The Power Of Perspective

Well, we had a wonderful beginning. I thought it was wonderful hymn singing all together, a wonderful opening prayer, initial message, special music. And so, I'm ready. If you're ready, let's continue in our worship to God today. The title of our main message is the power of perspective. The power of perspective. And I invite you to open your Bibles, and let's turn to 1 Samuel 17. This is where we're going to begin. 1 Samuel 17, we're going to begin in verse 1 this afternoon with the story of David and Goliath. What a story that we come to today.

And anytime we come to such a familiar story, of course, it's important that we have a desire for discovery here. And there's perhaps numerous ways we could come to the text today. But I thought we would endeavor—what we would do today is endeavor to do what is a kind of character study today. A character study. You know, some messages, and most messages will focus on the story of David and Goliath. What we're going to do today is a little bit different.

And rather than just the story itself, we're going to focus in on the individuals involved here.

What were they thinking? Perhaps more importantly, how did they respond to the circumstances that they were facing? So who were the characters? Well, of course, David. We know that. Of course, the giant Goliath. Along in this scene, we had the two armies—the Israelite army and the Philistine army. We also have coming on to the stage, Eliab, David's brother, even King Saul.

We have also making an appearance the prophet Samuel, and even a bear and a lion. So what we're going to do today, again, is to take a look at these individuals and take a specific look at the unique and differing perspectives of the people involved here. And what's so fascinating here with this particular encounter is that you have all these individuals, and they're all looking at the same scene, and they all come to the same hopeless conclusion except one—namely, a young shepherd boy by the name of David.

And what I propose is the truth which emerges here in this encounter is the power of perspective, the power of perspective. And we're going to see that in bringing David's perspective to light, what we're going to see is that the Bible, all throughout, showcases the importance of God's people thinking differently, thinking differently, and grabbing onto the unique and beautiful divine perspective of God. So if we can grab onto this David perspective, it will change your life today. So let's get right to it. We're going to come onto the battlefield here and begin reading 1 Samuel here, 1 Samuel 17. And we're going to begin in verse 1—1 Samuel 17. We're going to begin in verse 1. Actually, let's begin in verse 4, if you will. We'll break into the chapter here.

Let's begin reading verse 4, and we're going to read all the way to verse 11. 1 Samuel 17 verses 4 through 11 here. All right. And a champion, the recording goes, went out from the camp of the Philistines, and that champion was named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubics and a span. That's almost 10 feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head, this giant, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. I'm told that was about 150 pounds, perhaps. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels, and a shield bearer went before this great giant.

Verse 8. Then he stood out to the armies of Israel and said to them, Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and you the servants of Saul?

Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he's able to fight with me and kill me, well then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. Then, verse 11, Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, and they were dismayed and greatly afraid. So let's stop there.

You know, it is clear that Saul, King Saul, and all the Israelites were, the whole Israelite army, was paralyzed here. This was the standoff. And as verse 16 tells us a little bit later, he presented himself some 40 days, morning and evening, this great giant, to call out to the Israelite army. The Israelite army had taken their place on the battlefield, but they were absolutely paralyzed. And in coming upon this scene, I think we can clearly see what is that of the perspective of the whole of the Israelite army here. And I think we could say that what faced them for these 40 days, it affected their very belief system, we could say. Because to a man, though that Israelite army, those individuals, would have said that they believed in a living God, but they were acting as if God was dead.

To a man, they would have believed and said, God is Lord Almighty, but they acted as if He was powerless. They would have said, we believe in a faithful, covenant-keeping God who delivered us out of the slavery of Egypt.

But somehow, they were acting as if God was indifferent to their whole plight in this circumstance. They believed that God was a deliverer, but their actions were suggesting that He would not deliver them. So again, this giant of a challenge made them question their very belief system, and they lost sight of God in the face of this challenge. So again, that's why it's so important for us to do a study like this, because how we look upon things, our perspective is crucial. If we do not have a faith, if we do not look upon the giants in our life properly, we will inevitably lose our faith and lose heart for the battle. Yes, the predicament was overwhelming. Yes, this was a horrible predicament, but what most emerges from this scene is that God's people had lost perspective out on the battlefield every day. They went, the second half of verse 20 there, they went out, you know, this Israelite army, they went out to fight, shouting for battle. Okay, so what's the matter? Well, verse 24, verse 24, and all the men of Israel, but when they saw this man Goliath, well, they fled from him and were dreadfully afraid there. And so what happened was obvious. The minute they laid eyes upon this giant that was now facing them, that became all that they could see.

And if there's one truth I want to get across today, is that it's really all about the mind.

Everything we're doing here today, this journey that we're on in this world, following God, it's really, it's all up here in our mind. And the challenge is to align the way we think about things. And that's why, you know, you see this theme throughout all scripture. The Apostle Paul picks up on this truth, and he says to the Roman congregation at that time, you need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, of your mind. The Bible says, as a man thinks, so he does. Why? Why? It's because our thoughts, our thoughts so often control our actions.

Don't they? And when we begin to think wrongly, we'll begin to act wrongly. So proper perspective is crucial. So let's begin our character study here. Keep your marker here in chapter 17.

We're going to just go back one chapter to 1 Samuel chapter 16, and we're going to pick up the story in verse 7 here. As we come to the first in our character study, that being the prophet Samuel. The prophet Samuel comes onto the scene prior to this battleground narrative here, and he comes onto the scene here. We see 1 Samuel 16 and verse 7. Let me give you a little build-up to this. Samuel had been given the responsibility by God to anoint the next king, and he was to anoint the next king from the sons of Jesse here. But before this anointing, God had to align and correct Samuel's perspective. Look at this. 1 Samuel 16 verse 7.

But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his, Eliab's appearance, or at his physical stature, that's the oldest brother, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees, Samuel. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Let's stop there.

So the beginning instruction from the Lord himself about aligning a proper perspective on things, he is instructing Samuel to say, don't make a mistake in your thinking. Yes, Eliab, the oldest brother, he's tall in stature. He is the firstborn. Therefore, your eyes might tell you that he should be the one to be anointed as the next king.

But the Lord informs Samuel, do not consider those things. Don't let your eyes deceive you, for I've rejected him. The Lord says, I've looked here in Eliab, and I've rejected him.

He says. And then this next sentence there in verse seven, for the Lord does not see as man sees. That is a powerful sentence right there. If you're facing a giant in your life, write that on a post-it note. Stick it up on your mirror, you know, so you see it every morning. Where to remind you, what I'm seeing in this circumstance, it is not perhaps what the Lord is seeing in this circumstance that I'm facing.

And I need to align and have a proper perspective here. Again, proper perspective deals not with the eyes, but with the heart. Okay? A proper, godly perspective, it'll move us from thinking with what we see to that down in the heart and what we know.

And I hope that concept really comes to clarity as we go through this here.

So rather than anointing Eliab, going down to, staying here in chapter 16, but going down to verse 12, Samuel anoints David as the next king there. So the second part of verse 12, then the Lord said, Rise and anoint him, David. This is the one. Why David? Well, the Lord doesn't see as man sees, right? There.

And the Lord rejected Eliab. And I think the Lord rejected Eliab because of Eliab's incorrect perspective. And this is what we're going to see here in our next individual, in our character study. We're going to look upon Eliab here, and we're going to see why God did not choose Eliab, and it really revolves around his perspective. So going forward again, one chapter, let's look at, go back to 1 Samuel 17, and we're going to pick up the narrative again in verses 22 through 28. Set the scene here.

1 Samuel 17 verses 22 through 28. Here's, let me set the scene. David is asked by Jesse, his father, to go bring food to the other brothers who were at war on the battle scene here, and we're now going to see this interaction between the two brothers, David and the oldest of brothers, Eliab. 1 Samuel 17, beginning in verse 22.

And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. Then, as David talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words. So David now heard these words from the giant.

Verse 24. And all the men of Israel, when they saw this man, fled from him, and were dreadfully afraid. So the men of Israel said to David, Have you seen this man who has come up, surely he has come to defy Israel, and it shall be that the man who kills this giant, the king then, will enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and will give his father's house exemption from the taxes in Israel. So then David, verse 26, spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, Well, okay, what shall 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 defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in this manner, saying, So shall it be done for the man who kills him? And those are the great riches and the tax exemptions there. So verse 28, here's the oldest, Eliyev, revealing his perspective, his incorrect perspective. Verse 28, Now Eliyev, the oldest brother, heard when David spoke to the men, and Eliyev's anger was aroused against David. And he said, David, why did you come down here?

And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, David, for you have come down to see the battle. Let's stop there.

I love any interaction between family. I mean, this is so classic brother-to-brother interaction here. And, you know, Eliyev should have, with a humble heart, heard David and should have said, you know, David, you're right. You're really sounding the correct divine perspective here. I appreciate you saying that, David.

You're bringing a perspective that's so missing from all that we've been thinking about.

Well, Eliyev doesn't say that, of course. Rather, we see that he went on the attack of his brother. There, in verse 28, the NIV version says, Eliyev burned with anger against David.

David comes, says there's absolutely no reason this uncircumcised man should be defying the armies of God for 40 days. But rather than receiving that truth, Eliyev here responds with this chastisement. Why have you even come down here? Oh, and by the way, who did you leave those few sheep with? You know, David. Not just any sheep, few sheep, you know. That's an insult there. I know you're conceited. I know you're wicked, David. You came down here to watch the battle, you know. It's an interesting observation. You came down here to watch the battle. You know, if you look at human nature, and we're all guilty of this, often we project onto others our own problem, right? So when someone comes and gives a little truth, human nature causes us to reject it, you know. You just came down here to watch a battle there.

Well, if David would have been quick on his feet, he would have said, well, what battle? I don't see a battle happening here. It seems like you're watching a battle, you know. But he didn't. He resisted that temptation here. But Eliyev, probably with a guilty conscience, attacks David's truthful perspective here and says, David, you're prideful, and I know the insolence of your heart there.

Verse 29 is so sibling to sibling-like, where David responds to his older brother there in verse 29, and David said, what have I done now? Is there not a cause? The NIV on this response says, can I even speak, you know? Can I even speak, brother? Is it unreasonable that I'm questioning the fact that no one has taken up the challenge for this uncircumcised Philistine, you know? By the way, define the armies of our living God. Brother, David would have said here.

Eliyev, you're viewing it all the wrong way. Your perspective is all wrong.

There.

Now, this interaction then is overheard, allowing for the next individual in our character study to come onto the scene, and that occurs in verse 31. So, verse 31 tells us, now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul. That's our next individual in our character study.

And he, Saul, sent for David. King Saul here sent for the young shepherd boy.

So, that does bring us to our third perspective. So, first we had Samuel. The Lord had a correct Samuel's perspective. Then we've had Eliyev, and we've seen his incorrect perspective. Now, third in the line of our character studies, King Saul here.

And here's the interaction beginning in verse 32 between David and Saul.

Saul calls David. David takes initiative in the meeting. You know, this is a big deal. You're meeting the king, right? And David's pretty young, but he's feisty here. He's very confident. Verse 32, then David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, the giant. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.

Let's stop there. That's remarkable here. Saul has a very straightforward response to this. Verse 33. Verse 33. You, David, are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him.

For you are a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth. Let's stop there. So this is giving a little insight into Saul's perspective, right? And I don't know. I think for the fact that Saul calls David, perhaps Saul is admiring a little bit what he's heard reported to him for what David's been saying, you know, and perhaps Saul likes David's zeal.

Finally, you know, someone's stepping up to this.

Perhaps Saul would have said, you know, David, you kind of remind me when I was younger, you know.

I had similar feelings to you, David. But, David, I want you to hear me out here. Saul says, you know, David, I'm going to add a little conjecture here, so just stay with me a little bit. I'm going to fill in some of the gaps of this dialogue.

David, I appreciate the zeal. That's why I called you here. But, you know, I'm older now, David.

Saul would have said, I'm wiser. You're but a boy. This giant is a seasoned warrior.

Warrior. My young David, you cannot be a serious challenge to him.

Goliath, he's big and overpowering. David, you're no offense, you know.

You're small and weak in your youth. And so, therefore, it stands to reason from any reasonable human perspective, you do not have a chance, David. So, Saul's perspective was very reasonable.

Saul's perspective was very sensible, pragmatic, but wrong.

But wrong. I'll repeat that. Saul's perspective, reasonable, sensible, pragmatic, and absolutely wrong. Wrong. Why is it wrong?

Well, somewhere along the line, Saul lost something. Saul lost his knowledge of who God is. Somewhere along the way, Saul's perspective changed from his confident trust in God in the early days of his kingship. His perspective changed. He lost sight.

And so, today, in this moment, he speaks the voice of human reasoning.

And Saul lost, though, that which was necessary, the divine perspective which is required of all of God's people. And perhaps, that's why God removed Saul from his kingship and was replacing him with David with the right perspective. I get a little, okay, that feels uncomfortable a little bit. God does absolutely need men and women servants who have a divine perspective.

And he's very merciful, very patient. He wants to do the work through us. But if he sees us diminishing in that divine perspective and more and more growing into it with a human perspective, well, he's going to look down. He's going to say, well, I can't do the work that I wanted to do through her or through him. And I'm going to look to someone else who has the divine perspective needed to slay the giants of this world, of this world. So it all has to do with the differing of perspectives. David seeing things not from the eyes of a human perspective, but from the heart of a godly perspective. What is the essence of a godly perspective? What is the essence of a godly perspective? Let me show you. That's found in verses 34 through 37, where now next in our character study, while we've been kind of studying him throughout, we now come squarely in our character study on to David and his divine perspective. And we find this in verses 34 through 37. Look at this.

But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep his father's sheep. And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it, and I struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, well, I caught it by the beard and struck and killed it. Now listen, verse 36. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. Moreover, David said, the Lord who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul then struck at the heart, I'm sure, said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you. David, okay.

Okay, I believe you, David. Go. I hope you're right. You know, he may have added.

But David's perspective, which is to be our perspective, it's all there in verse 36 and 37.

Look at verse 37. There's this past tense and present tense notion here. Verse 37. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, he will deliver me present and perhaps future tense from the hand of the Philistine.

David's perspective, the divine perspective, the Lord delivered me, the Lord will deliver me. Grab on to that. Grab on to that, okay.

So, David does not respond to the giant of a challenge.

By saying, well, Saul, you don't know my strength. I'm tougher than I seem.

Or, you don't have the right perspective of me. No, he doesn't respond that way. Rather, he recounts his past deliverances by the Lord with helping him strike down opponents working with his flock, namely the lion and the bear. And David says, I believe then that God will help me deal in a similar way with Goliath.

I believe that God has shown himself strong in the past, and he will then show himself strong in the future. By the way, side note, one of the most effective habits that you can take on is to begin to record past deliverances that God has brought you out of and delivered you from.

Sit down and think of those things and write them down so that when you're facing a challenge of today, you'll be able to look back and see how God has delivered you through it all. David says, because God did that, then and there and then, he is able to do this here and now. You see, I believe that the God of the there and then remains to be the God of the here and now.

David's perspective, if God helped me rescue a lamb, wouldn't he help me rescue a nation? He says.

Would he not give my people deliverance from this Goliath character who's defying my Almighty God? And so, you would think at this point Saul would have been struck at the heart, perhaps fell on his knees, repented of losing sight of the God that David was speaking of, but he doesn't. He doesn't. Look at verse 38 and 39. So, despite all that has gone before with David's words, verse 38, so Saul clothed David with his armor, bronze helmet on his head, a coat of mail, fastened his sword to his armor, and David tried to walk and test him. And then David said to Saul, I cannot walk with these things, for I have not tested them, so David took them off.

So, you see, Saul is still not quite getting it. He's loading him up with all these physical concessions. You see, so David was probably so little, he probably just shook and all falls to the ground, you know, there. It's an amazing picture there. So, rather, verse 40, verse 40, David took his staff in his hand, and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. So, here we are. We're at the climax of the moment.

Verse 41 tells us that Goliath came near to David. Goliath bore the shield. The shield went before him there. He looks over David, verse 42, and he just stained him, for he was only a youth ruddy, and he's even good looking, you know. To top it all, you can just imagine this perspective. And, you know, the Goliath's perspective, if we want to take on the giant's wrong perspective, you know, of course the giant is looking at apparent power and strength in the mirror, which represented him, and he's looking upon this ruddy, good-looking kid, apparent weakness, right? And, of course, Goliath wins. That's what the eyes would tell him here.

You know, despised him, cursed him. There he is with just a sling and a few stones.

Verse 43 and 44, verse 43 and 44, just listen to this disdain from the giant. Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And he cursed David by his gods.

And the Philistines said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Let's stop there. Whoo! And, you know, I don't think David was like, oh, no, you won't. I'm sure, you know, David's voice was cracking a little bit this morning. He's maybe trying to keep his knees from shaking.

Clive's voice no doubt just reverberated to his inner core, you know. And I'm sure David was like, well, maybe you will. I don't know, you know.

You know, having the right perspective is not the absence of fear. Okay. Having the right perspective is not the dismissal of the spirit.

It is not the physical or acknowledgement of the extremely, the extreme challenge of that which is before you, and that which your eyes are seeing.

But it is the right perspective is facing the extremely physical challenging circumstances From the perspective, not what the eyes see, but what the heart knows. What the heart knows.

And David had to rely upon that. What do I know? What do I know? I know he's defying the living God. Perhaps he was, you know, rehearsing those words that he was told to saw in his mind.

You know, reminding himself of what he believed so that he didn't get caught up in what he was seeing. You see, in the Israelite army, the paralyzed ones, they would have been looking upon this scene. And no doubt, each one of them would have been saying, who does he think he is? Who does David think he is?

And that actually would have been the right question. Except they would have been asking that question all in lowercase. Who does he think he is? When they should have added an uppercase letter to that final he, they should have made that final he, they should have made the H, uppercase.

And they should have asked, who does he, David, think he, God, is? Who does he think he is? What is this power that David knows he has behind him? This divine power, a living God? They would have been quite struck by this scene here.

But the response of David proves he understood this is not a battle between himself and the giant. This is not a battle between the Philistine army and the Israelite army. David knew where the real battle was being fought. And that's indicative of what the end of verse 26 told us.

Where David brought in the proper divine perspective and said, for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the army of the living God? You see, this is the counterintuitive perspective. It's counter to everything we think naturally. The Israelite army saw the giant as unbeatable. David saw the giant as uncircumcised. Okay? Do you see the difference in perspective? In other words, David was saying, we serve a covenant-keeping God.

We have entered into that covenant relationship with this living God. This man is not part of that covenant. He doesn't have that covenant relationship that we share with God. We are identified as those under God's covenant care. So who does this giant think he is? That he can step up here and defy our living God. I'm not going to allow it. I'm not going to allow it. You see, it's all perspective.

They were all seeing the same scene. All seeing the same scene. Week after week, David comes and he immediately puts his finger right there on the pulse of what's happening here. This my brothers, he would say. This my fellow people. This is a battle between God and the non-Gods of the Philistines. David knew it wasn't a battle that was ultimately being fought in the physical realm. If it were, God would have just went out and chose a bigger giant.

Right? If it were just a battle being played out on the physical realm, he would have just brought in a bigger giant. No, he brings the smallest shepherd boy you could think of, you know. It brings him to this circumstance to come on to the stage of this incredible encounter because he knew this shepherd boy had the heart and had the divine perspective. That's why God often looks around.

God often picks the most unlikely of the world to put forth and put in front of these giants so that the world will see him through us. And if there's any victories, then we know God gets the glory. That's the whole point of it all. We're in spiritual battles here. Ultimately, whatever giant you may be facing, ultimately it has nothing to do with the physical.

For the Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. These are heart issues. So how are you currently looking at the challenges you're facing today? How are you looking at what has physically come upon you?

What is your perspective? Will you stand like David and have this divine perspective? This is the challenge for us today. Well, as we begin to conclude, let's finish up this incredible encounter here by looking upon 1 Samuel 17 again, verses 45 through 51. Here's the conclusion of our wonderful story today. What a story it is.

1 Samuel 17 beginning in verse 45. Then David said to the Philistine, this is an incredible encounter here, You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you, and I will take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the earth, and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

Then all the assembly will know that the Lord does not save with sword or spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands. So it was when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

Then David put his hand in the bag, took the stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine in the forehead, so much so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell to the face of the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.

But there was a sword in the hand of David. There was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, stood over the Philistine, took the sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Let's stop there.

Whew! I should have had that acted out here on stage. What a conclusion there. You know, and the question is not whether, you know, would David lead and go forward with his heart and what he knew of God, and not allow his eyes to prevent him from going forward? David served the all-living God, the Almighty God, the covenant-keeping God, the God that delivered. David believed. Will you? Will you? May we trust in the Almighty God fully with all of our heart. No matter the giants you face, may we step out on the battlefield, face up to our giants today. And like David, come in the name of the Lord of hosts. Let us stand for him so that all the earth will know that David's God lives in his people today. For this is the power of perspective.