"David and Goliath" with a Twist

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I know it's not time for a new blog entry yet, but I really felt led to write this one. I promise no bad news. In fact, there's no real "news" in this blog - just some thoughts that I wanted to share with you. Also bear with me for a moment. I am sure you’ve probably heard the following story from 1 Samuel 17 a million times, but I’ve added my own little twist to prove a point:

4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." 10 Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other." 11 On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
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20 Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear.
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26 David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
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28 When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle."
29 "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?" 30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
32David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."
33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."
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40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"
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48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the shield. Goliath then threw his spear, which plunged deep into David’s heart. So David lay dead on the battlefield.
The true story actually ends this way:
49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

Clearly the minor change I made to end of this story significantly changes its overall mood. It becomes a story of tragedy rather than victory; but I contend to you that even in my make-believe version of David and Goliath, David IS victorious. You see, the original story of David and Goliath is primarily a story not of David’s victory but of God’s. God won the battle on the field that day. God slew Goliath - not David. Instead, David’s great victory was over his own fear. We all look to (the original) verse 49 to find David’s victory, but David’s great victory occurred in verse 40. That is when David put his faith into action. That is when David gave his all to God; and although he clearly fell short of having the potential to accomplish the task, God made up the difference. God delivered the giant into the hands of the puny kid.

My point is this, whether or not God chose to intercede that day to defeat Goliath, whether it was Goliath or David that lay dead in the end, David won in the beginning. Although the bible doesn’t directly describe what fears David felt, be assured David was probably more afraid than he had ever been in his young life. To not experience fear in a life threatening situation is madness not bravery, so I can assure you David was certainly feeling afraid. However, David feared God more. David faced his human fears and stepped out on faith in obedience to God. He knew what was right and he attempted to do the right thing - consequences be darned. This is David’s great victory. Goliath was God’s great victory.

We get so hung up on verse 49 when we face our own Goliaths. We worry about, “Can I win,” before we decide, “Will I be obedient?” I’ll answer your first question, “No, you can’t win.” Read the second half of Romans chapter 7 if you don’t believe me. Even the Apostle Paul could not win on his own. That’s the great beauty of our human dilemma. We CANNOT win it on our own. We NEED God. That’s what Matthew 5:3 means when it says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit;” or in other words, blessed are those who realize their need for God.

Our spiritual poverty does not, however, justify a fatalistic, quitter’s attitude. Obedience is about right or wrong - not can or cannot. Can or cannot, victory or defeat is God’s business - not ours. The only way to for us to decide victory or defeat with any certainty is to accept defeat by not trying. How ludicrous it is that we fear defeat so much that we often embrace defeat to avoid taking a chance on victory. In fact, if you lay it all out there in faith and obedience, you have already won even if, like the David in my tragic tale, you are defeated. Just trying is the first and greatest victory.

You may have a Goliath facing you today. I am not so much talking about a huge decision or endeavor. Rather a giant sized challenge to be obedient to God. Realize that your giant has small feet. David was obedient to go in the beginning - in the small things. God called him to go out and fight Goliath - not to win. Anyone can GO. Even a young boy with no military experience can GO. You just need to grab up your staff, and sling, and stones - insignificant though they seem - and GO in faith and obedience.

What are the giant’s “small feet” - the beginning acts of obedience and faith. Well, for my Goliath, I need to get in Bible every morning. I need to come to God in prayer and listening. I need to maintain deep, vulnerable fellowship with Christian brothers. I need to meditate on the Word throughout the day. I need to talk to my friends about Jesus. And I need to trust Him to defeat the giants I face.

What giant are you facing today? I know it’s probably frustrating, but remember this. God did not need David’s help to defeat Goliath, but David needed Goliath’s challenge in order to be victorious. Without challenges, trials, and frustration there would be no opportunity for victory. See you Goliath as an opportunity not an obstacle.

I’ll leave you with this quote from one of my favorite presidents,
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Teddy Roosevelt; CITIZENSHIP IN A REPUBLIC; Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France; April 23, 1910

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[Kath]

"Let go, let God."

[Dad]

This is an American Infantryman
Who can say, "He is not a scholar."? So many children, who can attain to education only by the grace and sweat of their parents, are willing to judge those who will make their own way. Those poor, kept children will never comprehend their blessings as you have done. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Teddy Roosevelt; CITIZENSHIP IN A REPUBLIC; Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France; April 23, 1910