Maybe it’s because I never went to Sunday School as a kid that I’ve yet to grow tired of the story of David and Goliath. Maybe if I had heard it a million times as a kid the account’s “awe factor” might be wearing off . . . but, then again, maybe not!!!

It’s these very, very familiar passages that we need to protect from becoming “skim material” . . . stuff we just breeze through ’cause we think we know it so well. This morning as I read through 1Samuel 17 the phrase “the living God” caught my eye. Twice David shows his indignation at this “uncircumcised Philistine” who defies “the armies of the living God.” (1Sam. 17:26, 36) And it’s not that he wants to protect the reputation of the army of Israel . . . no, it’s a much broader, more earth transcending perspective David operates under . . . his God is living . . . and the battle is the Lord’s. (1Sam. 17:47) It is not Israel Goliath defies . . . it is “the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1Sam. 17:45) Oh, how right theology and internalized theology affects our actions . . . how it creates a perspective, a filter, through which life is understood and circumstances are encountered.

He is the living God. He is not a concept . . . He is not some invention of the religious mind . . . He is the living God. My reading in Psalm 102 this morning tells me that He looks down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord views the earth. (Ps. 102:19) He is not distant . . . He is not unaware . . . He is the living God . . . engaged in the affairs of man . . . in the affairs of this man in this chair. When I get that, then I too will boldly face the enemies opposition . . . I will look to the heavens in the time of distress . . . and I will remember that the battle is His . . . and I will cry to Him knowing that He has promised that He will never leave me nor forsake me.

And so David goes forward . . . with Saul’s armor lying on the ground . . . with a sling in his hand . . . with five stones in his pouch . . . and with a ton of confidence in the living God.

And the Psalmist goes forward . . . knowing that the Lord will build up Zion . . . sure that He shall appear in glory . . . believing that He will respond to the prayer of the destitute . . . confident that God will not reject his plea (Ps. 102:16-17). And what will the result be of the Psalmist’s victory . . . what is the legacy of David’s triumph?

“Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD!” (Ps. 102:18 NIV)

I’m that people . . . thousands of years removed from the shepherd boy, David, on the battlefield with the giant . . . centuries and centuries after the heart wrenching cry of the psalmist to His God . . . I’m that people yet to be created reading what was written so long ago — inspired and preserved by God — that I might praise the Lord. That I might know afresh that my God is the living God . . . that I might be reminded that the Creator of heaven and earth is the re-Creator of this man through the blood of Christ and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit . . . that He is alive and high and holy and worthy of all glory and praise.

Just an old familiar Sunday School story . . . but what an awesome God!!!