Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-08-30
DAVID STAYS GOLIATH.
LESSON TX, THIRD QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, SEPT. 1.

otinh NeTStS no. oofoch aoabr
Rom. viii. 31-Commentary by the Rev.
ID. Nj. stearns.
compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per.
mission Of II. S. Hoffman, publisher, Philadel
phial
After the spirit of the Lord came nightly
upon David, as we learned in last weeks les
son, the spirit of the Lord departed from
Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord
troubled him CHAP. xvi, IA and that evil
spirit is mentioned FIVE times in the closing
verses of the chapter, as we'll as in chaps.
xviii, 10; xix, 8. Saul. having refused to
obey God and follow Him, is simply left by
God to the guidance of the one whom he pre-
ferred. In III Thess- ii, S-12, it is written that
when people refuse to receive the truth God
will send them strong delusion; or, in other
words, leave them to the delusions and lies
which they have preferred TO the truth. The
Gully safety is to hear His voice,
80. "And David said to Saul, Let no mans
heart fail because of him" Thu armies of
Israel and of the Philistines were in battle
array upon two mountains facing each other,
and between them lay a valley for forty
days, morning and evening, Goliath the
giant, the champion of the Philistines, stood
and cried for some man Of Israel to come and
fight with him, saying, If he kill me we will
be your servants, and If l kill him you will be
our servants. Thus he defied or reproached
the armies of Israel, and inasmuch as he was
a man over nine feet high, his coat of mail
weighing over $50 pounds, and the head of
his spear about twenty pounds, no man in
Israel was willing to try battle with him
SO. "And Saul said to David, Thou art not
able" Saul, like all his soldiers, saw only
with his natural eyes, and looking upon
David's youth and apparent inexperience in
matters of war, said: Thou art but a youth,
while this Philistine is a man of war from his
youth, and therefore thou art not able to go
against him to fight with him. In Saul's
eyes it was simply a question of man against
man, and so it seemed to be in the eyes of all
Israel, and the God of Israel, the Lord God
of Hosts, was not t~houghtof much less relied
upon How could a people whose history
from their very beginning was SO full of the
mighty power of God on their behalf ever
forget Him or fail to trust in Hima
1896. "He hath defied the armies of the
Living God" The Living God was to David
a far greater reality than this mass of defiant
and disappearing flesh and blood.
81. The Lord that delivered me, = = =
will deliver me-" This sounds like the great
apostle to the Gentiles when he said II was
delivered out of the mouth Of the lion; and
the Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work, and will preserve Inc unto His heavenly
kingdom" II Tim. iv, II, ~. 1t was the
same spirit IN each, and probably PAUL. learned
the secret from David. What simple con-
fdence in God, what grand assurance; and
yet so many Christians cannot get beyond
~ hope it is we'll with me, 81 trust I am a
child Of God.n Why not come out clearly
and say II believe God,""I know whom !
have believed and am persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day"
SO, 80. and David said, l cannot go with
these; for l have not proved them When
Saul saw the grand confidence of David in
the, Living God, he caid, "Go, and the Lord
be with thee; - then he armed David with his
ar1nor and David assayed to go, but be was
glad to put it off, for be had not been accus-
toned to rely upon such helps He knew
God, but he did not know the use of mans
devices for safety and self defense. He had
no armor but the presence of God when be
slew the lion and the bear, and he would &C
now with the same.
41-H. "When the Philistfne looked about
and saw David he disdained him" So the
flesh always despises the Spirit, just as Ish.
mael Knocked Isaac, but the flesh shall be CON
quered and the Spirit will prevail
As. Thou contest with sword, spear and
shield; but l come in the name of the LORD
of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel
whom thou hast defed-" Goliath represent
ed simply himself and his own power and
skill; but David thought nothing Of himself
he represented the Lord of Hosts, the God Of
Israel, and the question was not what could
David do, but what could He do in who's
name David went forth
40 THAT all the earth may know that
there Is q God in Israel" David says wha,
God will do, and that through him as the in
strument, but the object will be to honol
God and not David. Now the Lord searchett
all hearts and understandable all the imagina
tions of the thoughts; He ~weigheth our &C
tions, our spirits and our paths Il Chron
xviii, .; l Sam. ii, 3; Prov. xvi, 2; Isa
XVI, y; and lie sees whether in our inmost
souls we are seeking to make Him known Oh
whether there is also quite a large desire II
make ourselves known. Had there been IL
DavtdS heart any desire for his own fame h,
could not have zone forward so confidently
Al IAN this assembly shall know that thu
Lord savcth not with sword and spear; fol
the battle is the Lorls, and He will give yo,
into our handSn See how David is nothing
and God is everything; it is Paul's cry, mo-
/, but Christ y Not l, but the Grace of God
Nohi+ IL. ~ 1 - Az W.. %NobiAb uiSO bAhA
not only shall Israel know, but all the eartl
shall know that Jehovah is the God and do
liverer of Israel When the true David, Is
raels Messiah, shall in the last days over
throw a greater Goliath, even the Antichrist
then shall Israel know that Jesus, SO long
dcspised, is their own Messiah and Saviour
and all the earth shall know that the God o.
Israel is the only Living and True God. If WE
as Christians would daily remember that tn
battle of our life is the Lords and let Hin
fight for us, what victory over our enemie
we would have and what glory there would
be to God. 1t is US true of every child o.
God as it was of Israel, concerning all thing
with which We have TO contend that ''th'
battle Is the Lords"
4S, 40. David hasted, and ran toward tin
army TO meet the Philistine." Many thou
sands of Israel and many thousands of tn,
Philistines are watching the STRIPPING and tn
giant us they go forth to meet each other il
deadly conflict and 10 decide the fate of thes
nations If the armies heard the converse
ton of the two it must have been that tn