This evening, we begin an 8-part series on the life of David. We entitled it, “Slaying Your Giants”. These messages are inspired largely by Max Lucado’s book, “Facing Your Giants”, 2006. When I mention David, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For me, it’s the classic story of David and Goliath. It was one of the earliest lessons in Sunday School 40 years ago. The little chorus still stays in my mind, “Only a boy called David, only a rippling brook, only a boy called David, five little stones he took, Then one little stone went in the sling and the sling went round and round. One little stone went in the sling and the sling went round and round; round and round and round and round and round and round and round. One little stone went up, up, up and the giant came tumbling down.” This is the story on which the title is based.
Yes, David was a great character in the Bible. More is written about David than any other person in the Old Testament. Great people like Moses had 40 chapters, Abraham - 14, Joseph – 13 but David had 66 chapters about his life. He wrote many of the lovely psalms, he was praised as a warrior, he was the best king that Israel ever had and of course, his name is forever associated with our Lord Jesus, the son of David! Great victories he had over his enemies, beginning with Goliath the giant. But there is something I must warn you about in this preaching series. We are going to be plain honest. Slaying giants is not all about victories and hallelujahs. David is not perfect. Although God called him “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22), David had his failures. Some giants he defeated, some giants defeated him – there’s an ugly side to David’s story. He was defeated by giants of desperation, lust and family discords. We are not going to skip over his failures. We will preach about them so that hopefully, we can learn and not fall like David. I want to be frank. If David, a man after God’s own heart, could fail, you and I cannot expect to live on cloud 9 all the time. So don’t expect to kill every giant easily with a sling shot. We will topple and fail sometimes. But don’t use that as an excuse to live a defeated life. Don’t stay where you are and never realize the wonderful dreams that God has for you. Face the giants of life squarely, rely on God and let’s slay them one by one this year! Let us pray.
Are you ready to face the first giant? Max Lucado called it “Goliath of exclusion”. I call it the “the giant of low self-esteem or being a forgotten nobody”. David didn’t make a grand entrance in the Bible. Turn with me to 1 Samuel 16:1-5, NCV, “The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you continue to feel sorry for Saul? I have rejected him as king of Israel. Fill your container with olive oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse who lives in Bethlehem, because I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” But Samuel said, “If I go, Saul will hear the news and will try to kill me.” The LORD said, “Take a young calf with you. Say, ‘I have come to offer a sacrifice to the LORD.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice. Then I will tell you what to do. You must appoint the one I show you.” Samuel did what the LORD told him to do. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the older leaders of Bethlehem shook with fear. They met him and asked, “Are you coming in peace?” Samuel answered, “Yes, I come in peace. I have come to make a sacrifice to the LORD. Set yourselves apart to the LORD and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he set Jesse and his sons apart to the LORD, and he invited them to come to the sacrifice.”
To start with, David had the wrong address. He lived in the town of Bethlehem. We’ve said much about Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Just a little town that nobody thought much about. It’s like Pulau Ubin, not big city Singapore. Samuel the prophet was told to go to Bethlehem to anoint the next king because God had rejected Saul the first king of Israel due to his disobedience. Samuel’s entry into the small town caused quite a stir – the leaders were afraid because there’s absolutely no reason for a great prophet to come to a small town. I’m sure that no one has any clue that he was going to find the next king there. Next, his family wasn’t the right “pedigree”. Jesse’s grandmother was Ruth, a Moabite (not a Jew but a poor widow). His dad, Jesse, did not seem rich. He didn’t employ a shepherd – his sons had to do the job. David was just an ordinary guy from an ordinary home in an ordinary town. Friends, it really doesn’t matter where you come from - whether you are raised in New York or Muar, whether you are from a reputable school like RI, RGS or some unknown school like AmaKeng School. Where you come from doesn’t matter in God’s eyes. Singapore is a small nation but I believe God can raise spiritual kings from us. Ours may be a small church but God can choose you to make history in our world. As Pastor Lau mentioned in our anniversary grand dinner, out of the 9 AG Executive Committee, 3 or one-third came from this church. We are denominational leaders. Praise God! You don’t have to come from a mega church to be chosen or used.
Now let’s move on. 1 Samuel 16:6-10, NLT, "When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab, and he thought, “Surely the LORD has appointed this person standing here before him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t look at how handsome Eliab is or how tall he is, because I have not chosen him. God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and told him to pass by Samuel. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this man either.” Then Jesse had Shammah pass by. But Samuel said, “No, the LORD has not chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass by Samuel. But Samuel said to him, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.”
Can you imagine the scene? Samuel looked at the eldest son, usually the leader, the one with the double inheritance, the most mature and strongest – the Bible said, “how handsome or how tall” – that means, this guy Eliab (God is the father) has the charm of a leader. If anyone should be chosen, this must be the one! Don’t laugh at Samuel for his choice – we will do the same. We prefer leaders who looked like leaders or have the charisma of a leader. That is why today’s world talks a lot about grooming, even for men – the way you dress, the way you project yourself, your first impression is very important. But God said, “No, I have not chosen him.” The actual words used are “I have rejected him” = the same Hebrew word, “ma’as” used in v 1 for King Saul. One by one the sons of Jesse came but one by one, they were rejected. Samuel was puzzled – why did God asked him to see Jesse and yet rejected all his sons?
So in v11, he asked, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse answered, “I still have the youngest son. He is out taking care of the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him. We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.” So Jesse sent and had his youngest son brought in. He was a fine boy, tanned, and handsome. The LORD said to Samuel, “Go, appoint him, because he is the one.” So Samuel took the container of olive oil and poured it on Jesse’s youngest son to appoint him in front of his brothers. From that day on, the LORD’S Spirit worked in David. Samuel then went back to Ramah.”
I want us to note the word, “youngest”. In Hebrew it’s “haqqaton”, literally means “young, small, insignificant, unimportant”. Why didn’t Jesse get David to see Samuel? Because he is the small, insignificant son – the one that would not amount to anything, the one who would not achieve greatness; his place was to look after the sheep, a lowly job for any Israelite. As Max Lucado wrote, “But today he’s not even included in the family meeting; he’s just a forgotten, uncredentialed kid, performing a menial task in a map-dot town.” (p 16) Have you been there? Forgotten and forsaken, treated like a nobody with no one taking a second look at you? An underachiever, someone who’s never selected for anything? Certainly many of us are not in “the most popular” category. We are not the high-fliers; instead we lag behind when it comes to promotion. We are not the face for the company’s advertisement. Nobody asked us to make a speech or be the MC for their function. The feeling of being left out is terrible, isn’t it? You know about children – they often have this problem – “I friend you, you don’t friend him”. We have these problems with adults too – people felt left out. I remembered my wedding when I didn’t invite some members. I really couldn’t invite the whole church! But people were offended. 10 years later, they remembered and scolded me. Why? Because the feeling of being left out or excluded is not good.
But I think David had it worse – he was forgotten by his own family. Just like Cinderella, excluded by her wicked step-mother to the prince’s ball. When you are being left out by your own family, it hurts much more, right? Does a lot of harm to your self-esteem. We expect our family to accept us and treat us better than the harsh world. “Others can ignore me but definitely not my family!” Yet David was ignored by his family, not called to the important gathering because his father never expected him to do anything great. “Don’t bother to call him; he will never be a king.” Friends, this is David when he first appeared – a nobody, a non-achiever in his family. The forgotten boy.
Is “the giant of low self-esteem, of being excluded and forgotten” taunting you? Have you surrendered to your fate – that you will never do anything great? Never chosen for anything important? People will call you to clean their dirt, to do the menial work but never to applause? Are you resigned to being a nobody in life? Is the dream dead? Or there wasn’t even a dream? Have you gone to the place where you look down at yourself too? “I’m an ordinary folk who will never rise in life; I’ll never amount to anything significant; I’ll never make an impact on anyone.”
If you have, David’s story is a god-send. He was not chosen by his own family. Yet God’s word in v12 says, “The LORD said to Samuel, ‘Go, appoint him, because he is the one.’” What a difference those words make! “Appoint him, he is the one!” I’m sure David didn’t expect it, his family didn’t see it coming. No not even Samuel the prophet. But God said, “He is the one”! Hallelujah! Earlier in v7, God had said, “God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Friends, if “the giant of low self-esteem, of being forgotten” is screaming at you, don’t listen to him. Listen to God. “God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the LORD looks at the heart.” These words are for you, friends! Don’t be fooled by the giant of low self-esteem. Don’t be bound by how man looked at you. Don’t resign to your history of never being called. This is the year of reaching your dreams. God sees you as you really are, God sees you as what you can be. Reach for God’s dream in your life! But there is one criterion, one condition for God’s selection. He says, “The Lord looks at the heart.”
CONCLUSION
What did God see in David’s heart? I want to close with what is in David’s heart that makes God select him instead of his better-looking and more charismatic brothers. Let me quote from Max Lucado’s book, “God saw what no one else saw: a God-seeking heart. David, for all his foibles, sought God like a lark seeks sunrise. He took after God’s heart, because he stayed after God’s heart. In the end, that’s all God wanted or needed … wants or needs. Others measure your waist size or wallet. Not God. He examines hearts. When he finds one set on him, he calls it and claims it.” (p 18) We can see David’s heart for God from his psalms. David is a man after God’s heart! Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”
As we begin this New Year, God wants you to know that no one is excluded in His family. He does not see you the way others see, not even the way the church sees you. It’s true – man will look at the outward appearance, even among Christians. I’m glad that our church didn’t judge me on my looks or else I’ll fail miserably! But it’s a harsh reality – the giant of low self-esteem stares at us. Many of us have not been chosen, we are the forgotten nobodies in our world. Today, hear the voice of God. “God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the LORD looks at the heart … Appoint him because he is the one.” Look at the people God uses – fishermen, tax-collectors, runaway fugitives and even a prostitute like Rahab. God sees your heart, not your looks. Determine in your heart tonight: to seek after God. To focus on God. To be God-centered. To love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. When you do that, God will say to you, “you are the one I have chosen for you are after my own heart.” You can be a giant-slayer! Let’s pray.
