2 Confronting Accusations

This is a story about David facing resistance as he prepares to fight the Philistine warrior Goliath. David's brother, Eliab, discourages him out of his own insecurity and fear. Others close to David and those he's never met will also resist and accuse him. David ignores their jeers and accusations and approaches Saul to go out and fight. Saul doubts David's abilities, but David reminds himself of his past victories against a lion and a bear. Saul eventually allows David to fight Goliath. The message is to look past the opposition and accusations, rely on the power of God, and trust in the training and experiences that have prepared you for the battle. Every warrior faces resistance. They face resistance from inside themselves and they face resistance from the outside, from those who they're going to fight and from those closest to them. It's five till midnight. In the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 17, we read about David and he's coming against the Philistine warrior Goliath. David is just coming onto the scene. He's been sent onto the scene with some groceries to give to his brothers so that they can be in the fight. What he finds is, he finds the battle lines have been drawn and he's starting to ask questions. So he goes up to his brother Eliab and says, brother, what's going on here? And his brother responds. I believe his brother responds to him out of his own insecurity, his own wickedness, and his own fear. In verse 20 it says, Eliab answered David. You heard him speaking with the men and you burned with anger against him and asked, why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those five sheep, those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is. You came down only to watch the battle. When we come and fight the enemy, there's an accuser of the brethren. And that accuser can come from every single corner. In this case it came from his oldest brother, the one who should be there to encourage him and to protect him and to move him on. But what we see is Eliab's insecurities in his own evil heart projected onto David. As a matter of fact, Eliab was doing just what he accused David of. Eliab was not there fighting. He was not stepping out against the enemy. He was there to observe. Yes, he was conscripted in the army. Yes, he wore a uniform. He wore armor. Maybe he held a sword or whatever kind of weapon they used. But what was he actually doing? He was standing there watching the accusations that Philistine threw against his God. And he did nothing. When you come to fight the Philistine, there are going to be people closest to you who resist you, accuse you, and discount you. They discourage you. Be prepared for it. David turned away and saw someone else and brought the same matter. He said, what's happening here? And as before, the man answered him. Those who attack your character might be those who are distant from you, those you've never seen before, those you've never met. It's going to come from those closest and those far away. We cannot depend on the approval of others. We have to set our sights on doing our job, doing what we came to do, and getting the full picture despite who says we can't do it. We must ignore their jeers and their accusations. We must rise above it. David approached Saul and told him he wanted to go out and fight the Philistine. Saul replied, You're not able to go out against this Philistine. You're only a young man, and he's been a warrior from his youth. The enemy will draw up. He'll remind you of your insignificance. He will make assumptions about you, what you can't do, and he will gladly tell you what you can't do. He will remind you of your insignificance. He will downplay you. But David had taken an inventory of his experiences. David knew he had fought the lion, and he had fought the bear, and he won. And he killed both with his bare hands. And he said, This Philistine is going to be no greater than them. The Philistine is going to fall, just like the lion and the bear. Well, Saul was left with little choice. Because if it wasn't David to go out and fight, he was supposed to be the hero. So he let David go out and fight. When facing Goliath, look past the accusations. Look past the opposition. Get to the battle and get it over with. Because it's not by your might, it's not by your power, but it's by the power of the living God. And he has been training you to this day. He has nurtured you for this attack. You have already killed the lion. You've already killed the bear. God's bringing you forward one more step now. He's going to train you how to kill Philistines. And killing Philistines is what it's all about. It's 5 till midnight.