| January 24
Providence, Rhode Island - January 24, 2010
The story of David and Goliath is like Christmas, everybody knows the outcome. But at the time it took place, nobody knew. It was more like the shocking upset last week in Massachusetts. Regardless of your political persuasion, part of the appeal is -- the underdog won. No matter what opponents do to jockey for advantage, when something “taken for granted” turns out to be “taken to the cleaners,” it gets our attention.
The Bible is full of stories like that. Today’s text is just a simple heroic story, but with an unexpected outcome. In I Samuel, the competition involved the age-old enemies: the Philistines vs. the Israelites. Still pretty normal stuff for the volatile Middle East. Only this time the Philistines had an advantage with a name, Goliath of Gath. Not to be mistaken for “puff the magic dragon” stuff. This guy’s the real deal: ten feet tall, hoisted 200 pounds of armor, and wielded a sword few could lift! The tale-teller goes into great detail to underline the discrepancy of the combatants. Bottom line: Israel didn’t stand a chance.
It’s an improbable, almost playful story, with enough blood and guts and intrigue to make it interesting. And maybe a few new insights you might not have seen. It’ll tug at your heartstrings too, because the one who appears certain to lose, wins -- as the youthful David gave the Philistine thug his comeuppance. Goliath is the embodiment of chaos. He’s a live “Weapon of Mass Destruction” that walks and talks and boasts. His Assyrian name means “destroyer.” And it fit because he was hell-bent on a Shaq-attack, with a practical proposal: “Whoever wins a fight against him, wins the battle.” Better for one to die than the many. Every day Goliath appeared in the valley of arrogance, daring someone to be a worthy opponent. And the Israeli’s trembled before his taunts, because they had more sense than guts. Saul’s army quivers in the trenches, hoping Goliath doesn’t lead an onslaught in their direction.
Just when it looked like a lost cause, out of nowhere Jesse’s youngest son arrives on the scene, ostensibly to “deliver cheese to his brothers.” Never one to fret over the odds, he’s the only volunteer to step up to the plate and take his swings! In the midst of the trepidation, David swaggers over to the king and shocks everybody with the news that he will fight Goliath. “Why you’re just a kid!” Having faced this glaring mismatch one time too many, Saul is fresh out of options. So he reluctantly consents to the contest. You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him. David was a little guy with a big heart, and more guts than sense. But he wasn’t one to allow his fear to interfere in a fight against a giant of a man. The Philistine was three times his size, and he was armed with only a homemade weapon...plus his trust in God. It worked for him with the lions and the bears, so why not the giants? (Sounds like David might’ve fared well in the NFL).
But all it did was leave the big Philistine enraged. He demanded a man of valor. What he got was an upstart adolescent. But what he didn’t know was: those whom God ordains, he also sustains. And besides -- David had a “secret weapon” of his own: “The Lord...who saved me from the paw of the lion and the claw of the bear, will also save me from the hand of this Philistine.” That’s the first time God is mentioned in the story. Which tells me something more is going on here, than a schoolyard brawl between a nice-little-boy and the class-bully. What else could Saul do? Nobody was standing in line to go out and meet the giant. With little recourse the king said, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” “‘Cause I’m sure not gonna be!” But Israel’s only hope was conspicuously absent. Only David brings God in on it.
Israel’s leader represents a lot of folks who talk about the Lord. But when it comes to relying on the Lord, the king put his trust in the same things as the giant -- the sword and heavy armor. The only difference is, Goliath’s was bigger. Do you find it striking that although Saul is afraid and Goliath is aggressive, both put their trust in their weapons, not faith? In this kind of world, I guess that’s understandable.
Here’s where the author introduces an interesting subplot. Saul does a curious thing: He removes his own armor and places it on the lad. He hung his oversized helmet over David’s head, strapped him in his buckler, and handed him his heavy sword. Like those Little League players with one-size-fits-none uniforms, David was a comical sight. He’s a shepherd not a soldier. And as soon as he accepted Goliath’s challenge, Saul tries to make him look like a warrior! If David had any chance of succeeding though, he had to be true to who he was. He couldn’t use the old man’s armor or weapons; things Saul believed in; his way of waging war. Even though they may have worked for him.
This is typical inter-generational stuff. Saul didn’t want to fight Goliath himself. But if somebody was crazy enough to answer the challenge, he wanted David to do it his way! Saul’s fear showed itself in his attempt to be controlling. Haven’t we seen enough of that paternalistic attitude? “Yeah but we know what’s best for you.” Control-freaks have this nasty habit of talking down to others, trying to manipulate the outcome and ensure that their methods are followed. That’s the older generation in every generation.
But David represents the younger generation. Thus he had little use for either Saul’s armor or his methods. He just went about it differently. And according to this story, that turned out to be a good thing. Armed with his trusty shepherd’s sling and five smooth river-rocks and brazen faith, David waded down into the valley to engage a giant with the bluster of somebody-who-didn’t-know-any-better. And it caught everybody off-guard, including Goliath.
The equalizer between the challenger and his unlikely opponent is not the technological tools of war. Because the task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind us. David didn’t believe he was alone. The contrast between the giant’s javelin, the size of a weaver’s beam and David’s lunch box, couldn’t be greater. But before Goliath finished his scornful charge, David fired the first stone! Down goes Goliath. And the underdog won an upset of seismic proportions!
This story is appealing because it’s marvelously transparent. It’s not a story for big wheel politicians or the corporate giants at the top with bucks and friends in high places they must pay-back for favors. They take great pains to perfect their armor, so that they’re invulnerable to opposition. This is a story for the bottom-dwellers; Mr. Everyday Joe, who’s retirement is sacrificed for some well-heeled CEO’s greed, who specializes in getting to call the shots. The “little people” are the ones meant to draw courage from the story of David and Goliath.
Never one to hunker down and wait for fate to take its course. David takes life by the horns, and wades down into the valley, against all odds. He couldn’t even lift Saul’s sword. But he had a nifty slingshot and a belief that the will of God will never take you where the grace of God won’t see you through. A whole lot of people out there who need to hear that. We’re always coming up against some giant. “Giants” called change and aging–illness and injury, tsunami and earthquake, heartache and death.
But the outcome of this story of brash-bravery has for centuries, inspired millions to keep on trying in a trying situation, because God can make a difference whenever we face our own fearful odds. Yeah David wore his own clothes into battle. But he relied on his wits, and his faith to triumph over Goliath the giant. It says to us: for those who dare to trust in God, there’s always a way when it seems like there’s no other way. Anybody who tried to make the world a better place believed that.
Most people are like these armies: let somebody else do it! But Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wasn’t one of them. I can think of no finer example of a modern-day David. He was a visionary American Baptist preacher, and a dreamer of one humanity based on character not color. But even greater was his courage, to take on the cultural giants of prejudice and segregation, that are always with us. This King wielded neither sword nor sling. His only weapon was non-violence, a belief that right was on his side and hope that the American people would live up to their creed and be fair when shown the truth. Mostly, we have.
King’s life is a testimony of how God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. I don’t have to tell anybody who grew up in the southland what it was like for a black man to stand against ol’ Dixie, and the ingrained, Jim Crow system, with the law on it’s side and not about to change! To lick that, took something few people had. Racial injustice was every bit a giant, equal to Goliath. The odds weren’t even close. Fiery crosses. German shepherds. Water hoses. Bombing little girls in Sunday School. Sniper fire. All King had was a belief that he might make a positive impact on what was wrong in our society.
Jesus too, broke the mold for courage and character. And he didn’t even make it to be 34. He never went outside his country. The only writing he did was in the dirt at the feet of a condemned prostitute. But he said “those who live by the sword will die by it.” And to his little band, “You’ll be arrested and persecuted, and brought before magistrates because of me...but not a hair of your head will perish.” Both were spurred by the uncommon belief that one person, armed with faith in God, can change the world. Yeah, the odds are against it. There stands the menacing Goliath. State of the art weapons. Contemptuous. Daring us to stand toe to toe with him.
But wait a minute, there’s another participant in every such conflict. And it’s not Jesse’s boy. You can see him. But his Ancestor, Whom you can’t see anytime people stand for what’s right against fearful odds, like the text proclaims: “the battle is the Lord’s!” Our God will not leave history to the bloody refuse after the armies have clashed. God seems to prefer a shepherd with some guts to a terrorist with a gun any day.
Sooner or later you’ll face your own fearful odds. What that looks like I cannot say. But at least with God, we have a fighting chance! All it takes is a healthy hatred for injustice – some guts, a slingshot and a belief that God never runs out of life. Providence Prayers (1-24-10)
It's understandable why David made God smile. Few in this world come along with his kind of courage. It always surprises us to discover the least likely people are chosen to accomplish Thy will. And to think Samuel almost overlooked Thy choice of David to become King "... the foolishness of this world to confound the wise; what is weak to shame the strong." Even so Goliath the Philistine champion was stunned when the shepherd showed up to show him up. "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart." May this hour drive that home to us, as we focus on "the man after God's own heart."
From a field of sheep, through the valley of a giant shadow, to a palace with a throne, King David did a lot to confirm Thy choice. By contrast we try to hide what's in our hearts. And become impediments to our own joy. Refresh our memories of all the storms we’ve survived. All of us have faltered before the threatening giants, when we too have faced fearful odds, because we see the problems more than the promise. Forgive us Lord for our lack of faith.
In this hour, may we lay aside our fears and open our lives to Thee. Help us to discard the excess baggage of the unnecessary protective armor that weighs us down. Grant us the wisdom to use what has been graciously laid at our disposal, to be who we are and not what others try to get us to be. Amid the constant changes of life, guide us to follow Thy will; to listen to it intently; to discern it wisely.
May this worship be a day of victory, where brokenness is mended, fears are conquered, bodies are healed, problems are seen in a new light, because Thy affection for us is limited only by our failure to respond. And for these mercies, Thy name shall be constantly upon our lips in ceaseless praise. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Back |
