The Stone In My Pocket

In 1 Samuel 17 we read of the very familiar story of David meeting the Giant Goliath. David armed with his sling and five smooth stones that he put in his pouch, advances towards the enemy of His God—Goliath. Listen to the way David meets this enemy: “And David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, spear, and shield. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts of the armies of Israel’s whom you defiled.’”… “Let all people know that it is not with sword or spear that God brings salvation, for the war is the Lord’s and He will delivery you into our hands”

David, the shepherd boy, destroys and put to death the life of Goliath with a stone. But it really wasn’t the stone that killed Goliath, but the God of heaven. David, certainly used the stone, but his confidence was in the God who moved the stone to hit the target.

Moses the prophet wrote: “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He” (Deut. 32:14).

In both Old and New Testament, we learn that this stone is Christ Himself. He is the Rock eternal that crushes the ultimate enemy of man—satan. Peter writes thus concerning Christ as the STONE: “…now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to Him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, and, A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall” (1 Peter 2:3-8)

Like Moses, David and others, you and I need this stone in our pocket. For this stone is none-other than the Word Incarnate—Jesus Christ. And this Word helps us deflect every arrow of the devil and the world. This stone in our pocket need to be used daily to destroy the enemy who attacks us.

As we step out with our slings to do battle with the giants called unbelief, fear, doubt, hatred, etc.; we can take to heart what we heard from the eye witnesses. The facts from the eye witnesses are absolutely true. Could these witnesses have lied? Unlikely? As one person said, people will sometimes face martyrdom for a falsehood, but only if they believe it to be true. No one will give up his life for something he knows to be false. The disciples were willing to die for the truth—that Jesus is the Stone that destroyed the devil, sin and hell.

The hymn writer put it this way: “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee; let the water and the blood from Thy riven side which flowed Be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r”. (TLH #376 vs. 1).

The disciples were privileged to hear the voice of God saying of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son…” You would have thought they would have understood His mission. But then the stone had been rolled before the tomb, shutting in Jesus’ lifeless clay. And another stone, one of fear, had rolled before their hearts shutting out their trust that He was the Son of God.

It was not till after the Resurrection that their views of the Savior, the stone that the builders rejected became to them the stone of hope. That stone was with them wherever they went and by its authority and power shared it with others.

We do well to remember the stone in our pocket, by spending time in His Word daily and trust it to lead us to face off every giant that comes our way, and using the stone in our pocket say with David, “You come to me with a sword, spear, and shield. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts of the armies of Israel’s."