LONG Post. There was once a stone. A random jagged piece of rock that had somehow found its way to the bottom of a river. At first it seemed as if there could be no better place to have found itself. The jagged stone basked in the coolness of the water, rolling gently this way and that. But as time went by, frustration crept in. There was never any particular destination. All the stone ever did was roll this way and that. Always sliding along the river bed. Turning, twirling, gliding. Would the journey never end? What was the point of it all? Frustration became anger when the stone realized that its progress along the river bed was completely hinged upon the whims of the water within which it lay. Try as it might, it could not move except the water itself moved and even then, only in the direction that the swirl of water would permit. Anger became resignation as days became months. Time ceased to exist for the stone. Of what use was time if there was no progress to show for it? What the stone did not realize was that from the moment it found itself on the riverbed, an imperceptible transformation had begun to occur. Every time the water swirled and ebbed, it moved the stone as well, gently scraping it on the surface of the river bed. The jagged stone was being smoothened. Every minute of every hour, the steady transformation continued. Constant. Unrelenting. And then one odd day, the stone felt itself being lifted up and carefully examined by the not too smooth hands of an interesting looking man. A boy really. Many, many stones had been examined in just the same way and had been promptly discarded. It was evident that this boy knew EXACTLY what he was looking for. And it was so that the stone found itself plopped none too gently into a small pouch along with four similar looking stones. As with most changes in life, the era of gliding along the riverbed had come to a rather abrupt end. This was a most unexpected turn of events. Who was the boy? Why were they in a pouch? Where were they being taken? A few hours before... Silence crackled in the room like lightning without its noisome companion. The fate of hundreds of thousands hung in the balance as the two men sized each other up. The one upon whose head rested a rather heavy looking crown and the other in whose hands the fate of a nation rested. How had it come to this? How had a nation of mighty warriors such as theirs been reduced to sniveling boys? Such was their terror, so immobilizing, so devastating as to push them to do the unthinkable. The manner in which the entire nation would spend the rest of its days, whether as servants or masters, bond men or free, would be determined that day by how good this boy was with a stone and a sling. If it wasnt so horrifying it might have been funny. But there were no laughing faces in the room that day. All eyes were trained on the boy in front of them, who remained remarkably calm beneath their scrutiny. None dared oppose the King. The madness of even considering such a terrible plan was outweighed by the fear that had struck the entire nation dumb. Anyone who opposed the King at this point would automatically be offering his own life instead. No one had the guts to do so. And so, they all kept silent. It was a grave situation. Very grave indeed. Having refused the offer of the King to wear his own armor, David walked briskly to a nearby river. All the while turning the events of the last few minutes over and over in his mind. Why were they so afraid? Was he the only person in all of Israel who saw what was happening? If he hadnt seen it with his eyes, he would never believe that a single man could turn the hearts of the armies of God into stone. Terror had them all rooted in place. Even King Saul! Did they not know Whose army they were? Could they not see Who the man from Gath was really defying? A deadly calm settled upon his mind like wet wool. All at once, his senses became heightened. Every part of his body very aware of how it was meant to function. An inexplicable change was occurring within David. With each step that brought him closer to the Philistine came a precision of movement such as he had not experienced before. It was as if his body itself had become the weapon. All he could see, all he could hear, all he could taste was victory. In his eyes, the giant of Gath lay sprawled on the floor. Dead. The words he now spoke so callously and unadvisedly would be the very last he would utter upon the face of the earth. The God he had defied would see to it. Had this Gath known what David knew, he would not have set foot on that battlefield in the first place. The instant he issued his challenge to the armies of God, a series of commands (inaudible to the human ear of course) were released, the result of which would, in one fell swoop, cement Davids status as anointed king and strike lasting terror in the hearts of the Philistines. The stones in the pouch now hung heavily within. It seemed to them as if they were being carried farther and farther away from their home. The quiet song of the river began to give way to a more unsettling sound. A strangely discordant one. The closer they got to the source of the sound, the more menacing it became. It was the sound of men, voices raised in a war cry so wild, the earth trembled with it. Then all of a sudden, the sound died. Just as unexpectedly as it had started. A measure of silence and then another sound. If the first sound was menacing, this second was blood curdling. There was something about it that seemed designed for the sole purpose of breeding fear. The sound of a man. No. Not a man. Men didnt stand nine feet high. Men didnt sound like that. No. This was not a man. Why...why...why where they here?! they screamed silently, each one of those stones wanting nothing more than to be tossed back into the calm uneventful river it had been picked from. But not on that day. The hour had now come. The reason for which they had found themselves in the water in the first place was about to be revealed. And then they heard it. The sound of the boy. There was nothing with which it could be compared. Utterly devoid of fear, its effect was instantaneous. The rocks within the pouch suddenly knew what they were meant for. Something very strange was happening to their bodies. The only way to explain it would be to say that they somehow became more precise. I know it sounds odd, but thats the only way to describe what was happening. They suddenly knew that no matter which one of the five was picked, the mission was simple. Aim for the center of the giants forehead and bury yourself deep within it. There would be ZERO margin of error. One shot was all the boy had. Their job was to make sure that, regardless of which of them was picked, one shot would be all David needed. Davids blood sang with purpose as he ran directly towards his adversary. As he reached into his pouch without looking, extracting the stone that would humble this giant before him, years of training kicked into gear. The same feeling of deadly accuracy with which he had killed both lion and bear settled upon him. He felt, rather than saw, the unseen Arms that held him. Directed him. Weaponized him. This was a good day. Great was the fall of the giant of Gath . Even greater was the fact that he was brought down by a stone, a sling and a boy. Jaws would have hung unhinged as both sides watched in disbelief. The armies of God unable to absorb the sight of the fall of the being that had terrorized them for over a month, the Philistines realizing that with the fall of their champion, they had become slaves to the people that stood before them. The rest, they say, is history. The story of the stone and stone-slinger are far more similar than either could have guessed. Both had lived nearly eventless lives up to that point. Both had probably wondered from time to time where their lives were headed. Neither aware of how great their destinies would turn out to be until the day they both found themselves standing in front of a Philistine giant. For standing when others ran, for running towards his giant and not away from him. For defying terror itself and freeing a nation, Davids name will never be forgotten. But the legend of the boy who felled the giant would never be complete without the stone with which the giant was felled. Moral. Wait for God to finish with you. Resist the urge to take yourself out from under His shaping Hands, no matter how difficult it may be to see His hands. No matter how inapparent the transformation may seem. Just WAIT. You are a piece in the Hands of the Master. Your day will come. And when it dawns you will be READY for it. No force in heaven, on earth or beneath it will be able to stop you. Dont abort the process.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 16:26:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015