Five Smooth Stones

Have you ever read a story or a series of verses over and over and over without seeing anything new or different only to read it one more time and see something you never saw before. This happened to me a few days ago. I cannot tell you how many times I have read or heard the story of David and Goliath. I have heard the story from the time I was a little kid, and trust me that was a long time ago. This time, however, I saw something I had never really seen before. Sure I have read the verses but I just didn't see it. Let me share the particular verse with you.

I Samuel 17: 40 - 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

Did you see it? The profound message in this verse!?! Read it again and see if it jumps out at you. (pause...) How about now, do you see the lesson in this verse? No, ok, let me share what I saw that I have never seen before. What caught my attention this time was that David chose five smooth stones. Why five? If you read the rest of the story you will see that he only needed one. The first one he threw killed the giant or at least immobilized him enough so he could finish him off with the sword. So why five stones...I have no idea... but I will share with you what the Lord showed me in this passage.

There are times in our lives where we face giants. We face obstacles that we think we cannot over come. It seems as though they are nine feel tall and all they do is mock us. So what do we do, how do we defeat the giants in our lives. We do what David did, we chose five smooth stones, spiritually speaking of course, and start swinging! Here are five spiritual stones we have access to.

The first stone is Jesus Christ. David killed Goliath with the first stone. Christ has defeated death and sin, he conquered them when God raised him from the dead.

Hebrews 2: 14, 15 - 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Christ is the stone, so to speak, that has ultimately killed the giants we face. In him we have hope and assurance. In him we have a peace that passes all understanding. There is no mention of David being scared. He had a peace in knowing that God would deliver him.

The second stone is the Holy Spirit. When Christ ascended into heaven he sent us the Holy Spirit. He now lives within each one of us helping us live out a life that would otherwise be impossible to live.

Romans 8: 26, 27 - 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

As we spend time in prayer and in the Word of God the Holy Spirit will begin a work in us that nothing else can compare to. No counselor, no therapist, no pill can do for us what God through his Holy Spirit can do.

The third stone is the Word of God. God has given us his instructions on how we are to live, how we are to handle situations. He has told us about himself through his Word.

II Timothy 3: 16, 17 - 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

All scripture, not just the New Testament, not just the Red Letters, all scripture. The key to this is spending time reading the God-breathed words.

The fourth stone is prayer. We now have direct access to the throne of God. We can talk to God at any time about our needs. We can tell him at any time how thankful we are for what he has done for us. We do not have to go through another person to do this.

Hebrews 4: 16 - Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

We do this according to the above verse with confidence. Not confidence in us or confident that he will work things out the way we want them worked out but confident that he is sovereign, that he is in complete control whether things work out the way we want them to or not.

The fifth stone is accountability. This stone tends to fall deep down in the corner of the pouch and is sometimes hard to reach. We don't always want to use this stone. However, I believe this one is one of the most potent stones at our disposal.

James 5: 16 - 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

This is when Christians get real with each other, this is when we decide to get our hands dirty. We decide to invest in each other in a way that will bring true repentance and change.

The next time you feel as though the enemy is attacking remember the five smooth stones at your disposal and start swinging!