Welcome to the Daily Blade . The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit , the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil . Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson , and they stand ready to equip men for the fight . Let's sharpen up .
Speaker 2All right , guys , I'm just going to tell you right from the beginning , this might be my favorite the Daily Blade episode that I've written , because I just really , really enjoy the content . And , guys , if you're just finding us , this week we've been digging into some Puritan prayers from the book the Valley of Vision . So we've hit themes of God seeing us through our valley , what man's purpose ultimately is and how to be patient as God is patient . Well , today we're going to take a bit of a turn to the dark side . So let's look at a prayer called the dark guest .
Speaker 2I'll read it here oh Lord , bend my hands and cut them off , for I have often struck thee with a wayward will with these fingers should embrace thee by faith . I am not yet weaned from all created glory , honor , wisdom and esteem of others , for I have a secret motive to eye my name in all I do . Let me not only speak the word sin , but see the thing itself . Give me to view a discovered sinfulness , to know that though my sins are crucified , they are never wholly mortified . Hatred , malice , ill will , vain glory that hungers for and hunts for man's approval and applause , vain glory that hungers for and hunts for man's approval and applause . All are crucified , forgiven , but they rise again in my sinful heart . Oh my crucified but never wholly mortified sinfulness . Oh my lifelong damage and daily shame . Oh my indwelling and besetting sins . Oh the tormenting slavery of a sinful heart . Destroy , o God , the dark guest within whose hidden presence makes my life a hell . Yet thou hast not left me here without grace . The cross still stands and meets my needs in the deepest straits of the soul . I thank thee for my remembrance of . It is like David's sight of Goliath's sword which preached for thy deliverance . The memory of my great sins , my many temptations , my falls bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of thy great help , of thy support from heaven , of the great grace that saves such a wretch as I am . There is no treasure so wonderful as the continuous experience of thy grace toward me , which alone can subdue the risings of sin within .
Speaker 2Give me more of it . I mean , well , I mean , guys , let's go . I'm telling you I love this stuff , I love this . So , so , very much . So here we go . Yes , I realize that it's weird to get so jacked , you know , jacked up and excited by the darker side of things , but it just does something to me . So I was put on this planet to equipment to push back darkness , and that's why we do day in and day out what we do on Undaunted Life , and we can't push back darkness if we refuse to see it or experience it or recognize it , whether that's outside of us or inside of us .
Speaker 2So let's dig into this prayer a little bit further . Throughout this prayer you can just feel the soul level tug of war going on inside of this guy . So it's a fight between the light and the dark . And implicit in these words is the guy's recognition that his sins have been crucified with Christ but that his fleshly desires are still alive and well . And you can feel his torment . I mean , here's a line destroy , oh God , the dark guest within . But inside this prayer there is also a refrain . I'll read it here the cross still stands and meets my needs in the deepest straits of the soul . I thank thee for my remembrance of . It is like David's sight of Goliath's sword which preached for thy deliverance .
Speaker 2So if we go back to 1 Samuel 17 , we see the battle of David and Goliath . And , guys , even if you've never read the Bible or anything like that , you know about this story . But there are some nuggets in this story that you only get from a closer reading of scripture , and then you can get into a little bit of conjecture . So in 1 Samuel 17 , verse 46 , I'll read it here this day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head . Okay , so that's little boy David talking to the mighty Goliath . Then in verses 50 and 51 , we see this so David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him . There was no sword in the hand of David . Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it . Now , that's awesome , like that's cool . It makes a great tattoo .
Speaker 2But people generally lose the thread of the story from there . But we need to go ahead and pick back up here in verse 54 . And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem . Okay , so the this was common in that day . So the leader of the winning side would behead the leader of the losing side and then take that head and put it on display somewhere as a sign of their own power and just as a reminder or a threat to you , know , to other people , that you know , if you run up you might get done up , right .
Speaker 2But the text doesn't tell us what David did with Goliath's head after he took it to Jerusalem . So I'm going to be doing my best Matt Chandler impression here to say , okay , the Bible's over here , so I'm going to go over there , right ? So essentially , let me try to read between the lines a little bit and get into the world of conjecture . So at this time in history , jerusalem was not the city of David yet okay , it was a Jebusite fortress . So David would not have gone inside of the city walls with the head of Goliath . But again , remember , he killed Goliath , he was the victor and in this time period the victor would need to do something important and meaningful with the head of the conquered .
Speaker 2So some Jewish and Christian traditions maintain that Jesus buried Goliath's head on a high place just outside the city walls of Jerusalem , that high place , mount Moriah . Now , if that sounds familiar , it's because that is where Abraham was tested to sacrifice his son Isaac in Genesis 22 . This place would go on to be colloquially known as Golgotha , which means the place of a skull . Now , if that sounds familiar , it's because we see in Matthew 27 , mark 15 , luke 23 , and John 19 , that Jesus would go on to be crucified outside of the walls of Jerusalem , on Mount Moriah , at a place called Golgotha , the place of a skull . So you see , david's victory over Goliath foreshadows Christ's victory over sin and death at Calvary .
Speaker 2So when the Puritan prayer says this the cross still stands and meets my needs in the deepest straits of the soul , I thank thee for my remembrance of . It is like David's side of Goliath's sword which preached for thy deliverance . The deliverance spoken of is Jesus , the Lamb of God , taking our place on the cross at Golgotha , shouldering our sins on his back , so that we can be delivered from those sins , in the same way that God delivered Goliath into the hands of young David . And if you have never accepted that reality before , today is the day . And if you've already accepted it , walk in that power today .
Speaker 1Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go . If you want to help equip other men for the fight , share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review . Stay sharp .