The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
Psalm 127:3-5 — "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”
We can see this verse from two different perspectives: You as a father and you under your father.
Let me start with the first…
I AM THANKFUL FOR MY FATHER
- Dad reading praying every day.. still does.
- My Dad at Spencer Lake youth camp
- My Dad Turing himself in to the DNR
I was forged in the hands of a warrior… it is now my job to forge my sons so that they may forge their sons!
Young men are more lonely than ever before.
So we have a divide in our country today in Gen Z.
Men are coming back to Jesus
Women are opting out
Men want marriage and families
More women then ever do not
One thing I do know: Scripture says family is a priority. And that makes it a target for satan our enemy.
Satan will attack not just the family
**but every element of it. Kids, husbands, Wives, young women meant to be wives, young men meant to be husbands.
#1 Thing men need to understand about the game of women and marriage.
Women love dangerous men… but wait there’s more
You become unbelievably attractive when you know God, his word, hear his voice and obey.
SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD
Arrows in the hands of an angry God!
It is in a woman’s DNA to want a man of God!
Which is why many women do not want a man in todays world… there is a shortage of dangerous men.
So how does a young man grow, mature and lean into being a man of God.
#1 You will hang with who you hang with
Shad Shack and Benny - Don’t miss the foundation to their decision: They did it together.
David and his mighty men.
Jesus had 1 best friend, 3 close friends, 12 solid friends, 72 like minded friends,
Jesus sent out the disciples in 12 and 2. Again, don’t miss the point - you must have a ride or die crew for Jesus!
One of the biggest influences in my life as a young man in High School and my first year out of high school was hanging out with some college and career guys from my church. Tim Kruse, Brian White, Steve Wetzel, Tom Alexander, Sean O’Hearan. I would go down to the UW campus and watch and listen to them preach open air to the college students walking past from classes. They would get mocked, ridiculed and they would also see a lot of kids come to Christ. This group of about 12 guys were unstoppable.
#2 Understand you are an instrument of war.
Psalm 127:3-5 — "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”
Are you ready to be a man of God? A Father? A Warrior? All men must be willing to prepare to be a warrior who has children they are ready to unleash on the world for God. You may never have kids, but God will most definitely put young men in your life through out your faith walk to help launch into warfare. Are you ready to do that?
Notice the Psalm is written from the perspective of the father being the warrior, and his children (particularly sons, in the ancient near-eastern context) being the arrows he shoots into the future — meaning the original picture is about legacy and generational impact,
Now lets lip the metaphor — asking "what makes a good arrow, and who has to shoot it"
You can have a razor sharp broad head, a powerful bow… but if the arrow shaft is compromised it will never hit its target.
Before an arrow is ever shot, it has to be made: straightened, weighted, fletched. A crooked arrow, however sharp its tip, flies wildly off target no matter how strong the archer is.
There has to be disruption, challenge, pain and time. None of those can be skipped in order to be worthy of being in the hand of warrior.
Disruption breaks self-reliance. As long as a man's life is running smoothly on his own terms, he has little reason to depend on God. Disruption — losing a job, a relationship falling apart, a plan collapsing — tends to be what exposes how much a man was actually trusting in himself. Moses spent 40 years as a nobody shepherd in the wilderness before God called him; Joseph was sold into slavery and imprisoned unjustly before he was elevated. The disruption wasn't punishment — it was the thing that stripped away what he was leaning on so he'd have to lean on God instead.
Challenge builds endurance, and endurance builds character. This is almost verbatim what James 1:2-4 says — trials test faith, and that testing produces perseverance, and perseverance, if you let it finish its work, makes you "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Romans 5:3-5 says something similar: suffering produces patience, patience produces experience, experience produces hope. The logic isn't "pain is good" — it's that character can't be built without resistance, the same way muscle can't be built without load.
Pain refines. Scripture repeatedly uses the image of metal being purified by fire — the heat doesn't destroy the metal, it burns off what doesn't belong (1 Peter 1:6-7, Malachi 3:3). Pain has a way of burning off performance, image management, and comfort-seeking, and revealing what a man actually believes when the stakes are real.
Time is what makes it real rather than manufactured. You can't compress spiritual maturity into a weekend. David was anointed king as a boy but spent years as a fugitive before he actually sat on the throne — the anointing came first, but the readiness came from time. Even Jesus, fully God, "learned obedience by the things which he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8) — there's something about lived, tested time that a single moment of decision can't substitute for.
What I'd add — a few things that change the picture, not just add to it:
So I'd say your instinct is right, but I'd reframe it slightly: it's not disruption, challenge, pain, and time that make a man godly — it's how he responds to those things, in community, anchored to the Word, surrendered to God, over that stretch of time. Take away any of those and the suffering can just as easily harden a man as shape him.
Application: The straightening process isn't punishment; it's what makes the difference between an arrow that flies true and one that veers off no matter how hard he's "launched" into life.
Scripture tie-in: Proverbs 27:17 — "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." An arrow doesn't sharpen itself; it's sharpened by something harder than itself pressing against it — mentors, fathers, Scripture, correction.
2. An Arrow's Power Comes From the Bow, Not Itself
Alex Revells video: waiting for my gun to kill someone… LOL.
Straight, precise, sharp, weighted, tested… but powerless with out the weight of the draw behind it.
An arrow, no matter how well made, has zero propulsion of its own. All its force comes from tension stored in something else — the archer's drawn bow.
Application: A young man's strength for life doesn't originate in himself — it comes from abiding in Christ, the source of real power. Self-reliance is like an arrow trying to launch itself; it goes nowhere.
Scripture tie-in: John 15:5 — "Apart from me you can do nothing."
There are two parts to this… don’t miss it!
The garden that was given to the man… run down, falling apart, walls broken down, weeds, overgrowth, birds and animals feces…
“You absolutely right… but just between you and me… you should have seen this place when it was just Gods”.
