Goliath: He's Back!

Ah, if only I could go back to those wonderful days! If only I

could be a young man again and feel the rush of victory! But

I cannot. I am old and tired, and I feel defeated. I have lost

so much. My body is weary and my soul is drained. If only I

could go back and feel victory again.

There was a day – and you will not believe it to look at me

now – but there was a day when they thought I was too

young, too small, too inexperienced, and that he would

destroy me in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. But he

did not. There was something special about me then. I had

it all going on. I only wish I could go back to that one special

day when the giant fell before me.

Ah, what a glorious day! And what a direction it gave to my

life! It does seem, doesn’t it, that there are those very

special moments when the direction of life is set, and

everything after that is different? It does seem, doesn’t it,

that you come to critical moments, make-or-break moments,

that determine everything thereafter? That was the way it

was for me the day I slew the giant.

But today – can you hear this? Today, even though that

horrible curse is long gone, it feels as though it is back. It

feels as though my victories have evaporated and my hopes

have died. I am learning, to my shame, that you cannot stop

evil once and think it’s done with. You have to deal with evil

again and again. And, deepest of all, you have to deal not

only with the evil out there; you have to struggle with the evil

that is in here.

May I share my story with you? Shall I tell you my history,

that you may learn? Some of you are very young, and they

tell you not to bother, for the world out there is too much for

you and will take you down. Maybe my story will help you

know that you can win a victory.

And then there are others of you who are young in the Lord –

not necessarily young in years, but young in the Lord. You

have not known Him very long, and you feel that great giants

are coming up against you. Maybe I can help you

understand what will beat them back.

Moreover, I am sure there are some of you who are losing

your battles. There are some who have elected not to fight

at all, but just to line up on the side of evil and not the Lord’s

side. You’re here today, but it’s just your body and not your

heart. You are giving in when the world out there confronts

you. You are not even trying to fight. My story is for you too.

I

First, may I introduce myself? My name is David. I reign as

king of the tribes of Israel. My capital city is Jerusalem,

which I have made into a glorious place for my people and

for the Lord. But it is also a city of temptation and a place of

intrigue. There is something about capital cities – something

both wonderful and destructive, both attractive and repulsive.

I have reigned many years in Jerusalem, and am nearly

ready to go to my fathers. As I look back on my life, I see so

many victories, but I also see so many defeats. I see the

presence of God in so many ways, but I also see the power

of evil. Oh, if only I could go back! If only I could find the

flush of victory I first knew that day in the valley of Elah!

You see, I was but a boy. Three of my seven brothers had

gone up with King Saul to fight the Philistines, who seemed

determined to wipe us off the face of the earth. I was too

young for the army, nor did my father Jesse want to spend

any more of his sons for the dubious glory of war. But he did

want to know how his sons fared in that crucible, and,

knowing that a soldier is always hungry, he sent me with

bread and cheese to feed them and find out if they were well.

As I came to Elah that day, I could sense that something

special was afoot. The soldiers of Israel were murmuring

among themselves. I stopped to listen to their talk, and

heard that the enemy facing them had brought to the

battleground a new weapon, designed for mass destruction.

There was fear in the army of Israel. They were paralyzed,

unable to face this turn of events. What was it that the