let’s read verse 32. “Don’t worry about this Philistine, David told Saul.” (I love that he’s telling the king this. Don’t worry about him. I’ll go fight him.) “Don’t be ridiculous. Saul replied. There is no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win. You’re only a boy and he’s been a man of war since his youth. But David persisted, I’ve been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats he said. When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death.”

Sharon (18:02):

Oh my word.

Nicole (18:03):

He’s going right after ’em. (Sharon: Yeah) “I’ve done this to both lions and bears. I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine too. For he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine fall. Saul finally consented. All right, go ahead, he said and may the Lord be with you.”

Sharon (18:25):

He must have been really convincing that Saul would agree.

Nicole (18:29):

Yeah.

Sharon (18:29):

Well of course Saul was pretty desperate too.

Nicole (18:31):

Well, at that point probably. “So then Saul gave David his own armor, a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it and took a step or two to see what it was like for he had never worn such things before. I can’t go in these, he protested to Saul. I’m not used to them. So David took them off again. He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling he started across the valley to fight the Philistines.”

Sharon (19:03):

That must have been such a picture.

Nicole (19:05):

This scrawny little boy with his no armor.

Sharon (19:07):

With his little staff and his little sling and (Nicole: Marching out there) this giant.

Nicole (19:10):

They must have been just like what, what, what was happening?

Sharon (19:14):

I wonder what Eliab thought, the older brother.

Nicole (19:16):

Oh yeah, (Sharon: Yeah) Hmm. We have so many questions in heaven. I want more detail. “Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him sneering in contempt at this ruddy faced boy. Am I a dog he roared at David that you come at me with a stick? And he cursed David by the names of his gods. Come over here and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals Goliath yelled.” (Nicole: Goodness. Sharon: Yeah) “David replied to the Philistine, you come to me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today, the Lord will conquer you and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and the wild animals and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people. And not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle and he will give you to us. As Goliath moved closer to attack David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his Shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in and Goliath tumbled and fell face down on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone for he had no sword. Then David ran over, pulled out Goliath’s sword from its sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head.”

Sharon (20:45):

Oh wow. Now you know who would love that story? My grandson (Nicole: Yes) the kid wrestling the pillow.

Nicole (20:50):

Yeah. That’s a good bloody ending for sure, Sharon. Oh, but you know what I love most about this story is David’s complete and total faith in God.

Sharon (20:59):

I mean, he’s running towards a giant.

Nicole (21:01):

In his little shepherd’s garb with his shepherd’s staff.

Sharon (21:03):

No frozen with David.

Nicole (21:05):

No. It’s just, um, the courage he had to run out to meet the giant with only five rocks and a Slingshot can only have come from trusting in his God. (Sharon: Yeah) And knowing that he was so much bigger than him, he completely entrusted himself to God. And that’s the only way he could have had the courage to take on Goliath. You know? (Sharon: Yeah) It’s really sad though, in that entire Israelite army that no one else had the courage to take Goliath on.

Sharon (21:28):

No one.

Nicole (21:29):

And no one else trusted God as much as David did. You know, I think we start to get a better, bigger picture here of why he was a man after God’s own heart.

Sharon (21:36):

Absolutely. He knew God, that was the bottom line. He knew God. So many of us play at religion and we don’t take the time to know the living God.

Nicole (21:49):

To sit and know him. And he gave him credit for all of his past victories over the lions and the bears and he kept crediting God with everything. So anything he had done victorious or courageous in his life—

Sharon (21:59):

He knew God had helped him.

Nicole (22:00):

Yeah.

Sharon (22:00):

Because actually what little boy can grab a lion by the mouth, flip him on his back and club him to death.

Nicole (22:07):

Right. While he’s in the midst of attacking a prey, he said he pulled a lamb from his mouth. So animals are in that prey drive. You can’t stop an animal that’s hunting.

Sharon (22:13):

No. So, he had experience with miracles really (Nicole: Yeah) when you think about it.

Nicole (22:17):

Yeah. That’s true.

Sharon (22:18):

And so he is like, um, this is a no brainer.

Nicole (22:20):

It’s just like the lion God killed for me.

Sharon (22:22):

It’s just like the lion, right. I’ve been there. Done that before.

Nicole (22:25):

Yeah.

Sharon (22:26):

Stunning though. Isn’t it?

Nicole (22:27):

It is. He doesn’t falter or think for a minute. Well, maybe I should pray first, I dunno. He just goes, he knows.

Sharon (22:32):

He just does it. He just does it.

Nicole (22:33):

It’s amazing.

Sharon (22:34):

Okay. Well that was a fun story. A little, a little bloody for my taste. But there it is. Goliath died.

Nicole (22:43):

Yes. He was very dead after that.

Sharon (22:44):

Yes, very dead. So I’m gonna finish up the story with the other side, the Philistines now being the terrified ones.

Nicole (22:52):

Oh yeah.

Sharon (22:52):

Funny. They were only brave as long as they had their really big person there. They didn’t have any innate courage of their own. Did they? So, 1 Samuel 17:52-58. It’s titled Israel Routs the Philistines. (Dun da dun) “So when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran.” (They didn’t even try to fight, isn’t that ridiculous? It was one guy.) (Nicole: Yeah) “Then the men of Israel and Judah gave a great shout of triumph and rushed after the Philistines, chasing them as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron. The bodies of the dead and wounded Philistines were strewn all along the road from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. Then the Israelite army returned and plundered the deserted Philistine camp. David took the Philistine’s head.”

Sharon (23:43):

Good grief.

Nicole (23:44):

That’s lovely.

Sharon (23:44):

This is such a man thing. I would never be hauling a head anywhere.

Nicole (23:49):

Why would you want it?

Sharon (23:50):

Okay. “David took the Philistine’s head to Jerusalem, but he stored the man’s armor in his own tent. As Saul watched David go out to fight the Philistine he asked Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this young man?” (Saul has a short memory. He’s like, who’s that guy out there? “I really don’t know, Abner declared. Well, find out who he is, the king told him. As soon as David returned from killing Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand. Tell me about your father young man, Saul said. And David replied, his name is Jesse and we live in Bethlehem.” So there we go. The Israelites won and Saul discovers David. Now, scholars disagree as to whether Saul had already met David and discovered him—

Nicole (24:33):

I was just gonna ask you.

Sharon (24:33):

Playing the harp that soothed him, or if he met David first here. There’s another question for heaven. (Nicole: Yeah) Somehow it fits together. We’re not sure how. Saul was a tormented man so it’s possible that, you know, the harpist played at a distance and he didn’t really associate David the harpist with David, the kid that’s in the armor.

Nicole (24:56):

Different personalities so maybe not.

Sharon (24:57):

I have no idea. Yeah. But any case David’s noticed after this. I’m thinking. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nicole (25:00):

Yeah. It’s hard to miss this guy holding the giant bleeding head.

Sharon (25:03):

But what I gain from this is that a courageous heart is one that knows God well, I mean, that seems to be the theme song here.

Nicole (25:10):

Yeah.

Sharon (25:10):

David grew that heart all alone as he watched the sheep and spent time getting to know the one who made them. He saw God actively help him with the wolves and the lions trying to eat the sheep. And David’s courage was there cause it wasn’t in himself. (Nicole: Yeah) And I think that, I think I freeze when I do my freeze thing because I feel inadequate (Nicole: Yeah) to make the right decision.

Nicole (25:32):

And we usually are.

Sharon (25:34):

And that would be the truth, right. (Nicole: Yeah) And we usually are. But his faith was in God, totally. He’s like, you’re coming against God? This will be a piece of cake. So, I want that kind of courage, Nicole.

Nicole (25:48):

Yeah.

Sharon (25:48):

I wanna know that no matter what God’s with me and will help me in scary times because he will, I just heard, Grace, I cannot remember her last name. Graham, I think. She’s the wife of a missionary who was killed violently like 10 years ago. A long time ago now, him and his son, I think they were burned to death.

Nicole (26:11):

Oh my goodness.

Sharon (26:12):

And ever since she has prayed daily, for those that, killed her husband. And she’s rejoicing today because several of them found their way to prison and then were witnessed to by Christians and have accepted Jesus.

Nicole (26:25):

Oh my goodness. You’re kidding. That’s so cool.

Sharon (26:28):

And that’s courage. (Nicole: Yeah) She wants to go to them. She wants to minister to them. (Nicole: Wow) She wants to love them. So that’s courage today. I wanna be a woman who is after God’s own heart in all those ways.

Nicole (26:42):

Yes. Absolutely. It’s amazing to me, I think one of my favorite things of David, when he came onto that battlefield, he didn’t stop and figure out or like maybe I should go pray about it to see if I should take on Goliath.

Sharon (26:53):

Yeah. Like maybe for 40 days.

Nicole (26:55):

Maybe God isn’t calling me to this. Maybe, like he didn’t even hesitate that maybe this is not the path God wants for me (Sharon: Mm-hmm) and let it pass by. He, because he had grown that courageous heart with God, he was walking with God all the time. So when he stepped onto that moment of crisis, he was ready. There was no hesitation. There was no like, well, I don’t know. He just went for it, because he had confidence in God.

Sharon (27:19):

He did. And he knew that the living God was being defied by someone who had no business saying that.

Nicole (27:25):

He knew that it was wrong. So it had to be fixed. I just admire the fact that he didn’t. He didn’t like hem and haw about it and like, well maybe I’ll take a couple guys. He just did it.

Sharon (27:28):

Yeah. He just did it. And did it well. And we’re still talking about it almost 3000 years later.

Nicole (27:37):

Amazing.

Sharon (27:38):

So there’s that, yeah. (Nicole: So cool) Well, I’m gonna end today by reading a portion of one of David psalms, Psalm 31 and then praying. We all need the courage to help those who are hurting and to speak truth and love. And to be brave when things get hard, we need courage. (Nicole: Yes) So let’s gain some more from Psalm 31. “Oh Lord. I have come to you for protection. Don’t let me be disgraced. Save me, for you do what is right. Turn your ear to listen to me. Rescue me quickly. Be my rock of protection, a fortress where I will be safe. You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger. Pull me from the trap of my enemy set for me. For I find protection in you alone. I entrust my spirit into your hand. Rescue me, Lord for you are a faithful God. Love the Lord all you godly ones for the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but he harshly punishes the arrogant. So be strong and courageous all you who put your hope in the Lord” Let’s pray. Oh Father, thank you. Thank you for this reminder that our hope is in you. You are the rock. You are the fortress. You are our protector and our Savior. Nothing can ultimately harm us because we get eternity with you. Give us courage Lord, to defend your name when you ask us to, to speak truth, when it is needed. To do the things you ask us to do, and may we always rely on you and not ourselves. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nicole (29:27):

Amen. I loved reading about David’s courage today. How about you? Write us at Sweetselah.org/podcast and let us know, and please do come back next week for episode 85 for more heart lessons from the life of David. We are calling it The Loyal Heart. That’s another character trait I’d love to have more of, loyalty. May God help you and me to be courageous, friend, in any sticky situation in which we find ourselves this week. God bless you.

Speaker 1 (29:56):

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.