David ran at Goliath.  David ran QUICKLY at Goliath.

Almost everyone knows the story from 1 Samuel 17 of young David armed with staff, a sling and five smooth stones who bested the giant Goliath carrying a sword, a spear, and a javelin. Goliath was indeed huge – nine feet nine inches or 6 feet nine inches, depending on the Bible version you are reading.  He must have been massively strong, as his chain mail vest weighed 125 pounds, and his spear’s head weighed 15 pounds.  And he had a shield-bearer who went before him carrying a full-height shield.

David, on the other side of the battle, had no armor at all because he hadn’t or didn’t know how to use it… “he had not tested them.” David’s faith was not in his own prowess, but that “the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lions and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

The Philistine taunted David with, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.”  David replied with similar warnings about Goliath’s demise, but added that all the Philistines would share the same fate.  And he made clear why he would win, “… I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cur off your head, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear.  For the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hand.”

And then David RAN at Goliath.  It may have given the stone additional power, like a thrown javelin, but it was a pretty confident move; the closer he got to the giant, the more likely that the spear and sword would wreak havoc.  But David trusted his weaponry, his practice and experience, and most of all, he trusted his God to bring him through.  No wonder David was a man after God’s own heart.

Often the Fear or Dread of the LORD causes weakness and distress among the peoples being visited (Psalm 105.37-38; Exodus 14-15), but not always.  We know that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9.10) and knowledge (Proverbs 1.7).

In 1 Samuel 11, the anointed-but-not-yet-crowned King Saul hears the news of the men of Jabesh, fellow countrymen in distress.  “And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words…” causing him to send a gruesome message of dismembered oxen parts throughout the territory of Israel.

“Then the dread of the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.” Three hundred thousand warriors responded within six days, and the God-assisted forces of Saul force struck down the Ammonites.

Note that the Spirit of God is not just about dismembering and striking down. At the end of the chapter when some of Saul’s supporters are seeking vengeance on their brothers who had previously doubted Saul’s abilities, Saul graciously declares, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.”

Genesis 34 tells an awful story of rape, deceit, genocide, and robbery.  The sons of Jacob had a sister named Dinah who captured the attention of a local boy.  This Shechem did a thing that “must not be done” (verse 7) as “he seized her, lay with her and humiliated her” (3).  Shechem tried to make amends, wanting to marry Dinah.  Jacob’s family said they would be okay with such an arrangement as long as all the men in Shechem’s family and town were circumcised first (15).

This seemed good to everyone until Simeon and Levi, two sons of Jacob, went into the town and killed all the males while they were still very “sore.”  They took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. And all the other sons of Jacob plundered the city, taking all the flocks, herds, donkeys and whatever else was in the city and the fields (25-29).

Jacob’s reaction was one of self-preservation, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land.” His sons’ defensive response: “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”  None of these people were stellar performers.  They had even been collecting abominable foreign idols during their journey.

But the LORD told Jacob to go back to Bethel, dwell there, make an altar to the “God who had appeared to you. “  Jacob obeyed.  The miracle that strengthened Jacob’s faith at this point was this:  “a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around then, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob” (verse 35.5).  God’s chosen people were not worthy of it, but God was keeping his promises to Abraham to bless them.

There are some quotations in the Bible that sound like they come right out of the hardest, wildest, most hair-raising movie thriller ever.  Consider these scenarios:

Zechariah was visited by an angel while serving in the holy of holies (Luke 1).  Fear fell upon him. When he questioned the veracity of the majestic being, the angel draws himself up to full height, fixes his steely eyes on Zechariah, and say, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.  And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

OrThis interchange between Joshua and a Jesus-like figure in Joshua 5.13-15: When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Or

Moses’ interaction with the angel of the LORD in the burning bush (Exodus 3) includes these fearsome declarations:  Then he (God) said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

We can see examples of God saying “Harrumph” to men when they get all full of themselves.  In Genesis 11 the world had decided not to follow God’s command to fill the earth but instead settled in the land of Shinar.  They had learned about bricks and mortar and were determined to build a tower “with its top in the heavens” so as to make a name for themselves.  They thought they could go up to heaven; instead God came down to them, confused their language and caused the people to disperse across the globe.

The book of Job has a back and forth discussion between Job, proclaiming his innocence despite his current sufferings, and his friends who argue he was correctly being punished for having done something wrong.  Job wants to talk to God, until God shows up! God’s harrumph includes a glorious description of his acts in creating and sustaining the whole universe.  Job was more correct than his friends, but they all needed to understand how much greater God is than themselves.

The believers gather together in Acts 4 after just witnessing the bold gospel defense to the Sanhedrin made by Peter and John.  They pray for their own boldness and that God would continue working his miracles.  They apply Psalm 2 to the leaders who crucified Jesus, persecuted the apostles, and failed to understand the salvation work God used them for: “Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed. ”

Current day scientists and others who pooh-pooh the idea of an Intelligent Designer are quick to point out things any “good” designer would have done differently than what we see now – the giraffes’ audio nerve runs from the brain down the neck , around the heart, and back up the neck to their ear; people get sunburn; human windpipes are right next to the esophagus so choking happens, etc.  Can you hear the harrumph?

The opposite side of such hubris is recorded in Jeremiah 9 where men are warned not to boast in their own wisdom, might, or riches, but “let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

Most everyone knows the Bible story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah – the rain of sulfur and fire sent from heaven (see Genesis 18.16 – 19.29).  There is more to the story than just some hydrogen bomb blasting away the towns.  Seen as an archetype for judgment day, the background gives a lot of information about God’s plans.

First we see God moving to save the godly from destruction.  At the end of chapter 18 there is an interesting discussion where Abraham intercedes for the cities.  He asks if the LORD will spare them for the sake of fifty righteous people living there, since it would not be right to put the righteous to death with the wicked.  “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (18.25) A series of bold requests gets the number down to ten – “for the sake of ten, I will not destroy it” (18.33).  In chapter 19 Lot and his family are rescued from the destruction.  Reading how Lot and his family act (see 19.8, 26, 30-38), one realizes there is more to “righteousness” than just doing good things – the godly and the righteous are the elect – those whom God desires to liberate.

Second we see God’s wrath against the wicked.  The actions of “the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man” (19.4) were despicable.  The angel visitors had to strike the men of the city with blindness in order to rescue Lot (19.11).  All the people of the town committed appalling acts; God’s wrath meant the catastrophe upon the city was total.

Third, we see the certainty of the final judgment.  Verses 18.20-21 tell us the LORD has given careful consideration of the situation and is double-checking all the facts that he already knows to be true.  God is patient with the nations, but he keeps his promises (2 Peter 3.9).  The punishment for all who do not repent and believe will be severe.

Romans 8.26-28:  “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

This is awesome!  We have weak prayers, partly because we don’t pray but mostly because we are not usually in tune with what God wants to do.  But the Holy Spirit has three things going on: He hears our prayers, he knows our hearts, and he understands the will of God.  He puts all those together and “intercedes for the saints according to the will of God,” causing all things to work together for us within the good and perfect plan of the Father.

Imagine the communication (and deployment) system involved here.  Even if there are only(!) a couple of million people praying at any given time, everyone is constantly broadcasting the desires of their heart.  The Holy Spirit picks up all the information and processes it through His knowledge of God’s design for the universe and for his people. His intercession has a positive impact on ALL things. This rivals the complexity and wonder of having septillions of planets in the universe.

Four times in the first five chapters of Joshua (2.9; 2.11; 2.24; 5.1), the people are reminded that when the inhabitants of the land they are about to conquer hear of the LORD and his people Israel, those pagan hearts “melt.”

Rahab relates their impact to the spies she has hidden.  She is a sharp “business woman” who bargains for the lives of her family, and is commended for it in Hebrews 11.31: “By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”  She could tell from watching her own people that it would be better to trust the LORD, or at least trust those spies who trusted the LORD.

The spies return and tell Joshua their adventures.  Their report is so different from the twelve spies who went into Canaan forty years earlier (Numbers 13).  Ten of that first  dozen saw the people as giants and the cities as impenetrable.  These two spies see the inhabitants “melt away because of us.”    Once word got out to the kings and peoples beyond the Jordan that the nation crossed the river on dry ground, “their hearts melted and there was no long any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.”

At the Lord’s direction, after the miraculous river passage, Joshua set up an altar of twelve stones at Gilgal and a pile of stones in the midst of the Jordan where the priests had stood.  There were two purposes for the stones (vs 24).  First, so that the peoples of the earth would know that the LORD is mighty – hence the heart melts we have heard of already.  But second, the Israelites themselves needed to “fear the LORD your God forever” and they failed in their understanding very quickly.

During the destruction of Jericho, Achan of the clan of Judah stole and hid contraband goods.  His disobedience is discovered after a small army of Israelites is roundly defeated in their first attack on the city of Ai.  The Israelites  are stunned at the defeat, and the same heart melting happens to them (7.5).  The other nations were not in awe of the Israelites’ prowess or might; they were despondent, dejected, and defeated because of the LORD’s work.  The Israelites (and us too) needed to trust, obey, and explore the meaning of “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”

The personality of Job is introduced in the first sentence of the book with his name on it: he “was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.”  The first two chapters help us understand what all that means.

In the first paragraph we learn that he prayed and made burnt offerings regularly; he was concerned for his family.  The rest of the first chapter is about the tragic, complete catastrophes visited on him by Satan. His livestock is stolen or destroyed, and all his children are killed in a freak windstorm.  His reaction is to worship God with this famous quote: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.  The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”  He did not sin or charge God with wrong

Things get even worse in chapter 2.  Satan causes revolting open sores all over Job, and he ends up in a dust heap scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery.  This is nasty on the level of Lamentations 3.16 – “He has made my teeth grind on gravel.” Job’s wife implores him to curse God and die.  But the man who fears the LORD responds, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”  In all this, he did not sin.

Job knows the authority and providence of his sovereign God are all encompassing.  He will not sin in his despair and anger, he will not curse the name of the LORD, he will not kill himself, he worships.   The fear of the LORD includes continuing, as best as we can, to trust and believe in all circumstances and know that this God is with us.

Just as Moses made a farewell address in the book of Deuteronomy (11/21/14), Joshua makes a farewell address in Joshua 24. The conquest of Canaan has proceeded, mostly according to the plan laid out by Moses.  The people are becoming comfortable in their new land.  Joshua’s address is mostly a warning to be obedient and fear the LORD.

Like Moses, Joshua gives a history lesson beginning with Abraham.  Joshua is able to add the later history bits that Moses did not know – the LORD’s work in Jericho, in driving out the inhabitants (including the use of hornets!), and in providing dwellings, cities, vineyards and orchards.

Joshua reminds the people that their recent history was the LORD’s work and they must choose between the God who saved them and the foreign gods of the defeated former inhabitants.  Joshua’s stirring “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” speech (vs 15) inspires the people to agree, but Joshua knows their hearts. Once they experience a bit of peace, it will be very easy to forget to honor and fear the One who brought them in.

The same warning is true for us, as supplied by Jesus’ parable of the sower in Mark 4.18: “And others are the ones sown among thorns.  They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”  We need to remember Joshua’s warning every day, to choose whom we will serve.