Readings: Psalm 9:9-20, 2 Corinthians 6 :1-13, Mark 4:35-41, 1 Samuel 17:32-49
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on Sunday June 23, 2024
He was brash, loud, and downright annoying. Nobody argued with him. Why would they? He was bigger, meaner, and nastier than anybody else! His appearance made everyone shiver with fright. He was over nine feet tall, wore a bronze helmet and sported a coat of scale armor of bronze that weighed 125 pounds. On his timber-like legs were coverings of armor as well. He carried a bronze javelin slung over his back and its shaft was like a weaver’s rod with the iron point weighing fifteen pounds! Is it any wonder they called him “a champion”?
His name, Goliath, brought goose bumps of fear to the Israelite army. Every day for weeks he taunted the Israelite army of King Saul. Each morning the Israelites would line up in military ranks until they heard the voice of Goliath. Then they fled to their tents.
One day a mere boy in his mid-to late-teen years from the Judean countryside visited his older soldier brothers at Socoh in Judah, where this morning’s bible reading takes place. The text gives us the order of events that made Jesse’s son David a national hero, a biblical heavyweight, and a spiritual giant, propelling him forever from obscurity into history’s limelight! How did it happen?
I. David’s Confidence Was in God (vv. 32-37a).
The Israelite army including David’s brothers and King Saul had lost their confidence and were ill equipped to find it. They looked for their confidence in their numbers, equipment, fortification, and other warlike material. Each of them had lost sight of the real basis for confidence—God.
It was not the case that the Israelites had never been a people of faith. On the contrary the fact that they were on the battles lines was a direct result of past faithfulness. They still had the promises of God to guide them, but they were no longer reading them or understanding them or seeking to apply them to their situation.
Way back in their history they had a recipe for dealing with situations that involved facing giants. It can be found back in Deuteronomy 20:1-4.
"When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. He shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
A few verses later God instructs the Israelite's to identify those who are fainthearted so that they will not be a discouragement to them. In the situation Israel faced, their discouragement has spread from the top downwards. Saul felt the situation was hopeless. He had lost his nerve. And that sense of futility spread, through him, to the entire body of the people.
For us this passage asks us to consider exactly where we place our confidence. It calls us to make God, and the promises of God, our focus. It cautions us to not put our confidence purely in material things. It advises us to pay no attention to the doubting and faithless voices of those who should know better.
The promises of God remain the same. “I will be with you always” “Trust in me” “I am the Lord Your God and you are my people” “I will never leave you or forsake you” “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble”.
Yet time and time again, we hear the promises; but act as though they had no substance to them. “I have to face this alone” “I just don’t believe God can help me with this” “I feel as though God has abandoned me” “Yes, I trust in you… but…”
We are like the man who fell over the cliff and landed on a ledge, clinging to a tree branch. “Is anybody there?” “Yes” came the voice. “I am the Lord your God. Let go and trust in Me”. So, the man shouts back, “Is anybody else there?”
In our lives we look for solutions by saying, “If only I had this thing” or “If only I had that thing... then all my problems would be solved”. Just like the Israelite's. “If only we had more swords, or more chariots or a bigger army, then we would show those Philistines a thing or two!”
It took a young shepherd boy to remind them that confidence is found through faith in God. Listening to the doubters, even if they were in leadership, wouldn’t provide it. Looking to what they themselves could create or provide wasn’t going to do it .
The apostle Paul, a man who achieved more than you would expect of any man who was once an opponent of the gospel, one who faced overwhelming odds against him, offers to us a maxim that we do well to take note of. He said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
II. David was comfortable with God’s Plan (vv. 37b–40).
Goliath’s battle plan was intimidation—his brute strength against an Israelite’s brute strength. David didn’t fight that way. He didn’t meet Goliath on the giant’s terms but forced the giant to meet him on his terms: five smooth stones. (and he only had to use one of them.) David understood that to meet this challenge he would do his best and leave the rest to God.
David refused to be intimidated by Goliath’s appearance. Young David was outmatched by size, age, experience, and weapons, but in a moment of sheer abandonment, he approached Goliath in the power of God! With an attitude like his and a faith in the living God, David’s plan succeeded.
Cassius Clay (who later became Muhammad Ali) is probably the world’s best-known boxer. He was practically unbeatable during his prime. The sports announcers always commented that Ali made his opponent “fight his fight.” That Ali set the pace and the other boxer either kept up or ended up on the mat.
Technically some of the other boxers could seem more impressive. Sometimes they had the advantage in terms of size. But Ali knew himself. And he had a way of understanding his opponent’s weakness.
David did something similar. He knew that God had taken care of him in the past. He had been called upon to protect the sheep he cared for from both bears and lions. Though they were physically stronger and capable of making a lot of frightening noises, he knew how to deal with them. Swiftly. Showing no fear. Trusting in God.
He knew God had a purpose for his life. If that purpose was to protect sheep, then God would see that he fulfilled that purpose. If that purpose was to take supplies to his brothers fighting on the front lines, then God would see to it that he got supplies to them. If Gods purpose was that he slay a giant, then God would give the victory.
Central to this idea of purpose was the idea that God would use David, as he was, to do God’s will. That David didn’t have to conform to others’ ideas of how things should be done or achieved. So, when Saul starts to dress him up in all the king’s armor, you get the idea that David knows this is a mistake. The boy can hardly move under the weight of all that steel.
The greatest weapon that God has provided us with to face the things that threaten our lives is our individuality. The notion that God has a plan for our lives, and that it is an individually tailored one, can enable us to achieve far more than we could ever dare imagine.
The Harry Potter series of books captured the imagination of a generation and have continued to do so ever since the series was launched many years ago. What is the uniqueness of that series? Is not part of it the fact that Harry appears to be just your average kid, yet constantly has to deal with discovering who he really is? Time and time again he faces his fears, overcomes obstacles, and attempts to work out what the extraordinary plan is that is coming to fruition through his life.
What is it we fear? What obstacles do we face? Whose plan are we working on—our plan or God’s plan? We can waste a lot of time trying to be something that we’re not. You can spend a whole lifetime living up to other people’s expectations, putting on their armor, living by their rules, and never discovering what it was God wanted for your life.
Of course, like David, there will always be those who laugh at us. Those who treat our dreams as cause for disdain. Those who have long since lost their own purpose and direction believe that the only way to justify their own sense of hopelessness is by dragging us down to their level.
Discovering God’s unique plan for your own life, is not an easy task. It requires that you totally surrender your will to the will of God. It requires that you completely reassess your priorities and values. It means evaluating your dreams, your hopes, your aspirations... everything... in the light of Christ. Whilst not easy... it is a way that cuts the giants down to size!
III. David Conquers the Enemy with God (vv. 41-49)
One of the visions of the Christian faith is that our God is not just somewhere in the sky and unconcerned about us. God’s presence strides alongside us as we meet the giants in our life. We take aim with our rocks of faith and God delivers them to the right spot.
In order to be a straight shooter, we need to focus. We have tools to help us do that. One of the most reliable of them is that we become a person of habit. That we habitually attend worship. That we make it a habit to read our bibles and bring our lives before God in prayer. That we consistently look for the good, not the worst in people and in situations.
That we make it a feature of our lives to look beyond the trends and the voices of the present day and to connect with the eternal Holy Spirit of God for direction and leadership. That we recognize that the people of God can sometimes lack direction and offer discouraging words rather than positive ones.
Derl Keefer, one of the contributors to the Abingdon Preaching Series makes the point that; “We either conquer with God, like David, or fail like the army of Israel against the Philistines.” As people of faith either option is open to us. We make the choice.
Davids’s previous experience prepared him for the battle that was at hand and for battles that lay in the future. As we walk with God, we learn not only from our mistakes but from our victories, that God is greater than our sin, and that our lives, placed in the hands of God, can rise to heights and face situations we are totally unable to face in our own strength.
If called upon on by God to face giants, then God will supply what we need to bring them down. All God asks is that we give God our trust and do things God’s way.
• David’s Confidence Was in God (vv. 32-37a). So, we are called to trust in that same God.
• David was comfortable with God’s Plan (vv. 37b–40). God has a plan. It may not be our plan. But God’s plan is always the better option.
• David Conquers the Enemy with God (vv. 41-49). He does not win the victory in his own strength, but through God’s Spirit who empowers him. It should be no different for us.
May God help us to bring down the giants that threaten our spiritual life. And to God be all glory. Amen.
The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.
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