“Guitarist guitaring on their guitars.”
“And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:” Revelation 14:2
A few years ago, I listened passively to the Bible as I was doing something else.
“Harpers harping with their harps.”
From that, was born this messaage.
The story of David fighting Goliath is a beloved Bible tale, but it reveals a deeper tragedy. King Saul, anointed to lead Israel, was a skilled warrior who had defeated thousands and stood taller than most. Equipped with the best sword, helmet, and shield, Saul had everything needed to confront Goliath. Yet, for 40 days, as Goliath blasphemed Israel and Jehovah, Saul failed to act. This inaction led to a pervasive sense of discouragement, fear, and paralysis among the Israelite soldiers, who hid and let the enemy dictate the conflict because Saul, the Warrior King, did not lead his army into battle.
God had to find someone else who would challenge that demonically inspired giant. Someone had to come in from the outside and see things as they were.
The warrior king was not warring.
David arrived like an Uber driver delivering groceries.
David, a young, skilled shepherd was sent to find out the condition of his brothers.
He arrived at the scene where Goliath was blaspheming against God and Israel. Angered by Goliath's mockery, David questioned his audacity. Despite his lack of status or warrior training, David trusted God to use him as he was. David used his sling and a few rocks to confront Goliath, demonstrating that God can bring victory through anyone who offers what they have.
The slinger slung his sling.
What happened?
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Goliath fell like a tree felled by Paul Bunyan. David scampered up the hill. He peeled the giant’s fingers off the giant's sword, lifted it above his head, and let it fall. That old, ugly devil Goliath was graveyard dead.
Why?
Because the slinger slung his sling.
The results got an upgrade.
David gained a new status, the warring shepherd. A song was sung: "Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten-thousands."
From a simple sling to the glorious sword of Goliath.
When you are what God has called you to be and use what God has given you, giants fall. What would happen if those who are anointed would do with what they have and be what God has called them to be?
When the anointed anoint with their anointing!
When the lottery was over 1.5 billion dollars. People everywhere are making promises to God:
"Lord, if you let me win the lottery, I will pay my tithes and buy my momma a house."
You know what that is? Promises of fools—not unlike fool’s gold. Here’s an idea for you: Don’t buy stupid tickets for the illusion of false hope.
God does not expect you to give what you don’t have. Putting off what you will do one day when particular circumstances happen is the exercise of foolishness.
Serve God with who you are and with what you have.
Pay tithes on your three-hundred-and-thirty-six-dollar paycheck. Give an offering out of the twenty-three dollars in your pocket. Go cut your momma’s grass.
That lottery win ruins more people’s lives than it helps.
Here is a biblical idea: Serve God where you are, the way things are right now, and with what you have.
Watch and see what happens.
I promise you something: If you will be faithful in the little things, those little things will grow and become more incredible things.
The Kingdom of God is like a seed. Plant that seed and see what happens.
What if witnesses would witness with their witness?
What if praisers would praise with their praises?
The tragedy of Saul is that he failed to be who he was anointed to be and use what he had been gifted by God. Don’t be like Saul.
Let’s be like David.
Serve God with who you are and what you have right now. I suspect there is an upgrade in store for people like that.
One day, David got an upgrade from a warrior to a king. One day, David got an upgrade from a king to a priest.
There is no limit to what we can experience if we are like those harpers harping on their harps.
It’s time to take down the harps hanging on the willow trees.
And let the harpers harp with their harps.
In Him, By Him, Through Him,
Scott A. Phillips