I mentioned at the conclusion of "How To Be a Giant Killer Part III" that when I learned more about Giant Killing, I would write about it. Well.....I've learned some additional things about slaying giants and I want to share those things with you. I suspicion that learning how to slay giants (I like the word "slay" better than "kill." It sounds kinder......:) is an on-going process.
Recently while reading Victoria Boyson's book, "Giving Birth to Your Destiny" I discovered some additional insights into slaying giants. Thus, Part IV of that series. Additionally I will have part V ready to post in a day or so.
Vicky's book (which I would recommend to you, it's available from Arrow Publications. This is a ministry Francis Frangipane.) brought up the subject of David and his older brother. Now I've never been a younger brother. But I do have lots of experience as an older brother. I am the oldest of three boys. And while I have my own battles with being first born David was fighting his own battles with being the last born.
According to 1 Samuel 17:13, Eliab was the oldest of Jesse's sons. He was tall and handsome and reminded some of King Saul. At least that was Samuel's first reaction to him when he saw him for the first time as noted in 1 Samuel 16:6.
But when David carried supplies from his father to the front lines of the battle, David's big brother reacted poorly to David's presence. 1 Samuel 17:28 says that when Eliab saw David, he "burned with anger." He also insinuated that David had been irresponsible for leaving the sheep; and call him "conceited" claiming he had a wicked heart.
It's guys like Eliab that give us big brothers a bad name.
Verse 30 of 1 Samuel 17 tells us how David dealt with Eliab. He turned away from Eliab and searched for someone else to talk to. Have you ever had someone that you wanted to "turn away" from? I have. I wish I had paid attention to this portion of Scripture to see how best to handle situations like that. I'm not sure I handled either of these situations well. I didn't fight with them; or aruge with them; I simply internalized their comments and let them eat at me. Sorry for the confession.....it was bad judgment on my part.I should have turned away from them. Since I'm sure there will be more who are like Eliab come along, I will be prepared to do better. Hopefully you will be better prepared too.
My experiences involved two other ministers. After more than 20 years.....it's been more than 30 years now......one co-worker began to chide me about being a pastor's kid and how that made going into ministry so much easier. He also went on to imply that when he came into ministry,he had to work much harder than I did.
Well, I am a PK.....Preacher's Kid. I'm proud of it. Dad pastored churches that were difficult places to be. They were small churches and had been small churches for most of their existence. They were churches with no money. And they were churches that did not want to grow, no matter what he tried to do. I saw his discouragement. I saw his frustration. I saw the disappointments and I lived without many things due to there being no money. (God kept him humble and the church kept him poor.) I don't know that this was a great advantage for me. What was a great advantage though, was the faithfulness of my dad that I saw day in and day out. So, perhaps I did have an advantage from that standpoint.
At another time, a different co-worker decided that since I hadn't experienced the things of this world, as he had, that I probably wouldn't be that effective in ministry. He claimed that I could not related to folks who were coming from worldly backgrounds and lives that had been entrenched in sin. I'm still greatful that I don't know their pain. But I know that God knows their pain and He's the only one who can fix their pain, no matter what I have or haven't experienced.
Back to Eliab.....it would be easy to judge Eliab's heart based on what God said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 17:7. God said that while man looked on the outside, God looked at the heart and it sounds as if God didn't care for Eliab's heart.....or at least his heart wasn't right to become the next king.
Perhaps it's safer to say that Eliab's heart was just different than David's instead of saying it was bad.
That's the conclusion I came to with my co-workers. Their hearts weren't wicked, just different. No one was better; no one had it easier; no one was more effective than the other; we were all just different.
But sometimes when someone like Eliab begins to challenge you, with a different heart, it's just best to turn away and find someone with a heart similar to yours........if you really want to kill the giants.
Always in Pursuit!
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