DEALING WITH A GIANT
I SAMUEL 17
INTRODUCTION
Overheard one employee at a health club speaking to another at the beginning of the new year.
“It will be busy for the next couple of weeks but then things will be back to normal”. There is a person with an understanding of their culture. But isn’t there some truth to what he said? Here are on the first Sunday of the New Year and maybe you have made some decisions of how life is going to be different this year and you have every intention of succeeding, but what is probably going to happen is the same thing that happened last year. Somewhere along the line you didn’t follow through and there may be little to indicate that this time things will be different. It can be difficult facing an obstacle.
Ill. In his book Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes:
There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate lesson guy said I had to start paying him five dollars a lesson. So I just went back to paying the bully.
Too many people feel it is easier just to pay the bully than it is to learn how to defeat him.
Citation: Sherman L. Burford in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership
Keeping a New Year’s resolution mayor may not be the biggest issue we face this year.
But what do you do to make a change?
How do you gain victory over the problems in your life?
How do you deal with a giant?
Perhaps one of the best illustrations of facing difficulty is found in the well known story of a young shepherd boy who squared off against a giant. His name is David and we read about him in 1 Samuel 17.
THE PROBLEM WAS ENORMOUS
Background
This crucial conflict takes place in a location with a lot of big names that is unfamiliar to us. But when you boil it all down you find out that the fight happened in a vast valley, called “Elah”, enclosed by hill country on both sides. Azekah was located 15 miles southwest of Jerusalem at the western end of the Valley of Elah. (Viewed to the west from Socoh). The Philistines camped between these towns as they faced Saul’s army. The Philistines are up on a hill and the Israelites along the smaller hills and on the valley floor. So you have both armies, huge in number, like blankets of humanity thrown across the shoulder of the hills. During Saul’s reign, the Philistines, who inhabited the Coastal Plain, frequently attacked strategic Israelite cities and towns. Their purpose was to penetrate Israel’s territory, first by controlling the valleys and through them to reach the heartland of the Hill Country of Judah. It was important, therefore, to bar the Philistines from this eastward advance. Their strategy here in our text was for their giant hero, Goliath, to challenge an Israelite opponent. If Goliath won, the Philistines would win access to the Hill Country.
There is no question as to the problem at hand. It was a winner take all conflict and the Philistines were not an easy enemy. History seems to indicate that not only were they a people superior to Israel technologically, but they were a sea people. They may have even been pirates. The impression we get from the Bible is that the Philistines were a warlike people. The newcomers to Canaan brought with them new technologies, high standards of urban life, military prowess and a sophisticated maritime heritage. And to make matters worse of this point in time, the Philistines had the military upper hand over the Israelites. They had defeated them at the battle of Eben Ezer, captured the Ark of the Covenant, and had just about limited Israel’s ability to make weapons.
And to make matters worse the challenge has come down a battle between two people. This man to man combat reflects an ancient style of fighting, in which armies spend some time shouting insults at each other, until one side loses self-control and rushes into battle, or else, as here, a duel between champions decides the outcome of the battle. You might think that Israel would have a chance but the Philistines have a ringer named Goliath
Goliath was probably about 9 to 91/2 ft. tall, weighed in at about 550 pounds and wore close to200 lbs. of armor. The head of the spear weighed 20-25 lbs. The Historian Josephus stated: “It was so large that he carried it strapped over his shoulder and he carried it like a tree.” An old tradition claims that all of the Philistine heroes hailed from the same family in Gath. They were all exceptionally tall, had an extra finger on each hand and an extra toe on each foot. I don’t know if that is true or not but Goliath was a powerful, experienced champion warrior.
Ill. Suppose you agreed to play in a basketball game for charity against an unknown opponent. At game time the announcer introduces your team, and then introduces the opposing lineup which includes Shequille O’Neil, and three other players just as large as he is. Then the announcer introduces the captain of the team and onto the floor walks a player that is over two feet taller and more than two hundred pounds heavier than the rest of the team. You stand there gawking at this giant who looks down on Shequille O’Neil and the rest of his team, and think, “it’s a good thing this is just for charity”
Perhaps you have begun the New Year in conflict.
The battle of 2002 has not gone away
Your problem is just as real as Israel’s was
You are facing a Goliath in your life
THE PROSPECTS APPEAR UNLIKELY
For 40 days Goliath came out to taunt Israel. It was as if Goliath was saying, “Let’s get ready to rumble!” Maybe Goliath is the one who invented intimidating trash talk!
But what is so striking to me in this story is the response of Israel and her king, Saul.
They did nothing!
They chickened out!
They were afraid!
In any contest, it’s always useful to demoralize your opponent, and strike fear in their heart. First, it may keep you from ever going to battle with them, because they are so afraid. Second, if it does come to battle, they will fight with fear and apprehension, and so with your words, you’ve done a lot to win the battle before it even begins!
The proposed contest would have been between the two kings which, in the case, were both the tallest among their peoples. Here is the irony. Israel had wanted a king and chose a tall one, but now he is no match for the enemy. What a commentary on the character of Saul. He is at heart a coward. How demoralizing it must have been for the nation as they waited for forty days for their leader to lead, to do something, but he did nothing.
Was there no one who would fight? Maybe no one could take Goliath on by themselves, but couldn’t three or four or seven or ten men have defeated him? The nation could not see the possibility of victory because they had allowed their fear to disabilitate them. But fear is an excuse, not a reason. And like all excuses, it won’t bring change and it won’t bring victory.
Maybe you are afraid to face your Goliath this morning.
You don’t see the prospect for change
Maybe you believe that victory is not possible
You have tried before and have failed
You even have some battle scars fro a previous effort.
But don’t give up! Don’t accept that failure and defeat are inevitable.
Ill The movie, Chariots of Fire is the true story of Eric Liddell, a man who ran for Scotland, then went on to become a missionary. You may recall that he refused to run on the Sabbath, forfeiting some of the awards he probably would have won in the 1924 Olympics.
There was another scene in that movie that may have appeared like Hollywood fiction, but it was also true. One year before the pivotal event in the movie, Eric Liddell ran in a meet between England, Ireland and Scotland. He ran the 100-, 220-, and 440-yard events.
In the 440, he got off to a bad start. When that gun sounded, there was a lot of shoving to get in front to the inside lane, the advantageous position.
Liddell tangled feet with J. J. Gillies of England and tumbled to the track. He sat there dazed for a moment, not knowing whether he could get up, when the official screamed,
"Get up and run!" He jumped to his feet and took off after the pack, which was now a full twenty yards ahead of him. In a quarter mile, that’s a big distance to try to make up. In his unorthodox style of running he took off after the pack. He pulled into fourth place ten yards behind the leader, J. J. Gillies.
With forty yards to go, he pulled into third place, then second. Right at the tape he passed Gillies, stuck his chest out, won the race, and collapsed to the track in total exhaustion. Medical personnel had to assist him off the track that day.
An article appearing the next day in The Scotsman newspaper said, "The circumstances in which Liddell won the race made it a performance bordering on the miraculous. Veterans whose memories take them back thirty-five years and in some cases longer in the history of athletics were unanimous in the opinion that Liddell’s win in the quarter mile was the greatest track performance they had ever seen."
There’s something glorious about getting up off the track after you’ve been knocked down and running again. Win or lose, you didn’t stay down.
Citation: Craig Brian Larson, "Strong to the Finish," Preaching Today, Tape No. 155.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Citation: Theodore Roosevelt. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 3.
THE POWER WAS AVAILABLE
Maybe you do not have the resources to slay a giant, But the God you serve does! And out of all of the warriors of Israel not one man, including the king, believed it. But a shepherd boy named David did. What makes this kid different from everyone else? He understood how powerful God was.
David, a handsome, ruddy boy relegated to shepherding the family’s flock of sheep and goats, arrived at the Israelite camp to visit his brothers, who were all, serving in Saul’s army. Hearing Goliath’s challenge, David convinced King Saul to allow him to fight. Before going out he bent over to collect five stones from the brook, placed them in his shepherd’s pouch and approached Goliath with his sling. We all know what happens next, but most of us have forgotten the other details of the story: the disdain of David’s elder siblings towards their annoying tag-along brother; Saul’s fatherly consent to send David into battle; and the almost comical description of David’s attempt to fit into Saul’s armor.
It is all a matter of perspective. God was as real to David as Goliath was to the soldiers. David had a history with God.
33 Then Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth."
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,
35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.
36 "Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God."
37 And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
David had see God work in the past and built on that faith for the present and the future. Certainly a lion and a bear are no laughing matter, but they are not a Goliath. But5 God had proved faithful then so David has no problem trusting God now. If a lion and a bear can’t kill him then no uncircumcised Philistine will either.
Israel saw how big Goliath was and panicked.
David saw how big God was and pursued.
To David, Goliath was a dwarf!
Chuck Swindoll stated:
The odds makers would’ve laughed. Hands down, Goliath gets the nod. Place your bets on a sure thing folks. That little Bethlehemite scampering up the slope must have looked like a wart on a grizzly’s belly - A bee buzzing a behemoth. Who would ever have guessed the outcome? But who hasn’t applauded it down inside
CONCLUSION
If a man is centered upon himself, the smallest risk is too great for him, because both success and failure can destroy him. If he is centered upon God, then no risk is too great, because success is already guaranteed--the successful union of creator and creature, beside which everything else is meaningless.
Citation: Morris L. West in The Shoes of the Fisherman. Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no.
Success doesn’t mean everything in our lives has turned out well. You can be successful in coming back from a fall.
Citation: Fred Smith in Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 3.
Maybe your problem is enormous and your prospects appear unlikely, but praise God because power is available.
Ill. Somebody asked Winston Churchill one time,
"What most prepared you to lead Great Britain through World War II?" For a period of time, Great Britain stood virtually alone against Nazi Germany as it dominated the Western World. This was Churchill’s response:
"It was the time I repeated a class in grade school." The questioner said,
"You mean you flunked a grade?" Churchill said,
"I never flunked in my life. I was given a second opportunity to get it right."
Citation: John Ortberg, "A Mind-Expanding Faith," Preaching Today, Tape No. 126.
You can get it right
You can defeat your Goliath.
Put on the armor of God and stand firm,
For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
