Valley Fighting

The Livingroom Church
Pastor Keith King

June 28, 2009

Re: Valley Fighting

During my evening reading, I was lead to 1 Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath. Just 3 verses in, there it was, it jumped off the page at me, something that I never picked up before about this story. I must have heard this story growing up until my ears bled, but this was the first time that I read these words.

1 Samuel 17:3 - So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them. (NLT)

Here I am on my mountain top, and straight across from me, the enemy, who will drag me down, who will call me out, and who will try to kill me, and the fight will happen in the valley. The valley is the lowest point, the place where we feel like we are surrounded, there is no way out. The fight has to happen in the valley.

So many times the valleys have taken me by surprise when all along they were by design. These were proving grounds. There were opportunities to gain footholds and victories to be able to use them for later fights as David did.

1 Samuel 17:34-37 - But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” (NLT)

David proclaims that the same Lord, who rescued him from the lion and the bear, will rescue him from this Philistine. David used past victories to proclaim a new victory. He stood on faith, which is founded on experience. It is so easy for us to look at the fight at hand, and forget everything that came before us (the past victories and the lessons learned). We get caught up in what is immediately in front of us, the issue at hand, and we don't see that God is at work in a larger scale.

This wasn't David's problem though. This was the problem of the rest of the Israel army. Israel should have been able to the same as David, and recall every time that God has saved them. The only thing they could see is a fight that they could not win. They could not see that this was just a valley fight, that this fight would get them to the next mountain. David challenges his fellow army and asks them why are they allowing this giant to defile their God.

1 Samuel 17:26 - Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?" (NASB)

And when challenged by his older brother, David proclaims in 1 Samuel 17:29, “Is there not a cause?” or “is this not worth fighting for?”

We have allowed the Satan to gain too many footholds in our life, simply because we have not put forth the effort to fight. It's easier for us to allow certain things within our life, instead of fighting for what should be. We settle for good, and don't fight for what is best, and sometimes, we settle for lies instead of searching and discovering God's truth for our lives. We are being called out to the valley by the enemy. He has humiliated us and has defiled our God, What do we do???

We have to be able to see past the natural:
Saul and his army were “terrified and deeply shaken” of Goliath and the Philistine army. They were overwhelmed by what they saw in the natural, much like the spies that went out with Joshua and Caleb.

Numbers 13:31-33 - But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us." So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

These men could not see past the natural to see that God would have delivered them from the Giants. Saul and his army had the same blurred vision as these men; they could only see what was in front of them, and could not see God at work on their behalf. But David was able to see that God would deliver them from the giant, and he wanted to step up and go to battle.

We must remember and use our testimony:
Saul immediately judged David. Oh you're too young. Oh you're too small. Oh you're too inexperienced. What ever our fight, we will always be judged. It's the overcoming of these things that will distinguish us above the rest.

Revelations 12:10-11 - Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

David used the word of his testimony to prove to the King, that he could defeat the giant, not because David has any power of his own, but David recognized that it was God who has delivered him in the past, and that it would be God, who delivered him against the giant.

We must take on the whole armor of God:
Saul still could not fathom how this young man could go to fight this Giant, so Saul began to deck David out with all sorts of armor, so much so David said that he could not even walk with it on, much less fight.

This is a great picture of how many times we hear the voice of God, and we begin to do it our way. We take on things that will weigh us down and get in our way of God was calling us to. Instead of putting on man's armor, we have to put on the whole armor of God and be able to rest in that alone.

Ephesians 6:10-20 - Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

We must serve notice on the enemy:
David gave notice to the Philistine army, and especially to Goliath, in such a way that they knew David meant business.

1 Samuel 17:46 – 47 - "This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands."

Too many times, we keep our mouths shut, when we need to be speaking against the enemy. We need to be serving notice against any stronghold that he has against us. We must be declaring freedom against those things that keep dragging us down, the snares that satan has set before us. We must be declaring that “The LORD will make us the head and not the tail, and we only will be above, and we will not be underneath.”

Then, we must fight the good fight. We have to put action to what we know to be true.

These battles, these fights are defining moments in our lives. We can let them get the best of us. We can ignore them and hope that they will go away. Or, we can stand up against the enemy when he makes a stand against us. We can declare the victory of the Lord and use this valley fight to propel us to the next mountain top.

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