TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14
Scripture: I Samuel 17:17-36

In I Samuel 17:17-24 David’s father Jesse sent him to check on his brothers. But when he entered the camp he noticed that no one was willing to war with a giant named Goliath. All the men of Israel fled from the giant in passivity and fear. There is no grief like the grief of watching the church bow down to evil and be silent in the advancing stench of perversion promulgated by a single political party and its adherents. How have we been robbed of our willingness to war for the most crucial foundational biblical values in society today? When it came time to face the giant, David said for all to hear, God’s preparation for him came from shepherding. The job of a shepherd required putting self-preservation under his foot and facing the enemies that were trying to destroy the sheep. David faced both lion and bear. He killed them both. When the sheep were threatened, the shepherd went to war! This is the heart of a shepherd. Look at the assault on the true Biblical shepherds. David is God’s example of the true Biblical shepherd. Jesus was a man like David. Is Jesus viewed like David in our culture today? Are pastors viewed like David in our culture today? We have fallen a long way from the Biblical standard when the most passive office in our culture is the office of the pastor. That passivity is not in God’s economy, not in God’s book and not in God’s heart. It is time we learned to pastor like David—with a rod of iron!