Dr. Charles J. Tomlin
Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership
June 24, 2012
The story of David and Goliath is one of
the most beloved stories in the Hebrew Bible.
Especially loved by children, the main character is a young boy-like hero
named David who courageously goes up against the gigantic, frightening Goliath,
who is more than two times his size.
What’s more, David miraculously brings him down with the most innocent of
all weapons, a slingshot armed with five smooth stones. The story upholds the classic theme of
optimism and hope, as the ‘good guy’ David, with all the odds against him,
stands up and defeats the highly advantaged ‘bad guy’ bully named Goliath.
As long as you stop reading before the most
gruesome head-chopping, this is a great Bible story to help children as they face
their own giants and bullies in life. The truth is, bullying is just as much a
problem today. I guess most of you have
heard recently about an American classroom, where a kindergarten teacher got
carried away as she tried to help her class try to convert their own bullying
classmate. She stood him up front of
the class, allowing each kindergartener to come up and take a slug at him to
show him how it feels to be bullied. We
can certainly sympathize with the teacher who thought it was necessary to teach
the bully a lesson, but perhaps she failed to reflect upon how it would be
perceived or that there are others ways to respond than with more deeds of violence.
So, how does this biblical story of bullying,
violence and bloodshed fit into our time, when some bullies are not so much
Goliaths, as are children, little “Davids”?
Today’s society certainly puts a strange twist on this story, but does
it have anything else to say to us?
WE
ARE ALL UNDERDOGS AGAINST THE WORLD
For sure, the first truth of this story
is that any of us could play either role in life; either as a David who must face
impossible odds. or we could turn out to be a bullying Goliath, feeling we can
only survive if we threaten, intimidate or victimize others. Life can seem to be “stacked against us”, as we
could end up either as a victim or a victimizer. Remember that song Helen Reddy used to sing
to her child as a single, divorced mother: “It’s You and Me Against the World”? Even
though Scripture says, “God is for us”, even when God is for you, life can
still go against us? There are no
guarantees, for life is just not that easy.
There was certainly a lot against Israel. All through the Biblical story, Israel is a
tiny little land stuck right in the middle of much greater, warring
empires. First it was the powers of the
Pharaoh and the Egyptians who dominated them.
Then, after they were miraculously set free, they came into the Promised
Land and ran into the Philistines along with their Iron-clad Goliath. Then came Sennnacharib and the Assyrians who eventually
destroyed Israel. After that came Nebuchadnezzar
and the Babylonians who sieged and torched Jerusalem and hauled the people off
into exile. By the time we get to the end of the Hebrew Bible and the book of
Daniel, we are already learning about new enemies rising up. The Greek and Roman empires desecrate, corrupt
and threaten the 2nd temple up until Jesus’ day. As we come to the New Testament, the Kingdom
of God comes near, but Kingdom is never fully arrives and Jesus warns there
will be even more “persecution, more suffering, and more wars and rumors of
more wars. Finally, the Book of
Revelation supplies some of the most graphic images about the powers always up against
God’s goodness and kingdom until the very end.
The ugly beasts opposing God’s people serve as precursors of Nazism,
Communism, and maybe even Terrorism. Antichrist
and Satan are biblical bullies predicted to threaten God’s people until the
very end.
Even if you can’t bear to study these
theological and historical images, you could also reflect upon biology to
understand that the human infant is the most vulnerable of all creatures on
planet earth. When a child is born into
the world, it is completely dependent upon others for survival. Besides the physical needs which must be met
by another, think of the emotional, psychological and social needs for every
child’s stability and survival. In most
every way, the human child is an “underdog” against the powers of life and
death.
The surprise in all of this is that our
human “vulnerability” also gives us the ability to bond, to understand, to have
empathy and to feel moved toward deeds of compassion for ourselves and others. Our vulnerability and interdependence enables
us to develop the capacity to love, to care and to hope in faith. Many could argue that what made Israel,
Israel; was also her vulnerabilities---her time in slavery; her constant
struggle to obtain the promise; and her ability to face the continual threats
that could take her down at any time; even the threats from her own flaws and
failures, as well as, the threats from the world. My point is simple: without the threat of the
killer forces of life---which can be as real to us as this bullying, sarcastic,
cynical Goliath---without such forces coming against us in life, the irony is
that we could never develop the capacity nor have the chance to become a person
as heroic as David. No matter how you “slice” it (pun intended), what
made David, was as much what came against David, as what was in David himself. Being “underdogs” against the world can, could
and should, bring out the best in us.
THERE
ARE MANY FEARS WE MUST FACE
But this ability to grow emotionally and
spiritually—to gain the power to slay own personal giants--- is not automatic. We could instead, face the hardships of life
and become more like a bullying Goliath.
The adversities of life can take us another route. I was watching some high school and college
graduates explain on national television what gave them the internal strength
to keep going and to reach this great moment of achievement. There were many great answers, many of them
giving credit to a parent or a good teacher who motivated them to stick with it
and not to drop out. One young
African-American gave the most inspiring answer: “I was able to graduate”, he said, “because
my Father kept reminding me, ‘Son, don’t you ever forget this: The world does
not owe you a single thing.”
Psychiatrists have listed over 700
phobias---more than enough fears to keep us all worried all the time. You’ve heard them listed before---acrophobia---the fear of heights; claustrophobia---the
fear of closed spaces and agoraphobia---the
fear of open spaces (What you can fear in one direction can be turned around
against you in another). One of the
newest fears to be listed is ARACHIBUTYROPHOBIA---the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the
roof of your mouth. It’s easy to
laugh, but if Peter Pan or Jiff scares you half to death; it’s not funny at all. Wearing that external “cage” on my leg has
given me some fears of elevators and traffic jams lately!
We do not read about David fears. Perhaps the Bible assumes we are smart enough
to figure that out. The text does say
that David did try on Saul’s armor for size (17: 38ff). That armor was too big and too cumbersome,
so, he threw it off. But why did he put it on in the first place? Well, we must remember, says Brent Younger,
that “Goliath was two feet taller than LeBron James” in a world where, I might
add, most Jews were the size of Monty Towe.
“Goliath has a twenty-five inch neck and a forty-eight inch waist. He wears a size twelve bronze hat and a size
fifty-four, extremely irregular coat of mail.
His armor not only makes him look like a Sherman tank, it also makes him
weigh about what a tank weighs.” About
the time David should, at most, be fighting acne, David faces the fiercest
warrior of his world. Even David’s big
brother Eliab tries to stop David from thinking he can take this guy: “Why are you hear? This is none of your business. You ought to be home taking care of your
little sheep.” When King Saul hears
about it, he also opposes David’s will to fight, saying: “You can face Goliath; you’re just a kid.”
But when David ought to respond in great
fear and should give up, throw in the towel, and go home, either he’s naive, ignoring
or denying his own fears, or David has learned something that has prepared him
for this moment of challenge. And that is exactly what he says to King Saul,
isn’t it? “When I used to keep Sheep for my Father (he still is), whenever a lion
or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it
down rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would
catch it by the jaw, strike it down and kill it. What’s an “uncircumcised Philistine”
compared to a lion or a bear?” (17: 34-36).
David’s spirit and attitude is that life up to now has prepared him for
whatever comes.
I don’t want to belittle any of our
fears. Anxiety is one of the most
natural behavior responses humans have to life’s challenges, and many, if not
most of our emotional hang-ups and even mental disorders can ground themselves
in excessive or unresolved fear. But most of us don’t go berserk when we face the
life’s worries and obstacles. Like David,
we have learned to face our fears in the “big” world today, because we learned
how to face our yesterday, in our “little” world, whether it was at home, at
school, at church, on the playground, or in our first job. There is nothing like “practice” and
“training” with ‘smaller’ successes, to give us the courage and confidence we
need to face the big ‘Goliath-type’ fears which come. But when you were not given this “training”
or for some reason failed to come to grip with your fears; fear can overwhelm.
What are our most prominent human fears? According
to polls, the fear of death still ranks as the number two fear all humans share. Do you know what still remains at the
top? The number one fear is: public speaking. So, if someone says, I’d rather die than
give a speech, they are probably telling the truth. But even invisible fears, which might prove
to be more from Lilliput (in our mind) than from the Valley of Elah (real life
fears), can be real and debilitating.
These “invisible” fears could keep many of us from getting out of bed,
from leaving our house, or from becoming the daring, adventurous person God has
made us to be.
Brent Younger tells about how years ago,
settlers in British Columbia were stripping an old abandoned fort for
lumber. When they dismantled the jail
they found big locks on heavy doors, and two-inch steel bars covering the
windows, but interestingly the walls of the prison were only wallboard painted
to resemble iron. A good push against
the walls would have busted them. Nobody
ever tried it because nobody thought it was possible. Younger adds:
“We are often prisoners of fears that are nothing, if would only push back
against them. Some of the fears we have
and Goliath’s we face, are of doing good things hurting us, not simply a fear of
bad things. The fear of speaking the
truth, caring for the hurting, going to the doctor, listening to strangers,
even entertaining angels unaware, are all less frightening than we might first
think. We are too easily dissuaded and
discouraged from doing what we need to do, too easily convinced to give up our
passion. Even the smallest complication
could keep us from attempting from doing much of anything out the ordinary” (This
and the idea for the second point come from his sermon, Facing Giants, in Lectionary Homiletics Volume XXIII, Number 4., June/July
2012, p 35).
To be “paralyzed by fear” isn’t just a cliché. We can have limited, confined, constrained
lives; not just because of what we are up against in life. What we are unwilling to go up against can
also encumber and hinder us. We can
learn to be too careful and too cautious, to live our lives hemmed in by our
fears rather than putting them in their right and respectful place. Fred Craddock tells how his wife was away for
a day and he was going to fix one of his ‘big’ meals. He stopped off at the Winn Dixie to get a jar
of peanut butter…. He was in a hurry,
and the stores are so huge, so rather than spend the whole afternoon looking
for peanut butter, he stopped a woman pushing a cart, almost for a stroll. He thought to himself, “She’s comfortable
here. She knows her way around, I’ll ask
her.” “Excuse me, ma’am,” he said. “But could you tell me where the Peanut
butter is?” Suddenly the woman jerked
around, starred him down and responded, “Are you trying to hit on me?” “I’m looking for the peanut butter.” As he backed quickly away, Craddock saw a
stock boy and asked him, “Where’s the peanut butter?” “It’s on aisle 5, way down on the left.” Craddock went and got the peanut
butter. As he turned to get in line for
checkout, he saw the woman standing there and she said to him, “SO, YOU WERE
LOOKING FOR PEANUT BUTTER.” “I told you
I was looking for peanut butter.” “We’ll
nowadays, you can’t be too careful,” she said.
“O yes you can be too careful.
Yes you sure can!
That woman was so careful she accused
Craddock of hitting on her, when he wasn’t.
When we play life “too careful” all kinds of monsters seem to rise up
against us too, even when they are not.
Most of them will vanish, if we practice courage, learn confidence and
gain the internal strength we need. There are so many other possibilities for
facing our giants, if we will just open our eyes.
ONLY ONE POWER CAN EMPOWER US TO WIN
What possibility did David see? When everyone else was focused on Goliath’s size and massive armor, David was focused on the small opening for Goliath’s face. He felt confident he could land at least one “smooth” stone square between his eyes, and he did. But this is not really what David focused most upon. Our text reminds us that David’s confidence did not simply come from his slingshot skill, but it David’s confidence came from his constant relationship with the true God. “You come to me with spear and Javelin;” he told Goliath, “but I come to you in the name of the Lord, whom you have defied…(17:45). He adds: “The Lord does not save by sword or spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hand” (17:47).
What possibility did David see? When everyone else was focused on Goliath’s size and massive armor, David was focused on the small opening for Goliath’s face. He felt confident he could land at least one “smooth” stone square between his eyes, and he did. But this is not really what David focused most upon. Our text reminds us that David’s confidence did not simply come from his slingshot skill, but it David’s confidence came from his constant relationship with the true God. “You come to me with spear and Javelin;” he told Goliath, “but I come to you in the name of the Lord, whom you have defied…(17:45). He adds: “The Lord does not save by sword or spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hand” (17:47).
The Salvation Army is one of my favorite
Christian mission organizations. In
Saskatchewan, Canada, the Salvation Army Captain, Mike Ramsay, reminded those
gathered that the “battle belongs to the Lord”.
He continues: “Everyday we are
facing a new Goliath. I know many who
are struggling with addiction…many who struggle with health or family issues….I know that some
have to make decisions soon about children or their own lives…. But no matter
how difficult the challenge, how big the Goliath you face, or the
insurmountable odds against you. God
will help you overcome. As we turn to
him, we will be successful because ultimately we and our lives are in God’s
hands….the battle is the Lords.” (Edited quote
from a Sermon “The Battle Belongs to the Lord” as quoted at goodpreacher.com).
A great example of God’s providence and
power over life and history is in 1980’s struggle with Apartheid in South Africa. In a recent PBS documentary, there is a
moment when Bishop Desmond Tutu was answering a question about how he keep the
faith and continued to go to Truth and Reconciliation hearings, when there was
so much oppression, tension, and violence.
Here is what Tutu told with “dancing eyes”: “When the white man first
came here, we had the land and they had the Bible. They said, Let us pray. We closed our eyes and when we opened them
again, they had the land and we had the Bible.” But Tutu wasn’t finished. “I can tell you,” he said, “which is the
stronger. We have the Word of God. We will prevail. It is inevitable.” And justice and the people with the Bible did
prevail and Goliath of Apartheid in S. Africa ended.” But remember: They did not prevail with violence and
swords, but with the Word of God, because, God and his truth is always bigger
than anything else we humans must face.
But can we see it? Can we believe it? Will we be able to focus on the flaw in the
face of the giant and bigness of God rather than our smallness, our weakness or
our own lack of power? One thing for certain,
David teaches us, that we can’t see what God can do in big ways and big moments,
until we have already experienced what God can do in small ways and in small
moments. One final inspiring story of
God’s power in us now, come from Erma Bombeck, who once told of visiting a camp
for children with Cancer, called Camp Sunrise.
She was impressed how the camp taught children to expect miracles and
blessings in unusual ways. There, Erma
met Bert, a 12 year old who was fighting neuroblastoma. Bert loved to draw. One day, a visitor asked Bert, “Are you
going to be an artist when you grow up?”
Bert answered matter-of-factly, “I already am an artist.” (From
Lamar King as told by Scott Simmons in Sermon Reviews from Lectionary
Homiletics, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, p. 33).
Dear people, can we defeat the Giants in
our own lives? The correct answer is: we already are. By coming to this place, placing our hearts
and hands into God’s and trusting in his providential power, we are already on the winning side. Having courage is no longer an option, it is our way of life, because God is bigger than any Goliath we face. Amen.
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