August 6, 2016 – Devotions based on passages from the book David and Goliath
Slingers Beat Infantry

“When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.   David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.  So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David’s hand.”  1 Samuel 17:48-50

“Twice David mentions Goliath’s sword and spear, as if to emphasize how profoundly different his intentions are. Then he reaches into his shepherd’s bag for a stone, and at that point no one watching from the ridges on either side of the valley would have considered David’s victory improbable. David was a slinger, and slingers beat infantry, hands down.” (David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, p. 12) 

 Goliath was part of the infantry of the Philistines. And he was not just part of it, he was their secret weapon. Now, of course he would not have been much of a secret for his size and power would have been legendary. But his weapons of war were reliant on brute strength. David approached him with the armor that Saul gave to him, but he took it off because it slowed him down — and he did not have a chance matching his physical strength with the physical strength of Goliath. David had something else — he had a sling — which meant his means of weaponry had one additional dimension: distance.

This is the strength of prayer — which is our weapon against sin, death and the devil, and our lifeline to G-d. We can pray by laying on hands–and we can pray from a distance. Many would have said David didn’t have a prayer against Goliath, but they did not know the power of G-d, and the power of a sling. And prayer has power–I believe in the power of prayer. So we need to have a slinger’s mentality when it comes to praying. We need to be willing to pray face to face with people, and from a distance for people. If we believe in the power of prayer, then we need to use it as a daily weapon against the devil, and for G-d.

Pastor Dave