Illus: Some of you have bought new cars because you wanted some dependable transportation. Then you found that new car, that you thought would surely be dependable, stranded you on a roadside.
There are many things we have thought would be dependable that turned out not to be. Then there are many things we thought could not be depended on that went beyond our wildest expectation in coming through when we needed them.
We have these two kinds of surprises in our lives almost daily. Those among us who do not like surprises of any kind often try to do something about it. What are some of the things they do?
Illus: Some of the more ignorant folks turn to psychics for information, not realizing most of that information is false information. They think that will keep them from being surprised by anything in life. They do not want any surprises about relationships, financial matters or careers.
It is sad that our society has deteriorated to the point that there is a market for psychics. When a nation turns from God, they turn to all kinds of peculiar, even “freakish,” things. The fact that psychics are still on the air is a sign of the sick society in which we live. The Bible makes it clear that people who make claims to know the future do not know what they are talking about.
For example, James 4:13-14 tells us, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas YE KNOW NOT WHAT SHALL BE ON THE MORROW.”
We may assume certain things, and prepare for some things in life, still ALL KINDS OF SURPRISES CAN COME.
Illus: A mother who had seven children was getting ready to go to a surprise birthday party. As she was getting ready to leave for the party, all seven of the children begged to go with her. She said, “You can not go. This is supposed to be a surprise! One of the little fellows spoke up and said, “Mom, if you take all seven of us THAT WILL BE A SURPRISE!”
Seriously, all of our lives are filled with GOOD and BAD surprises.
Let’s look at THREE big surprises David experienced and how he handled them. Notice first that when David arrived at the battle sight where the Israelite army and the Philistine army were at an impasse.
I. HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE SAW.
Look at I Samuel 17:21-23. We read, “For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them.”
When David arrived at the battlefield, he greeted his brothers. His surprise came when the giant, Goliath, marched out to defy the army of Israel. This had to be one of the biggest surprises David had ever had. He probably had never seen a man the size of Goliath. GOLIATH (guh li’ uhth) was the champion of the Philistines. It is believed that he was 9’ 6” tall. It is hard for us to conceive of anyone being between 9 to 10 feet tall!
Illus: The Guinness Book of Records lists Haji Mohammed, of Pakistan, as being the tallest man on record. He was approximately 7 foot, 7 1/4 inches tall.
We marvel today that we have some professional basketball players over seven feet tall.
Illus: Can you imagine a professional basketball player six feet six inches tall with a yardstick placed straight up on the top of his head. If you can, the top of that yardstick would give you some idea of how tall Goliath was.
Whereas a professional basketball player has to leap to reach the basketball goal, Goliath could walk up to a basketball goal and place his chin on the top of the rim and never have to leave the floor! He was tall! It had to be one of the biggest surprises of David’s life to see a man almost ten feet tall! HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE SAW. Also...
II. HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE HEARD.
Look at I Samuel 17:25. We read, “And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.”
When David heard the giant, Goliath, making mockery of Israel’s army and the God they served, it was a SHOCKING SURPRISE. It shook him down to his toes! David thought that was one of the worst things he had ever heard.
Illus: Today we have come to accept SIN as a being tolerable.
• There was a time when if a woman wore a bikini bathing suit in public she was branded as being “bad” for life. Today it has become so accepted that you can find women who teach Sunday school, sing in church choirs, etc., who dress in that manner and appear to think nothing of it.
• There was a time when a man would not say indecent things in front of women and children. Today indecent talk has become so accepted that women and children use filthy language that only men used to use and they seem to think nothing of it.
• There was a time when people would not have tolerated the violence, profanity and the nudity that is on television - but today many watch it without even blushing.
The fact is, we live in a society that nothing seems to shock us any more. THAT IS A SHAME!
Illus: C. Ray Doobins, editor of “Cumberland Presbyterian,” was on an airplane. He was discussing how our society no longer seems to care about doing right with the man seated next to him. His seatmate told of recently riding a plane from Miami on which were 65 psychiatrists who had been to a convention. During that flight, a woman who had some serious emotional problems became upset yet none of the doctors offered to help. He explained that the plane had to put down in Nashville so they could take the woman to the hospital.
Where is the courage to care? When David heard the nine-foot-six-inch Goliath take the name of his God in vain, he probably thought, ”I do not care if he is the champion of the Philistine army. I do not care how big he is! Something has to be done about this!”
Every Israeli soldier there knew something should be done to shut Goliath up, but not one was willing to “step up to the plate” and do something about it--NOT ONE! King Saul knew something had to be done.
He offered a reward to any man who would meet Goliath’s challenge, I Samuel 17:25, “...the man who killeth him, the king will ENRICH him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.
Those soldiers, trained to fight, were probably saying, “My mother did not raise a fool. I am not going to fight that giant!” Before we call all of those soldiers cowards, do not forget; Goliath was almost TEN FEET tall! No enticement, even a free trip to the Bahamas, sounds good to a man who only has two minutes to live. Everything Saul offered was great, but how could those rewards help a dead man?
Illus: This situation reminds us of the story of the rich man who had a beautiful daughter. There were several suitors, but it was obvious some of them had ulterior motives. Finally the dad decided he would intervene. He had all the young men who claimed they were interested in marrying his daughter line up at one end of his Olympic sized swimming pool. He told them that the first one who would swim across that pool, and who reached the other side, would be the one he would allow to marry his lovely daughter. He then added, “I need to tell you one more thing. Before you dive into that pool, I think it only fair to warn you that it is full of piranhas. He no sooner got the words out of his mouth when there was a big splash and in record-breaking time a young man came out on the other side. The proud dad just knew he had found someone who truly loved his daughter for who she was, not for his money she would inherit. The dad said, “Before I award you my beautiful daughter, do you have anything you would like to say?” He said, in a very angry voice, “I sure do--I want to know WHO PUSHED ME!”
King Saul offered the Israeli soldiers all kinds of enticements to get one of them to fight Goliath, but not a one was taking! David recognized there are some things that we fight for that are much greater than worldly enticements.
Look at I Samuel 17:26, “And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
Look at David’s response to Goliath. It was not a question of whether or not something should be done, it was a question of WHAT SHOULD BE DONE! Why? He gave the reason why something had to be done--TO TAKE AWAY THE REPROACH OF ISRAEL!
WHAT WAS THE REPROACH OF ISRAEL?
Israel had marched forward through the land claiming the God they served could do anything. They claimed the God, the true and living God, was big enough to give them victory over all their enemies. Goliath was defying the God of Israel, implying they had lied--that God was not able to defend them! When David arrived at the battlefield HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE SAW and HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE HEARD. Also...
III. HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE ENCOUNTERED.
If anyone had a good excuse to get into his cart and go home, David did! DAVID WAS THE ONE MAN PRESENT AT THE STAND-OFF who had an excuse for not lifting his hand against that giant. Why?
Look at some of the items that disqualified him from participating in that battle.
A. David was not a soldier.
He could have said, “It is a shame to let that giant, Goliath, talk the way he is talking, but that is none of my business. I AM NOT A SOLDIER!” David did not say that!
He could have used the excuse that...
B. He had not been trained to kill like the other men who were there.
He could have said, “It is a shame for that giant, Goliath, to talk like that, but I do not have the training to do anything about it.” BUT DAVID DID NOT SAY THAT!
C. He was very young.
He could have said, “I am too young. Let the older soldiers take care of this job.” BUT DAVID DID NOT USE THAT EXCUSE!
D. He was not very big.
He could have said, “I am no match for that giant!” If he had said that, he would have been telling the truth, BUT HE DIDN’T POINT OUT HOW SMALL HE WAS.
E. It simply did not seem to be the wise thing to do.
He could have said that to go against Goliath would be going against what was sensible, and popular. Every man in the Israel’s army thought it was a dumb idea. DAVID DID NOT THINK IT WAS A DUMB IDEA! DAVID WENT AGAINST POPULAR OPINION........
Just because the majority believes something is right may make it popular, but IT DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT! David knew something had to be done. The giant was blaspheming the living God of Israel! Even though the majority thought it was a DUMB idea to fight Goliath, David thought it was a GOOD idea.
Illus: Winston Churchill knew one should not always be influenced by the majority. Once, after he gave a speech for which 10,000 people came out, a friend asked, “Winston, aren’t you impressed that 10,000 people came to hear you speak?” Churchill replied, “Not really. 100,000 would come to see me hang.”
Illus: Someone said, “When 40 million people believe in a dumb idea, it is still a dumb idea.”
David did not care, even if every man in Israel thought it was a dumb idea to want to do something to stop Goliath. DAVID THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA! If you believe in something that is right, honest and bright--stand up for it! Maybe your peers will get smart and drift your way. David was not a crowd follower; he was a DOER! He could have said, “I can not do this. I am going against popular opinion," BUT HE DID NOT!
F. David’s family did not approve of his fighting Goliath.
He could have said, “My family does not approve of my doing this.” They didn’t! In fact, his oldest brother, Eliab, accused him of doing it because he had a big ego problem. We can not please everyone when we serve the Lord, not even our families.
Illus: An old fable, passed down for generations, tells about an elderly man who was traveling with a boy and a donkey. As they walked through a village the man was leading the donkey and the boy was walking behind.
• The townspeople said the old man was a fool for not riding, so to please them he climbed up on the animal’s back.
• When they arrived at the next village, the people said the old man was cruel to make the child walk while he enjoyed the ride. So, to please them, he got off and set the boy on the animal’s back and continued on his way.
• In the third village people accused the child of being lazy for making the old man walk and the suggestion was made that they both ride. So, the man climbed on and they set off again.
• In the fourth village the townspeople were indignant at the cruelty to the donkey because he was made to carry two people. The frustrated man was last seen carrying the donkey down the road.
The story makes a good point: We can not please everybody. If we try, we end up carrying a heavy burden that God never intended that we carry. Well-meaning Christians may offer us advice and much of it is valuable, but when we try to do everything others want us to do, we will become frustrated and confused. We need to remember that the One we must please, above all others, is Christ. We do that by obeying God’s Word.
G. The armor would not fit.
David could have said, “I can not meet Goliath’s challenge because I am so small that the armor will not fit me.”
He could have said that--BUT HE DID NOT! DAVID KNEW SOMETHING MUST BE DONE. SINCE NO ONE ELSE WOULD DO IT, HE WOULD DO IT FOR GOD’S SAKE! The Word of God has explicitly tells us something needs to be done about the spiritual giants of evil that are in the world today!
Illus: To make the value of obedience clear, let’s play “Let’s Pretend.” Let’s pretend that you work for me. In fact, you are my assistant executive in a rapidly growing company. I am the owner. I am interested in expanding overseas. To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and to stay there until the new branch office is established. I make all the arrangements to take my family along in the move to Europe for six to eight months. I leave you in charge of the business stateside. I tell you I will write regularly and give directions and instructions.
I leave and you stay. Months pass. A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at national headquarters. I spell out all my expectations. Finally I return home and drive down to the office. I am stunned!
• Grass and weeds have grown up high.
• A few windows along the street are broken.
• The receptionist is filing her nails, chewing gum and listening to her favorite disco station.
• The waste baskets were full and overflowing and the carpet had not been vacuumed for weeks.
• The fact I had returned seemed to not even be noticed.
I ask about your whereabouts and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, “I think he’s down there.” Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager. I ask you to step into my office (which has been temporarily turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas).
• I ask, “What in the world is going on?”
• “What do ya’ mean, _______(a boss’ name)?”
• “Well, look at this place! Did you not get any of my letters?”
• “Letters? Oh yea--sure. Got every one of them. As a matter of fact, ________, we have had “letter study” every Friday night since you left.
• We have even divided all the personnel into small groups and discussed many of the things you wrote.
• Some of those things were really interesting. You’ll be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed some of your sentences and paragraphs to memory. One or two memorized an entire letter or two! Great stuff in those letters!”
• “Okay, okay--you received my letters. You studied them and meditated on them, discussed them and even memorized them. What did you do about them?”
• “Do? Uh--we didn’t do anything about them.” (“Improving Your Serve," by Charles Swindoll, p. 170-171)
Conclusion:
Corrie Ten Boom said, “If I straighten the pictures on the walls of your home, I am committing no sin, am I? But suppose that your house were afire, and I still went calmly about straightening pictures, what would you say? Would you think me merely stupid or very wicked? The world today is on fire. What are you doing to extinguish the fire?--Corrie Ten Boom, “Amazing Love”
There is so much today that needs to be done! Everyone knew something should be done when the Philistines challenged God’s people, but only David was willing to do something.
I. HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE SAW
II. HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE HEARD
III. HE WAS SURPRISED AT WHAT HE ENCOUNTERED
Note: You can hear Dr. Odell Belger preach on Youtube. Go to Youtube and type in the word Lykesland
