Motivations Leading to Actions: The Story of David and Goliath

Day 56: I Samuel 17-20

The story of David defeating Goliath has always been a favorite one of mine. Here you have this young kid volunteer to take on Goliath. David is obviously outmatched by this strong man, but he still has the boldness (and audacity!!) to attempt to defeat this Philistine giant. And what's crazy is that he does it. He kills Goliath with a stone and a slingshot. No armor. No sword, shield, or helmet. David wins. End of story.

But have you ever thought about David's motivations for volunteering to fight Goliath? Here are some of the reasons I think David was motivated to fight Goliath.

1. To honor God and bring God recognition. David wanted to demonstrate that even though he appeared weak in the eyes of humans, with God's help, he could defeat those who appeared stronger. The Lord is obviously on David's side, and David wants to show "the whole world" that there is a God in Israel, and that He is on their side.

2. David's ego and pride. This one is totally based on my own inference, but it does appear that David's brothers love to hate him, just as Joseph's brothers loved to hate him as well. So, David wants to show up his brothers. They are jealous of him, and as the youngest, David wants to demonstrate his strength, skills, and abilities, even though he is a "mere shepherd." In addition, the entire Israelite community would know that this one man (David) had killed someone that all the other Israelites were afraid of. David would become a household name.

3. Financial and personal motivations. David asked several times what the reward was for the one who defeated Goliath. The answer was threefold: the man would become very wealthy (the king would give him a lot of money); he would get King Saul's daughter in marriage; and his family would be exempt from taxes. It seems obvious that David is motivated by more than godly reasons; however, I do find it interesting that when Saul offers David his firstborn daughter Merab, David declines. And he only marries Michal, another of Saul's daughters, after Saul offers her to him numerous times (with the aim of trying to trick and kill David).

These are just a few of David's motivations for offering to fight Goliath. I'm sure there are more, but the point I want to make is that motivations are complex. We often can't say that there is only one thing motivating us. While we hope that our motivations are pure and godly, there are usually other motivations at work as well. The challenge is to learn to discern which motivations are from God and for God and which ones are more selfish and worldly. When we can begin to understand why we do things (our motivations), not only will we come to know ourselves better, but we will also see more about the purity and holiness of God.

Discipline and Punish: The Ways of the Lord

Day 42: Joshua 5-9

At least five times a day I have to tell Elizabeth to obey me. I give her an order, and she disobeys. I punish her each time and hope that one day she will eventually learn to obey (or at least obey more often). Her tendency is to disobey; she wants to do her own thing, to make her own decisions. But I still punish her when she disobeys--even if it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

As a parent, I can understand more about the idea of obedience, as well as the connections between obedience and punishment (or discipline). I didn't understand it much as a kid. I didn't think punishment was fair, even though I had deserved it, and I often grew angry at my parents when they disciplined me. Punishment was supposed to curb my bad behavior, to direct me towards doing the right thing. And it worked most of the time. One day I'm sure it will work for Elizabeth, too.

As we become adults, though, there is no parent to give us a spanking or to discipline us. We make our own decisions and we must suffer the consequences when we sin and disobey God. And even though God may not put us to death or have our peers stone us (like what happened to Achan), He still disciplines us.

As a Christian, I believe Christ has redeemed me and covers my sins even when I fail. However, just because I am forgiven and redeemed does not mean that I won't suffer consequences because of my sins. Sometimes the consequences are mental and emotional; other times they are physical. Other times the consequences occurs realistically in my life or my relationships. Regardless of what I do, God still disciplines me. He is still trying to get me to obey, just like I keep trying to do with my children. And He does so because he loves me and wants me to live a life that he envisions for me. But I also think he disciplines us because God is holy and we are not, and he wants us to remember this fact. God is holy; we are not. We are, however, made holy through Jesus, yet we still sin and must be punished.

God loves us and wants us to be holy like he is holy. I hope to live my life in holy obedience to God.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty

Day 23: Leviticus 12-15

As I was reading Leviticus tonight, I was struck by how much of these laws have to do with cleanliness--cleanliness in how your home looks, what you wear, what you eat, and what should happen if/when you become ill. It seems to me that these rules and restrictions serve more symbolic purposes now. To them, they were rules for how to live a life--rules for how to be more clean, pure, and holy in the presence of God. For us today, they seem more like a metaphor for holiness. How God views being holy as an essential part of who we are.

I don't think our culture emphasize holiness too much. It emphasizes a lot of things, but holiness is not one of them.

So one way we as Christians can differentiate our Christian selves from our American selves is by being holy. God obviously values holiness: He is holy, and He wants us to be, too. We should strive for holiness--being clean, pure, and righteous. Differentiating ourselves from others. Imitating God.

God's covenant with Israel

Day 19: Day 22 to 30

Laws and laws.

Rules and rules.

Do this. Don’t do this.

The reading for today seems like a bunch of “dos” and “don’ts,” and it’s easy to get bogged down in all the details; trying to do learn all the commands that God gives to Moses on the mountain, commands that Moses then takes to the Israelites. There are a lot of them, and they are very detailed and specific.

But it’s not just about that, I don’t think. First, these laws seem a bit outdated to me. We don’t have tabernacles; nor do we need to know how to make them.

The denomination of which I’m a part doesn’t even have priests, so the talk about the vestments and such isn’t really relevant either.

But what is relevant is the covenant.

God makes a covenant with Israel, and Israel makes a covenant with God. It’s almost like they are making vows with each other. God promises to do things for God, and the Israelites covenant to do things for Him.

Covenant. A promise.

A promise to be holy. A promise to provide.

What promises have I made in my life? Have I kept them? Have I held my word?

I can think of two main vows I have made. One was to God on the day I dedicated my life to being a Christian and was baptized, dying to myself and vowing to live for God. I still live by this vow to God. It’s a covenant I keep. But I also know that I sin—daily.

The other vows were to my husband on the day I married him. Those vows were and still are extremely important to me, but I don’t think I read them enough to remember what I promised to him. He sure puts up with a lot. Although I have kept my vows in the grand sense, I know there are days when I haven’t kept them at the more local level. Just like I’ve messed up with God, I’ve messed up with Shane.

So if I’ve messed up, does it mean that I’ve broken the covenant? Yes it does.

But that’s where God’s grace comes in. That’s where the blood of Jesus comes in to save me. Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross allows me to keep my covenants even though I break them. It allows me to renew my covenant with God and my husband and my children and others. This part of the Bible, though, is important in showing me what covenant is about.