Wednesday Week 2 Year 2

There are times God appears to have an interesting sense of humour. In today's reading, we see this sense of humour appearing in a subtle form.

Since the Israelites had rejected God as their King, they were allowed to have Saul as their king. It is obvious that Saul was not doing so well as a king, since the battle with the Philistines was not going in the Israelite's favour. Saul even relented to let David go fight Goliath, hoping that perhaps God would be with the boy. Perhaps Saul realised that he did not have any other option, since none of his other warriors wanted to take the risk and challenge Goliath.

So David goes forth to challenge Goliath. In the reading, he says: "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have dared to insult..." Here, we see the subtle form of God's humour. It's like saying; the Israelites chose Saul and what did they get? A person whom they thought could help them win battles, only to find that the person is not up to the task. On the other hand, God wins battles and His track record has been great. In this case, David slew Goliath with the help of God. Saul would not have been is able to do so on his own. So who is the real king the Israelites should have been faithful to, obeyed and followed?

In our lives, we too may have tried to win battles on our own and failed miserably. Let us not solely depend on our own strength, but on God's help and providence, for it is He who can really help us.