Blog Resurrection

So, after more than 2 years I’ve decided to revive this old blog dedicated to my Israel trip to now be my occasional ramblings, ideas and general hypotheses on theology, the bible, religion etc. I tend to have these relatively fascinating conversations and discussions in my head and I always tell myself i should put some of it on paper. Purpose being to hash out what’s in my head and maybe document some aspects of the spiritual journey.  So without further ado, I make no claims to have any leg up on anyone when it comes to their relationship to the divine. I have my own ideas and biases and i make no apologies for them. Dont invite me to your church because i wont go. It’s taken me 36 years to find a church that only annoys me a little, and I can stomach that only so much. So with all that said, I’m just going to jump into it.

So I’m currently reading the book of Samuel. I’ve always enjoyed reading the stories of the rise and fall of Saul and the introduction of David as king, as God’s anointed. Everytime i read anything in the bible something new always jumps out, and this is what struck me most recently. So we all know the story of how Israel wanted a human King instead of having God as king so they could be like all the neighboring countries. (talk about penis envy). I guess having God wasnt good enough and even after God tells them that he will grant their wish but that it wont come without its price (basically taxes, slavery, indemniture – reminds you of modern American life right?). So even with that knowledge they say yes give us a king… so God picks a guy through his prophet Samuel, and the king starts off OK, but ends up being swayed easily by human influence and his own desires so God says he will strip the crown from him and find a worthy person to be king, one who is after his own heart, and this fellow is David. Anyways to the point, I reread the story of David and Goliath and found a couple thing interesting. So Goliath, who is around 9feet tall, is challenging anyone from the israeli army to 1 on 1 combat. And the whole army is chicken, all the way up to the  king, and a shepherd boy is the only one who tells the armies of Israel, the armies of the living God that they shouldnt stand there trembling, with all that God has already demonstrated to them in the not so distant past, they should be bold and rady to go. So the shepherd boy, David, accepts Goliaths challenge and enters into the challenge with the mindset that God will deliver Goliath into his hands. Basically entering into battle on faith alone that God will provide victory. What’s interesting to me is that before he actually enters the Valley of Elah to face off with Goliath, he selects 5 smooth stones from the river bed and puts them in his bag. The stones and his sling are to be his weapon. So the bible goes on that as Goliath is coming towards david with his sword and spear, that David breaks into a full run towards Goliath and slings a rock and hits him in the forehead and downs him, upon which time David grabs Goliaths sword and cuts his head off with it. (adding insult to injury, decapitated by your own sword!). This got me to thinking about the 5 stones, and how David is known from the bible as a great man of faith. I began to wonder about the five stones and what if David actually missed a few times before hitting Goliath. In fact I began to think that that could have been a test of faith for David, who running full steam towards a giant enemy, firing off his first and second shot and possibly missing. Would that rattle my faith if I was in the same position. Did it rattle David’s or did he just keep going expecting that one of his shots would be the one, because he knew God was with him. Yet one thing we know about God is that he is not afraid to test our faith. And he has always demonstrated to Israel that their deliverance is from him and always in the most dire and almost impossible situations. So part of me thinks that David might have missed 4 out of 5 shots. But he kept going because he had great faith and knew that it wasnt up to him and his timing but God’s, so each time he missed, he fired off another one knowing eventually God would connect the rock to it’s target. If i was in the same situation probably by around the 3rd rock I’d have pissed myself and began running full steam the other way filled with doubt. But not David. And that’s why he was worthy enough to be called the Lord’s anointed.