David and His Dornicks

“Dornick”.

Maybe like me you haven't a clue what that word means.

I was looking up another definition on my phone's dictionary app, when “dornick” popped up as The Word of the Day for that particular date. Intrigued, I clicked the button and found out that it means a small stone that is easy to throw. And then I smiled, because what Bible-reading Christian hears that definition and doesn't immediately think of David, who picked up a pocketful of the same to sling Goliath's way? It's an old word and a long-ago story that together can have a powerful impact on the enemies we face today.

Thankfully we don't deal with 9-foot giants on a daily basis...or do we? The problems we face loom as large in our sight as that mountain of a man did when he stood before David, and their taunts are eerily the same. “Who are you to think that you can battle this successfully with your own weak resources?” “You have no chance of overcoming a challenge as large as this!” Morning, noon and night our problems rise and roar at us, and we cower and run like the Israelite army did at the sight of Goliath. Only David stood before him unafraid.

He knew he was just a boy, untrained in the ways of warfare. But he wasn't relying on his own abilities when he volunteered for the job; he was relying on God's. For that reason he shunned the offer of King Saul's armor, that the people would know that it was the size of his God rather than the size of his sword that would bring the victory. And he had a history of successes in fighting enemies with God on his side.

Don't we, as well? Oh, how powerful our testimonies are in the battles we face! They remind us of the goodness of God, the power of God...the faithfulness of our Father. From them we gain faith and courage and hope for the current struggle. And just as David had his dornicks, we have weapons of warfare, as well...five smooth stones known as faith, prayer, authority, power and grace. It is essential that we perceive, pick up and pocket those pebbles before entering the fray...and then have the wisdom to know which to use on any particular day.

We know the One we serve and the love He has for those He has made. We all have been given a measure of faith, but there were times in the Bible when a person approached Jesus with such extraordinary belief in Him when faced with a particular problem that it moved Jesus to action. His words, “Your faith has healed you” indicate which stone the individual had hurled at his disability and that it had hit its mark.

God longs to intervene in all our situations, large or small, and so He invites us to ask for what we need...to approach Him in prayer with our requests (accompanied by thanks-in-advance!). And He promises that those who ask, receive an answer...those who seek, find what they are looking for...those who knock on the door of His heart find it opened to them in response. The action to take in anxious times is simply to ask God for His help.

Sometimes we ask God for help that He has already placed in our hands! He reminds us of the authority He has given us over all the power of the enemy. We just need to recognize it, pick it up and put it into play.

What about those times when we don't know what we need or to ask for; we simply know that He does? It is for these that He has given us the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit to sling a stone on our behalf for what we do not even know how to ask...and the Holy Spirit simply never misses.

And finally, there are times when He floods us with His anointing to accomplish a particular task, to do what we otherwise could not do without the grace He bestows upon us for that particular need.

I pocketed a whole lot more than just a new word in that “dornick” dictionary lookup; I found I carry extraordinary power in my pouch! My part in my battles is simply to select the right ammunition, run toward the enemy and sling it his way! The power in the stone is in the Rock who has already defeated the one who wants to rock our world.

“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.”

(Deuteronomy 32:4 NIV)

ARMED and Dangerous

Tension lingered between father and son over an incident that had happened between them more than twenty-four hours earlier, straining the atmosphere in our home. The weather continued to worsen, a sudden snow burst blanketing the ground with more than an inch of white powder, causing me to wonder what road conditions I would be dealing with on the way to work. Once there, the store manager warned those of us who were working that night that a known thief was in the building. He described him in detail and then advised us on how to deal with him should he come to our registers. Fervently I prayed he’d go through the other cashier’s line instead of mine, but as I spotted him heading straight for me it seemed that yet another of my prayers that day had gone astray. At one point I turned my eyes heavenward and asked God, “Are You even on the job today?” Surely it seemed to me that He had abandoned His post, as my peace slowly dissolved in the face of one turbulent situation after another.

I came to my Bible reading time that night almost desperate for answers. And God didn’t waste any time in giving me one. The first verse of Judges Chapter 3 tells us that God let a few enemy nations remain in the Promised Land after the Israelites entered it, and in verse 2 He tells us why: “…(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience.” In short, they needed to learn how to fight.

Apparently so did I. Bad moods, bad weather, even bad people should not be too much for a child of God to deal with. A scripture verse suddenly came to mind: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be off good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 KJV). Apparently peace was available to me, even in bad situations. And the key to finding it lay in answers I’d already been given.

Given is they key word in that sentence. My husband said in a class he taught recently that when soldiers join the army they’re not expected to bring their own guns when they enlist. Everything they need, from the food they eat to the clothes they wear to the guns they carry is provided for them. How much more then does God provide for those who enlist in His army! Everything we need, even to the weapons with which we fight the enemy, is furnished for us. How silly it would be then to leave them behind when heading off to battle. Yet too often we march off into our day without bringing our spiritual battle gear along. The Bible says that “…the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Mentally I began making a list of the weapons that are available to me.

The first that came to mind is perhaps the most important - “…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17 NIV, emphasis mine). It was Jesus’ weapon of choice when facing temptation in the wilderness. Over and over He said, “It is written…” before quoting a pertinent scripture, simply proclaiming God’s Word over every situation that attempted to overcome Him. He was victorious, and we can be, too. But to use scripture in battle we first have to know it. The hours we put in to studying God’s word sharpen the blade we swing at the devil. It’s simply time well spent.

One by one other weapons came to mind, so that soon I found myself making a list. I wrote the word prayer, remembering the biblical command to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Thanksgiving soon followed prayer, just as it does in Philippians 4:17 where Paul tells us how to find peace to guard our hearts and minds . Speaking of minds, one of our greatest weapons is the ability to control our thought life. We’re told to “…take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV). We refuse to take in the thoughts that don’t line up with God’s Word and instead focus our attention on things that are true…noble…right…pure…lovely…admirable…excellent or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8 NIV). We’re reminded to gather with other believers, for a number of reasons. For one, there’s strength in numbers…mostly because where two or three are gathered in His Name, God is in their midst (Matthew 18:20)! But our faith is strengthened and our hearts are encouraged by spending time with others whose very testimonies of how God came through for them times past are also a weapon of choice (Revelation 12:11). And praise and worship literally break chains of bondage (Acts 16:25) and move the hand of God on our behalf.

As the list grew, so did my faith. I was suddenly aware of the many ways I can do spiritual battle on my own. Clearly there are times when God wants me to simply stand firm and let Him fight my battles for me. But at other times He’d have me remember that He’s “armed me well for this fight” (2 Samuel 22:33-50 MSG). Instead of wringing my hands when difficulties come my way I’d be better off to pick up my weapons and start swinging.

“Praise be to the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.”
(Psalm 144:1 NIV)