Long before King David had selected his “Thirty Mighty Men”, we see the young shepherd choosing “five smooth stones”. David’s men would eventually become the stuff of legend, remembered by name (II Sam 23), and revered for their heroism. By contrast, the stones he chose are all but forgotten, left behind long ago in the Valley of Elah. And yet, it was through David’s use of those five stones, that fear was vanquished, the foe was conquered, and God’s people were liberated.

Much has been said about “The Thirty”; too little perhaps, about “the five”.

Scripture doesn’t provide too many specifics about these unnamed stones, but the few details we’ve got are adequate to provide us with helpful insight & encouragement into our own life & ministry. Let’s remember what we can about these significant little chunks of geological anonymity:

“And David chose five smooth stones from the brook” -I Samuel 17:40

THERE WERE FIVE.

History verifies that one single stone was enough to slay the giant, yet David didn’t have peace until he’d chosen the fifth. He picked the amount he was comfortable with. Six would’ve been too many, four, too few. David needed five. Confident of his selection, he was ready for the fight.

Which stone it was that dealt the fatal blow isn’t revealed. Was it the 2^nd one taken from the brook? The 4^th? Scripture keeps that detail a secret. All we’re told is that, as David ran toward the Philistine, he simply “put his hand in his bag and took out a stone” (I Sam 17:49). It didn’t matter to David which one it was, for they were all equally suited for the task. He only needed to know that it was indeed one of the five.

Every stone serves its purpose, even the ones that are never taken out of the bag. Sometimes it’s our collective solidarity, rather than our individual accomplishments that God intends to reward. The Holy Spirit isn’t required to honor one above another who all serve the same Master (read the parable of the “Laborers in the Vineyard” Mt.20:1-16).

THEY WERE SMOOTH.

These stones had no rough edges. They had pushed against each other for so long now, that little friction remained between them. Sharing the same river for so many years had made them ready to serve the same mission. They fit well together in the shepherds’ pouch. Each one fit snugly into his sling. They would serve his purpose, even at high velocity. They could be trusted.

Not all of those who serve the Great Shepherd will endure their time with the sheep. If we aren’t willing to bear with one another long enough to knock off the sharp corners, we’re likely to be overlooked at a time of special selection. Our Master won’t send us out from His sling until He’s sees that we’re no longer jagged. He intends to hit His mark. If you don’t suit His purpose, He’ll pick a different stone.

The choicest servants that Christ can find are those who work together the longest. The current here is unapologetically swift at times, but there is only one surefire way to make a rough stone smooth.

THEY CAME FROM THE BROOK.

There are countless stones, in numerous brooks, all over the face of the earth. Yet God, for thousands of years, had His eyes on these five. Specially designed at the beginning of Creation, and strategically placed at the time of The Flood, these 5 stones had a long wait for glory. Thousands of years would pass before they’d finally be discovered by Jesse’s youngest, and brought to center-stage. Until then, they’d have to endure lifetimes of insignificance & anonymity.

Little is accomplished in the Kingdom of Heaven without great patience. A driving need for immediate gratification, recognition, & significance has led many of her servants into exile. But those who patiently remain in their place, are best positioned to be most useful to the coming King, whether we realize it or not.

ANONYMITY PREVAILS.

Those of us who crave recognition among our peers ought to be cautious. By chasing public acknowledgment, you may just forfeit your opportunity for true greatness. Be content with anonymity if that’s what God’s chosen for you.

Concentrate on unity, humility, & endurance instead. Only then will we become the mighty men and women we long to be. Only then will you live a life worth remembering.

“David prevailed…with a stone” -I Samuel 17:50

Envision that you are on a ship clinging tightly to whatever it is that you have on this earth that you treasure the most. Imagine whatever it is that you value so highly slipping out of your grasp only to fall out of reach. You lounge forward in a final futile attempt to catch hold of it, only to see it fall forever into the depths of the sea, unable to ever be retrieved again.

This is exactly the picture that John Foster uses in his book from the early 1800s entitled “The Improvement of Time.” In it, he points to another treasure that moment by moment is wasted by being dropped over the edge, but its loss is many times unnoticed. The 234-page book’s entire intent is to convince the reader not only of the value of time but to also see how easily it slips away from us, never to be seen or utilized again.

The Value of a Minute

When we are young, we are constantly given unheeded warnings on the speed and shortness of life. Usually, they passed over our heads under the assumption that the “old” men and women giving them were out of touch. But did you realize that God gives the very same warnings? 

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Psalm 90:10

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4:4

In Ephesians God tells us that he has things for us to do. We are His workmanship and He has created and prepared things for us to do. We only have this life to do them. There is no second shot. There is no reset button on this journey that we are on. When we reach the end of our lives, as Christians we will give an account for the life that God has given us. I’d like to leave no task that God has prepared for me undone.

In John 9 Jesus tells us that “We must do what God has for us now while it is day for night is coming when no one can work.” We will never accomplish what God has created us for if we aimlessly drift through this life, allowing it to passively pass us by. It’s our choice to either spend ourselves on the things that matter: God, His Kingdom, and His mission, or to spend our lives on cheap thrills, comfort, and ease. But only one decision will have anything to show for it in the end.  

Minutes Easily Spent

Imagine having $40,000,000. You would likely give little thought to dollars spent here and there. Some costs are paid so gradually that the total expense paid slips away without notice. But when those small payments here and there are totaled, the sum would be staggering. When it comes to the investment of our lives, I think many of us spend them in that way; wasted, not all at once for we are far too wise to make such a mistake. Instead as fools, we spend our life savings of time on little trinkets here and there. Our time purchases nothing of great value, worth investing in, but it is spent in such small instances, that it concerns us very little.

If you are an average man or woman in the United States your life will likely consist of just over 40 million minutes. What are you going to do with them? It would be easy to excuse wasting a great deal of it, but be careful, you just might find at the end of it all you wasted more than you realized.

No Getting it Back

There is no way of getting time back, once spent it is gone for good. If time has slowly been falling out of your hands beneath the surface of the sea you cannot dive down to retrieve it. The moments were wasted. All you can do moving forward is to fight to keep more from drifting away. I don’t know how much time is left in your bank, but you have some. You have one life to live. Spend it where it counts and make it count.

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Not to promote undue concern, but it’s entirely feasible that you could fall down a well at some point in your life. The odds are slim, I know, but it’s still conceivable. It occurs every year, all over the world, and survival is no guarantee. Accidents like these are real, both in the physical sense, as well as the spiritual. And although I hope it never happens to you, it’s always best to be prepared.

WHERE IT STARTS

Anyone who’s taken a tumble of this kind will attest, the real surprise comes not in the falling, but with the landing. The actual descent happens fast, so it’ll be over before you even realize it. But the pain you feel once you’ve stopped makes the landing almost impossible to forget. The bottom of a cistern is no vacation destination, as you will quickly discover. 

GET YOUR BEARINGS

Assuming you survive the initial fall, you’ll need to come to terms with where you are, and how you got there. You may not realize that you’re in a well at first, and disorientation is probable, so you’ll need to look for clues as to your whereabouts. Darkness and terror are helpful here, because when found together, they serve as a strong indication that you are indeed stuck in a pit.

If you let yourself believe whatever you feel, you may never again see the light of day

Now, the first principle of finding your way out of a deep, dark hole, is to look up. Whether you find yourself in a physical well, or a spiritual depression, up is your only way out, and out is where you need to go. So direct your attention heavenward.

(And then brace yourself for what you’re about to see).   

ADJUST YOUR EYES

Rather than the compassionate gaze from those above, you’re probably going to notice what appears to be indifference. Standing at the mouth of the well will be your own colleagues, none of whom seem to have noticed your plight. They will appear to be so unaffected by your trauma, you may find yourself wondering if, maybe, it was they who pushed you down, and that perhaps your trouble is their fault. You may even feel a tinge of relief for having fallen out of fellowship with them.

Author Alan Redpath writes, “I might suggest, perhaps with more truth than some of us would like to admit, that a persecuted Christian sometimes gets better treatment from the enemies of God’s people than from his Christian friends. Was it not the king of Judah who imprisoned Jeremiah, and the king of Babylon who let him loose? We glory in our wonderful gospel of love and mercy for the unsaved, but we usually act as if we have no gospel for the saint who has been tripped up by the devil!“

But be careful here. If you let yourself believe whatever you feel, you may never again see the light of day.

It’s a fatal mistake to think you can escape that hole by securing sympathy for yourself. Don’t even bother trying. Emotions are like quicksand. The harder you work to gain a foothold thereby, the more likely it is that you’ll drown in disappointment. Nobody’s ever been rescued by pity, and you don’t need help sinking any further than you already have. Look up, yes, but don’t expect to find comfort (Psalm 69:20).

CHECK YOUR VIEWPOINT

The angle you have on life from the bottom of a well is entirely skewed. The truth is, your companions aren’t the reason you fell in the well…you are. And yet, by divine providence, they will prove to be the very help you need to get out of it. Your friendship with those in God’s family is the only rope long enough to reach you where you’re at. If you ever hope to get back to the surface after a fall like yours, resist all temptation to cut the cord.   

Coming back to solid ground will restore your perspective. The difference in cleanliness between yourself and your allies will become readily apparent. You’ll see at once that it wasn’t your friends who were defiled, it was you all along. Get ready to be disgusted with yourself.

But they’ll understand. They’ve probably fallen into a similar hole themselves. They’ll help you wash off, tidy up, and move on, and the whole terrible episode will become a thing of the past.

Just try not to forget what happened, ok? Some lessons can only be learned in a subterranean classroom, and you don’t want to repeat a course like that if you don’t have to.  

WALK WITH CARE

It’s always best to step with caution as we sojourn through this life. Yet don’t be surprised when God peels back a layer of grace that long concealed the depth of your own sin. And don’t be shocked when you find yourself plummeting into a deep, dark well of despair because of it.

It’s entirely feasible that you could fall down a well at some point in your life

Falling down is easier than you think. If and when that happens, you’ll be glad you took the time to read up on it beforehand. “Pay careful attention to how you walk” (Ephesians 5:15) … “If you think you’re standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (I Corinthians 10:12).

God bless.

I wish I was smarter, and I am willing to bet that you wish you were as well. However, scripture is clear that there is a difference between being intelligent according to this world and being wise in the eyes of God. One leads to righteousness, spiritual maturity, and usefulness in God’s kingdom. The other leads to an inflated ego and eventual destruction. Scripture says, “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” Godly wisdom is to be sought after, while earthly wisdom is never to be trusted.

If you find yourself lacking in the necessary wisdom, the Bible has much to say about it. God’s word reveals that wisdom is found in scripture (2 Timothy 3:15). There is wisdom to be found in Godly counsel (Proverbs 11:14 & 24:6). If you are lacking wisdom James tells us to pray and ask God for it (James 1:5). Wisdom is withheld from the proud and given to the humble (Proverbs 11:2).

Another Path to Wisdom

But God tells us another way to gain wisdom. In 1 Corinthians 3:18, the apostle Paul writes, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” Wait a minute, did God really just tell us that to be wise we must become a fool? He sure did. But don’t run off making terrible decisions just yet.

When God tells us to become a fool, He is speaking of becoming a fool to the wisdom of the world. The world would tell us it is foolish to trust and obey the Lord. The world would tell us it is insane to believe that God created this earth a mere few thousand years ago with His words. The world would tell us that to put all our hope in a “man” who came to this earth only to be killed on a cross is idiotic.

Embrace Foolishness

God says not only to embrace such truths but to display our “foolish” belief to all around us. Let’s face it, God’s ways do not always make sense to our intellect. He used trumpets to fall the walls of Jericho. He told Gideon to shrink his army from 32,000 to 300 before going into battle. He used an ox goad in the hand of Shamgar to defeat 600 Philistines. A jawbone from a donkey in the hand of Samson to defeat an entire army, and just a few loaves and fish to feed thousands of people.

1 Corinthians 1:25 says that the foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God stronger than man. God was at His most “foolish” and very “weakest” according to our limited perspective at the cross where He hung suffering and dying, but the reality was this was infinitely wiser and stronger than anything man could do. It was at the time when you and I would see God’s plan to be a complete and utter failure that He did what could easily be argued as the most miraculous, powerful, and brilliant act the Lord has ever undertaken.

An Undesirable Path

The problem is we live in an age with perhaps the strongest aversion to being seen as fools in the eyes of others. We want everyone to think highly of us. We would hate to even consider someone looking down at us.

To be a faithful Christian, obedient to God’s word, truly wise in the eyes of God, you are going to have to become a fool. You are going to have to embrace it. You’ll have to seek it. You are going to have to open your mouth and declare the gospel. And if you are really good at it, people will think you are dumb. They will think you are wrong. Will you be ashamed of believing what the Bible teaches when the world calls you a fool?

God says in Proverbs 2:2 to pursue wisdom and in 1 Corinthians 3, He tells us how to do it. If you wish to be wise in the eyes of God, you must become a fool in the eyes of the world. It seems like a fair trade to me. After all, God as Jesus Christ became a man for your sake. God, the perfect, sinless, holy, powerful, creator of the universe humbled himself and became sin on the cross for your sake. Are you willing to be a fool for Him? The funny thing is that doing so turns out to be the wisest thing you could ever do.

The Apostle Paul was a very colorful man in Christian ministry. He made tents for a living but wrote Scripture & raised the dead in his spare time. He figuratively stormed the gates of hell and literally paid a visit to heaven (before his life was even over!). He planted churches, plotted missions, and pioneered a movement. He’s remembered 2,000 years later and spoken of all over the world. Aside of Christ, few men are as spiritually vibrant as Paul was.

This wasn’t always the case, however. Paul (formerly named “Saul”), used to be a far uglier man. He spent much of his young life huddled in and around Jerusalem. Feeding his intellect & ego on Judaism, he developed into a Pharisee. Growing fat with pride, he persecuted the church and took nourishment by consuming the spiritual life of others. At last, having become fully encased in dead religion, his life came to an end (that particular phase of it anyway).

RADICAL REFORMATION

At the age of 30, Paul underwent a fundamental change that he describes as “metamorphosis” (taken from the original Greek word “metamorphousthe” found in Romans 12:2). Metamorphosis is the inevitable process by which a butterfly proves itself to be more than an ordinary worm. Like a caterpillar, Saul had to become a new creature entirely. His mind, his lifestyle, his future, and even his name needed to change. Saul couldn’t become the Apostle that God ordained him to be until his old life as a Pharisee was fully terminated.

Christians are one of the few creatures on earth that have the capacity to “morph” like a caterpillar does. The change seen in the Apostle Paul is proof enough. The unfortunate difference between caterpillars and Christians, however, is that caterpillars don’t need to be coaxed into the cocoon. Christians on the other hand, usually always do.

RADICALLY RESISTANT

Anticipating this reluctance, Paul (as a newborn ‘butterfly’), wrote a letter to his “caterpillar kinfolk” in Rome. In that letter, he “beseeches” them to surrender their bodies to the only process that will, in fact, convert them from the low-life drudgery of religion, into a “new creature” altogether. As Paul saw it, there were countless Christians still crawling around like larva when they could’ve been flying by now.  

Of all those born into God’s kingdom, few will ever reach full maturity 

With that in mind, let’s note a few similarities between what we find in the animal kingdom, and what we know of God’s kingdom:  

1: Caterpillars never think of flying, they concentrate mostly on eating. Worried about little more than basic survival, their short time on earth is marked by a repeating pattern of eat and rest, eat and rest. Their life is dominated by their appetite. For caterpillars it’s just a phase, but for many Christians, it’s their entire lifespan. Perhaps this is what Paul had in mind when he lamented to the Philippians, “Their god is their belly”.

2: Out of every 100 butterfly eggs, only 1 (maybe 2) will ever fulfill their destiny. The rest will do the same thing day after day, until the enemy swallows them up. They’ll never reproduce. They’ll never go where they could’ve gone. And, perhaps most tragic of all, they’ll never know what it’s like to fly. As Scripture predicts, “Many will depart from the faith”. In other words, for every lovely butterfly you see there are 98 others who never made it.

3: Metamorphosis is the ultimate test of one’s trust in their Creator. With no idea of what comes after chrysalis (the cocoon stage), caterpillars instinctively wrap themselves into a homemade coffin to die anyway. They don’t question God’s plan, they don’t weigh the ‘pro’s & con’s’ of it, and they certainly don’t rebel against their Lord. Instead, they intuitively make their shell and die, as if they were eager to do so. Christian’s treat metamorphosis like it’s the end of their life, but caterpillars rely upon the truth: “This is a trustworthy saying: If we die, we will also live” (II Tim.2:11).   

RADICALLY RARE

These are but a few general comparisons between caterpillars and Christians. But the truth is hard to miss: Of all those born into God’s kingdom, very few will ever reach full maturity.

There are countless Christians crawling around like larva when they could’ve been flying by now

For fear of metamorphosis, most believers will opt to crawl through life, and then die with a mouthful of milkweed. Few Christians will ever put on the new colors offered by Christ (Ro.13:14), taste the sweetness of spiritual nectar (Ps.34:8), or rise above the worldliness of their contemporaries (Col.3:1).

DEAR CATERPILLAR, God has offered you a kaleidoscopic life! A fresh start, full of wonder and opportunity, far beyond your present imagination! “I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God”, embrace metamorphosis!

Christmas can be an overwhelming time. Cultural and familial pressures all around us tend to push and pull us in all directions at once. Messages are screamed at us about what to buy, where to go, and who to be with. The cultural pressure presents unrealistic expectations to please everyone and give a picture-perfect image during this season. It can lead people to feel frazzled and frantic. This feeling of being overwhelmed by these things is entirely unnecessary. There is no reason for Christians to allow our culture to push and pull us as it does, but that is not the point I want to make.

I believe that Christmas is intended by God to be overwhelming. He wants us to stand still in awe of the season. Not because we tend to give in to every whim of our culture, but because of the incredible work of our God. As Christians, we know that God in all of His glory was pleased to come to this earth as a man. We also know that He did this for us.

Easily Forgotten

The sad reality is that we all too often become numb to this truth. It isn’t that we don’t know it or believe it, but it is just that we are apathetic to it. The reality of the gospel should be overwhelming. It should leave us in awe and wonder. Being reminded of the fact that our God left the perfection and majesty of heaven to come to this fallen earth for us fallen creatures is astonishing.

Equally astonishing is that those of us who know it to be fact can let life pass us by as though it doesn’t matter. This time of year, we are far too easily overwhelmed by the necessity of the perfectly made Christmas cookie, all the while unmoved and unaffected by the gospel. Christmas is a reminder that Christ did come. If He hadn’t, we would be left with no savior and no hope for salvation. There would be no real peace and no real joy. Christ accomplished much in His coming to this world. Here are just a few such accomplishments found in the account of His birth found in the Gospel of Luke.

Peace – “To guide our feet into the way of peace” Luke 1:79

Colossians 1:20 tells us that Jesus brings us peace with God through the blood of His cross. Apart from Jesus, it is impossible for us to have peace with God. Our sins cause us to be at enmity with God. This leaves us in a constant state of turmoil between Him and us that we could never repair on our own. Jesus left heaven to mend that turmoil.

Joy – “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy” Luke 2:10

At times it seems like this world gives us very little reason to be joyful. God through Christ gives us every reason. John 15 tells us that we can be friends with Christ. Good friends make you happy. The best of friends brings real joy. Jesus says that He brings us real and abundant life. He also gives us a purpose to live for. Our Lord has come and because of that, we can have joy.  

Light – “To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,” Luke 1:79

If Jesus is the light of the world as He claimed to be, that means that apart from him the entire world is living in darkness. Your options are either Christ or darkness, there is no third alternative. The light of Christ illuminates and exposes the darkness of sin, and also shines on the goodness of God. We take a light into a room to dispel the darkness. Likewise, the light of Jesus Christ had to come into this darkness of our sin to illuminate and deal with that darkness.

Salvation – “To give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins” Luke 1:77-78

The natural state of mankind is broken, fallen, dying, and headed for destruction. The only possible way to alter that trajectory is Jesus. On the first Christmas, “unto us a savior was born” which is good news for us because we were in desperate need of one. Jesus did not come for the healthy. He didn’t come to give us some moral lessons, or simply to live an example of the “good life”. He came to save souls.

Being overwhelmed is typically not a good thing. But the facts of Christ should leave us overwhelmed and in awe. The creator of the universe came to you and me. God dwelt among us, and He did it because of a love for us. Just this once, let yourself be overwhelmed.