Latter-day Saint FAIR-Cast

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 2 Samuel 11–12; 1 Kings 3; 6–9; 11 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

David Fought Goliath Without Armor by Autumn Dickson In 1 Samuel 17, we read about one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament: David and Goliath. It’s an incredible story of faith that can teach us a lot about following Christ. The fact that David saved the Israelites was a big deal, but how he defeated Goliath is likewise significant. Let’s talk about a couple of those “hows.” Goliath taunts the Israelites for 40 days. David comes forward and offers to battle Goliath. Saul agrees, and he even puts his own armor on David. It doesn’t go well… 1 Samuel 17:39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. David tried on the armor and “assayed” to go. In other words, David had a hard time moving. David hasn’t “proved” the armor, or in other words, David has never trained with it. He doesn’t know how to fight like a soldier, only like a shepherd. So David takes his shepherd weapons, forgoes the armor, and goes on to defeat Goliath. Let’s talk about how David defeated Goliath and what it teaches us. Detail 1. He went up with nothing but faith in God; the armor specifically hindered him. A couple posts ago, we talked about how Israel came to Samuel and wanted a king. One of the direct messages we pulled from that story was the fact that the Israelites were rejecting God by wanting a king. They had a King; they wanted a different king. In 1 Samuel 8, the Israelites specifically requested a king because they wanted someone to go out before them in battle. Like other nations, they wanted a physical defender in front of them when they were at war. This is significant. So now we’ve found ourselves in 1 Samuel 17, and the Israelites are facing the giant Philistines. Goliath goes out and taunts the Israelites for 40 days. And where is Saul? Definitely not out in front of the Israelites. Samuel gave the Israelites their king, King Saul, and then what do you know…Saul doesn’t go out before them. No one saw that coming. Shocking, right? When we originally read this story, it would be easy to think David was being an arrogant punk by refusing the armor. Earlier on in the chapter, Eliab (David’s oldest brother) gets annoyed with David and accuses him of pride. But this isn’t about pride (even if David possessed some of that). This is about the fact that once again, the Lord was saying, “Hey Israel! I will go before you, not some mortal king!” David didn’t just outright refuse the armor. He put it on, and it weighed him down. David was better off without man’s attempts to fight off Israel’s enemies. The principle is NOT this: Don’t use anything manmade or you’re faithless. Refuse medicine. Refuse gear. The Lord will protect you if you have enough faith. That is not the principle here. Sometimes having faith is understanding that the Lord inspired man to build tools. However, for THIS specific example, it is important that David went without armor that weighed him down. The fact that David went without armor in this specific scenario can teach us the true principle: relying on man over God hurts us. It doesn’t help us. This is not every scenario. This is a very specific scenario in which the Lord was very clearly telling the Israelites that He was their King and Defender. The Lord didn’t want any confusion about why David won against Goliath. This detail is poignant with the backdrop of the Israelites rejecting God and choosing Saul. They didn’t want God’s protection; they wanted man’s. David and his lack of armor was God’s response. Using tools is not wrong, but relying on tools over God is wrong. The armor in this story represents the same thing King Saul represented: insufficient protection from man. King Saul did not help the Israelites. The refused armor would have prevented David from defeating Goliath. Detail 2. David showed up after Goliath had taunted the Israelites for 40 days. So maybe the fact that David showed up after 40 days doesn’t necessarily seem like one of the “hows” of David defeating Goliath, but in my unqualified opinion, it is. Gospel according to Autumn teaches this: If David had come sooner, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat Goliath because the Israelites wouldn’t have let him battle Goliath at all. The number “40” is significant. It is used to describe a period of testing and trial. Christ fasted for forty days. It rained and flooded the earth for forty days. The Israelites wandered the wilderness for forty years. Did Goliath truly taunt them for 40 days exactly or was this the Lord’s way of describing a full cycle of testing for the Israelites? Does the 40 really mean 40 or does it teach us that the Israelites had finally reached a point of desperation and were willing to utilize a young boy to fight Goliath? Regardless of whether it was exactly 40 days of taunting, the lesson for us is clear: the Lord allows us to go through a period of testing until we finally reach the point where we are willing to rely on Him alone. Have you ever reached that point in a trial where you’re like, “Hey Lord, if you could show up right now, I would really appreciate it! I’m dying down here!” And then He waits even longer before showing up? Perhaps it’s not forty days for forty months or forty years. Maybe it’s just the right amount of time for your testing period. Maybe it’s the right amount of days for us to finally reach a point where we are ready to rely on Christ alone and then recognize His hand when we come out on the other side. That second part is just as important. If the Lord doesn’t allow us to wait for the full period, we might attribute our success to something else like our own fortitude. Allowing us to wait until we feel really lost serves the unique purpose of forcing us to realize that He was the only thing that could have saved us. Would the Israelites have let David try his hand against Goliath if they hadn’t waited their full “forty” days? Honestly, I have no idea. What I do know is this: They got desperate enough to let him try and when he succeeded, all heaven broke loose and they cheered and ran against the Philistines at the same time. Their faith had been bolstered, and for a small moment, they recognized who was standing at their side. I testify of a Lord who teaches us about Him in incredible detail in these stories. I testify that we start to see patterns as we study these details in the scriptures. More and more and more layers come out and teach us and refine us and help us invite Christ into our lives more fully. I’m so grateful the Lord has taken me on this journey to teach me these lessons in the scriptures. I testify that Come Follow Me can change your life if you use it, and I testify that Come Follow Me can change your life because it can teach you about Christ.     Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 1 Samuel 17–18; 24–26; 2 Samuel 5–7 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Correction Without Condemnation by Autumn Dickson David is one of our center characters this week as he rises to the throne and protects Israel. There are a lot famous stories this week, including the famous story of David and Goliath. However, I want to talk about a lesser studied portion of the Old Testament. It’s a relatively tiny detail, but it can teach us a lot. David has conquered Jerusalem and brought the Ark of the Covenant there. After all the celebration, David is sitting in his palace and it occurs to him that the Lord doesn’t have a proper place of worship. David is living in a house of cedar, but the Lord only has a tent. David feels a desire to correct this and approaches Nathan about it. Nathan approves and tells David to do what his heart desires; the Lord is with him. Later on, the Lord corrects Nathan. 2 Samuel 7:12-13 12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. So interestingly enough, the Lord disagreed. That night, the Lord sends a revelation to Nathan. David will not build the temple; his son will. David is associated with war, and the Lord approved much of that conquest. However, from a symbolic and theological standpoint, the temple is associated with peace and rest. Solomon’s reign was associated with rest, and so he was the one to build the temple. Nathan passes the message on to David, and David accepts this answer from the Lord. Perhaps this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal in comparison to other scripture that we’re reading this week, but that’s actually partially my point. Making a decision all on your own and then being corrected by the Lord doesn’t have to be that big of a deal. Let’s delve in a tad deeper. Sometimes we get really caught up in making sure we’re following the Lord. The problem isn’t wanting to follow the Lord; the problem comes when we make it a problem. There are two fears that we can often run into in regards to revelation: Fear one. We don’t want to do wrong by the Lord and get in trouble. I’m not 100% where this fear comes from…probably Satan? The Lord tells us over and over and over that He loves us and wants us to try and act. Yet despite His assurances, we get nervous about doing things wrong. As far as I can tell, the Lord wasn’t angry with David or Nathan for getting excited about building a house for Him. I would be shocked if the Lord was anything less than beaming over two of His sons trying to worship Him. That didn’t mean it was the right direction, but the Lord wasn’t mad about it. The Lord wants us to act and move forward and do good things of our own free will. He will course correct as necessary. Which leads me to my next point. Fear two. Even if the Lord isn’t angry, we don’t want to end up in the wrong direction. We’re often afraid to move forward without the explicit green light from the Lord. We don’t want to take the wrong steps. When we were looking to get a house, I was really worried about making the wrong decision. I was praying about it and praying about it and praying about it. Conner didn’t. I had a hard time wanting to move forward without the Lord’s approval, but he approached the situation very differently. He weighed the pros and cons and went over our finances. He made the best decision he could with the information he had. And that was it. I don’t think he prayed about it even once. It used to worry me. I wanted him to seek out the Lord’s will more often than I thought he was, but I had an experience with him that shifted my perspective. We were looking at getting a car years and years ago. We stopped to look at this van on our way to a family dinner. I stayed in the car while he went and looked at the van. When he climbed back in, I asked if we were buying it. He answered in the negative. I asked him what was wrong with it (he’s worked as a mechanic previously), and he told me that he didn’t see anything that was wrong with it. When I asked him why we weren’t buying it, he replied, “I had a bad feeling about it.” Conner didn’t necessarily wait for green lights, but he listened to red lights when they came along as needed. That was the first step in a journey that changed how I approach revelation. I no longer feel held back by fear. I’m not afraid of the Lord being mad. I recognize that the Lord wants me to be wise like Him, and that requires practicing my decision-making skills like Him. He knows that allowing me to make decisions also means that I’m going to make mistakes, but He’s not worried about that. Not to mention, He’s happy to course correct as necessary. I make a decision that I truly want and think is best, and I trust Him to speak to me if I’m wrong. That’s how I pictured the context of this particular conversation between David and Nathan. They were rejoicing and ready to worship the Lord. They were purposefully thinking of Him and trying to do good works without being directly asked. Then the Lord simply corrected them as needed. We can move forward in faith and excitement and trust the Lord to close the door or correct us if it’s not the right path. There is no reason to be afraid. I testify that the Lord wants us to make decisions and become wise like Him. There is no other way to do this except to practice. I also testify that He is powerful and knows how to speak with us. He doesn’t give us our agency so that He can condemn us when we make mistakes. He paid for those mistakes and stands ready to help us along. He knows how to speak to you if you’re trying to listen. Trust that He can lead you along. Be excited about the decisions before you; the Lord can turn them all for your good when you’re seeking to worship Him.   Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 1 Samuel 17–18; 24–26; 2 Samuel 5–7 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.