Wanted a Leader
When the prophet Samuel was looking for the man most suitable to succeed Saul as King of Israel under Divine guidance, his choice settled upon a youthful shepherd named David. At the time Israel and the Philistines were at war, the Philistines had as their champion a super giant who stood 9 foot, 3 inches, and carried a 1153 pound load of armour. What a man! He was also endowed with a stentorian voice to bellow defiance to the Israel host, which sent the surrounding landscape ringing and the Israelites scampering to their tents quaking with fear and trembling. For forty mornings and evenings this pantomime went on in the same contemptuous scorn, just as today, some clergy and professors of educational institutions say of those who believe in their Israelitish identity, in effect. “Who are you anyway, you little runt. You’re just a group of nomads who claim to be descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. You’re lost all right no doubt about that. You have no leaders amongst you or scholars such as our universities and seminaries have. Why, you haven’t even got a church edifice. Bah.”
In more boastful and barbarous terms Goliath taunted David: “Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.” To this jibe David replied: “I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Whom thou hast defied…” I Samuel 17:45.
After David had made several experiments with armour proffered to him he rejected them all, but chose five smooth stones, and the two champions took up their respective positions for a showdown. David didn’t hedge or dawdle a mite, but RAN to meet his enemy. With a whirl of his sling he sank a stone in the forehead of his adversary, which ended the dual then and there and put the whole Philistine army to ignominious rout, and victory with its spoils to the Israelites. I Samuel 17:49.
Had we in this evil age the faith and courage of David we could scrap all our costly armaments of astronomical billions and go forth to meet this modern Goliath Antichrist that troubles us, just as Jehoshaphat met the three powered confederacy of Mount Seir, Moab and Ammon when they invaded Judah, and with the same result, only in this case they destroyed one another completely none escaped. Read this true stranger than fiction thriller in the 20th chapter of II Kings. It is a classic par excellence.
Even today, with the world rocking in fear and uncertainty of what the future holds, we COULD have another miraculous demonstration of God’s power. It could happen this century, this year, this month and even tomorrow that some catastrophic disaster could strike with the suddenness of the earthquake foretold in Revelation 16:18, and described as “a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty and so great.” That event is as certain to happen as this evening’s sunset.
“See, says the Almighty, “I have given you the tool you need, but you don’t seem to want it; at least you don’t show any disposition to use it. Why will you be so stubborn? How can you expect to win without it, and why will you suffer needlessly?
That puts us squarely on the spot and calls for an early answer. It also condemns us as rebels for aiding and abetting the enemy. Also it indicts us for putting our trust in fallible man when we are commanded NOT to do so, but to put our trust in Almighty God.
Yes, the Bible is full of God’s promises and guarantees to deliver us from any situation, however seemingly impossible, if we will comply with His most gracious conditions stated in II Chronicles 7: 14. Demonstrations have occurred many, many times and God has never failed us.
Is it the trumpet tongued challenge of the Goliath Antichrist that smothers the heart rending bleatings of the lost sheep that “makes cowards of us all” that we refuse to adopt the GUARANTEED SURE COURSE OF DELIVERANCE and break the yoke of Babylonic bondage which we have brought upon ourselves? It is “because we have rebelled against God’s commandments; have contemned the counsel of the most High” and, as just punishment, “are bound in affliction and sit in the shadow of death” (Psalm 107: 10 19). Here is the promise of deliverance “Then they cry unto the Lord, and He saveth them out of their distress.”
I submit that a militant manifesto be issued by our highest authority for a campaign of national repentance, for we are God’s chosen people; His servants; His battleaxe and weapons of war. Let us make ourselves worthy of the preferred name of Israel (ruling with God). We are no longer Conductor of the international world orchestra, but have been relegated to the second fiddle desk.
There is a strong under current of desire for NATIONAL REPENTANCE and INTERCESSION running through the nation, but we lack an organization under proper leadership.
Let us ask God to supply this need.
- Richard Jackson, an astute political reporter, in an article concerning one of the many crises that have disgraced the Federal Government, says, “The English have lost their country politically, and, so far, are too dumb and uncaring to know it.” Precisely. How accurately he describes us as a nation!
- That excellent writer, Patience Strong, says “We must mount an offensive, for which we are in the best possible position to do… because we have the backing of God’s Word, which is positive and dynamic.”
- Shakespeare “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, BUT IN OURSELVES that we are underlings.”
- Almighty God the Supreme Arbiter, states the conditions: “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, THEN will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14.
Here is a directive founded on wisdom. When we wake up, if ever, to the shocking discovery that we have betrayed our divine stewardship, and lost the pearl of great price (The Kingdom) by default, there will be such a weeping and gnashing of teeth too horrible even to contemplate. (Matthew 8: 11,12.)
Through the inspiration of God’s Word, the Bible, let us hasten to accept His most gracious offer and implement its directions to choose a leader to organize a campaign for repentance and make that our target.