Tonight I heard a sermon, and I would say it was in the top five of the best sermons I've ever heard. Not just because of the content but it had everything to do with the timing. The pastor asked the question, "Why did David choose five stones when he faced off against Goliath when it only took one?" I never thought about it, good question.
Five is the number of grace in the Bible, and David would surely need grace while facing a giant who was nearly ten foot tall. The Bible says blessed is the man whose quiver is full, and five arrows fill a quiver, maybe five stones filled his pouch up. One commentary said that Goliath had four family members and he had a stone for each of them. I guess every one of those answers could be true, but the preacher said David knew there was the possibility he could miss Goliath with the first stone so he had some extras to keep throwing stones in case he missed.
He said you might miss on your first try but don't stop because you missed, just keep on throwing stones until you hit your target. It's true sometimes we don't get it right the first time. Just because we miss the mark doesn't mean we've failed or that we are in the wrong battle. After the service we got together and discussed our week at the conference, and one of the leaders testified that it was like she had been released from a prison cell when she realized she didn't have to be perfect.
God allows mistakes, and He can turn our messes into messages. Well if we know there is the possibility we could fail should we, or would we still confront the giant? Yes we should if it's the right thing to do. Every time we throw another stone the chances of us hitting the bullseye increases exponentially. We all will fail, the secret is to get back up and keep moving forward, even when we fail, let's fail forward.
1 Samuel 17:40
And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
Pastor Ken Smith
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