To the Spearheads,
As we celebrate Father’s day here in New Zealand, I wanted to write a letter of encouragement, to strengthen you and remind you of who is watching.
“Then David said to his son Solomon, ‘Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.’” (1 Chronicles 28:20, NASB1995)
David gave this charge to Solomon before his death. Words handed from a father down to a son. Today I want to speak to every dad, and not just dads, but every parent, grandparent, every key figure in a child’s life. What we do now has a legacy. It’s carried through a lineage, through our blood, into the next generation.
These words to Solomon weren’t just a nice on-the-spot encouragement. There is legacy here, lineage here, and a passing of the torch.
As I sat with this scripture, I couldn’t help but wonder where David learned such courage from. Was it his own father, Jesse? Or was David the first in his family to carry it? We are both good and bad at handing things down through our generations. What we model does carry over and these words from David to Solomon carry two things handed down through his family: courage found in spirit, and courage found in the Word.
Courage Is Found in Your Spirit
I went looking for where David’s language came from. I didn’t find many recorded words of encouragement from Jesse to David. What I found instead was Jesse entrusting David with big tasks, even as a boy, even with danger present. But then I found this:
“Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons.” (1 Samuel 17:12, NASB1995)
This word, Ephrathite, jumped out to me as I read. It came from the marriage of Caleb and Ephrath, generations before.
“When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.” (1 Chronicles 2:19, NASB1995)
Hur’s line runs to the father of Bethlehem, then Salma, then Boaz, then Obed, then Jesse, then David. An unbroken chain from Caleb.
Caleb wasn’t just faithful, he was a giant killer. In the days of Moses and Israel in the wilderness we see the story of the twelve spies who scouted the promised land. Ten of them came back saying they were like grasshoppers next to the giants living there. But Caleb quieted the people and said:
“We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” (Numbers 13:30, NASB1995)
Israel stood in fear of giants. But Caleb, a man of giant-killing courage, said, WE WILL OVERCOME. He didn’t stop there either. He later asked for the city of Hebron as his inheritance, because giants still lived there and he wanted to drive them out.
It was a bad day to be a giant when Caleb entered your territory!
One of the greatest stories of David’s life is his defeat of Goliath. But that giant-killing courage didn’t start with him. It started with his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, who quieted the fear in his family’s life and said, we WILL overcome them.
Jesse didn’t need to give David a courage speech. It was already a trait in the household. What you form in your house, you don’t always have to announce, it gets inherited by the spirit of your house. Bethlehem isn’t David’s hometown by accident. It’s a town named after giant-killers, a house of courage. David didn’t need a speech. The answer was already in his blood, because of how the generations above him lived.
But David still made sure Solomon heard it out loud: do not be dismayed, for the Lord is with you. He’d seen it modelled for generations, and now he was passing it on.
Men — what’s in the blood of your family? Are you handing down courage? Are you modelling someone who walks in the faith that says, WE WILL OVERCOME IT — when there’s a giant facing your marriage, your finances, your behavior, your emotions, your intimacy with God?
Will you be a man of courage? Because it’s not just you it’s affecting. There are little lions watching you who are going to need that same courage one day and they will remember exactly how it was modelled to them.
Courage Is Found in His Word
When David told Solomon to be strong and courageous, it wasn’t a random turn of phrase. It was the Word of God, handed down again. God spoke those exact words four times to a man named Joshua. Guess who the other spy was standing right next to Caleb declaring they could overcome? Joshua!
It took both of these men, the spirit of courage and the word of courage, standing together to quiet the fear of their families and of Israel. Caleb wasn’t isolated. He had a brother in Joshua who spoke the word of God over his life.
There have been many men in my own life who’ve sent me scriptures, reminded me of the goodness of God, challenged me to actually listen to and act on His Word — not just the soft, comfortable version of encouragement. I praise God for men like that.
“Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17, NASB1995)
Joshua’s leadership in Caleb’s life shaped a household built not only on the spirit of courage, but the word of courage too. Fathers we were never meant to do this in isolation. We are not perfect, we don’t have it all together, and we need faithful brothers who will speak the Word of God into our lives. It doesn’t just bless us, it blesses our house, and the generations that follow.
We must encourage one another, men. We must speak the word of courage into each other. David had a brother like this too — Jonathan.
“And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God. Thus he said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also.’ So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord.” (1 Samuel 23:16–18, NASB1995)
Every courageous father in these stories had another courageous man standing beside him first. Fatherhood was never meant to be carried alone.
Dads, I know it can feel like no one else understands the weight — the pressure to provide, to be present, to find rest for yourself once everyone else has been looked after, the quiet worry about the future and how to prepare for it. But I hear the same word God gave Elijah when he thought he was the only one left: I have seven thousand who have not bowed the knee. You are not alone, Dads. We are with you.
Three charges, one root word, running all the way through this story: Moses to Joshua. Joshua to Caleb. Jonathan to David. David to Solomon. Be strengthened. Be strong. Be courageous.
Get men around you who love you and love the Word, and be strengthened — because it will bless your family.
There is a legacy of courage. And it’s coming from you.
Be a Caleb, so we can see more Davids.
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It’s time to rise. Be the Spearhead.
Yours faithfully,
Shannon.