Five-Foot-Two And Facing Goliath
a sermon based on 1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

          Some time ago at choir rehearsal, I noticed that Dave was pretty fidgety.  And I was soon to learn why:  his favored baseball team, the Cleveland Indians were playing.  I want you to know that I think a lot of Dave.  He came to choir rehearsal although the game was all tied in the 9th inning, and he didn’t even bring one of those walkman radios, or a handheld TV set--Dave is a man of the 20th century though--he videotaped the game, and enjoyed it later when he went back home that night.  And as a bonus he could fast-forward through the lengthy commercials! 

I’m telling you this story, because of something that happened while we were rehearsing that night.

For at the bottom of the 10th inning,

   when the score was still tied at nothing,

         this rookie on the Cleveland team,

             an inconspicuous player who had never before done anything spectacular,

                   about whom many wondered why he was playing at all

............             hit a ball that was "out of there"..and scored the victory for his team.

 

          The most inconspicuous guy on the team, suddenly, stood in the limelight, became an instant hero.

          That’s what it must have been like when David defeated that giant warrior Goliath.

That inconspicuous lad,

          a mere teenager,

                   a shepherd boy

                             with no experience whatsoever on the battle field

                                      about whom many wondered what on earth he was doing

    single-handedly won the victory over the enemy.

Fact is: nobody--not a single soldier in Israel’s army--could be found to take up on the gruesome challenge.  The Philistines had put the fear of death in the people of Israel for a long time.  They had completely destroyed three of Israel’s cities (men, women, and children), they were known to delight in the pain of their enemies.  The people of God were so fearful of them that the name of their deity Baal Sebub became later one of the names for the Devil--Belzebub (Baal Sebub, Belzebub).

          Have you ever been in a situation in which you felt so overpowered, so frightened by the enemy that you didn’t even think about fighting back?  No matter by which name you call it, the enemy, the powers of darkness, the devil, evil, sin, violence, injustice, or oppression,  theologians agree that there is a force in our world that is so wicked that it exceeds the sum of individual sins committed by people.  If we look back over history we can see it emerging time and again--from religious persecutions to institutionalized violence, from the inquisition to Nazi Germany to the ethnic cleansings in the world.

          And we can see it today, if we bother to look!  Gustavo Gutierrez, a Catholic priest in Peru, calls these forces of darkness the “hamartiosphere”--the sphere of overpowering sinfulness, as he watches his impoverished parishioners being beaten, raped, and executed every day by either the military or bands of guerilla fighters.  These people, farmers and traders, trying to scrape together a living are caught in the middle of a raging war they did not start, which they don’t fuel, and yet of which they are the main victims.

          Just this past week I got a piece of mail reminding us to offer our prayers to God on the International Day of prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters in the world.  And then this note said something that took me by surprise.  It says:

More Christians have been martyred in the 20th century than in
the previous 19 centuries combined. Pastors are being arrested
and sometimes shot in China and Cuba. Believers are forbidden
to buy goods or own property in Somalia. Christians who testify
to their faith in Iran or Saudi Arabia may be put to death for
blasphemy. Mobs have wiped out whole villages of Christians
in Pakistan. And it goes on.
 

          The boy David, what made him step forward?  He must have been either extremely brave or he just wasn’t very bright.  Which was it?  Well, with hindsight the storyteller calls him a hero of faith, a man full of God’s spirit.  A man who put his faith where others put their own strength.  A young man who saw beyond the physical, a man who relied on God’s promises, on God’s strength.  For he said to king Saul: “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion will deliver me from the hands of this Philistine.”

 David saw beyond the humanly possible.

          Have you ever wondered what it must have felt like for David facing this...monster?  Do you think he was really as confident as the storyteller says he was?  I suspect that no matter how confident Dave looked on the outside, when he faced that vicious giant enemy, he must have felt something in the pit of his stomach.  I mean, according to the biblical record, Goliath was over nine foot tall, probably about twice as large as David.

          You see we have got to give this young man credit, fearful or no, for stepping forward.  Can you imagine Saul’s face: “You what? You want to fight Goliath?  YOU??”  That’s like my 10-year-old son telling me, “don't worry about the IRS this year, dad, I’m going to tackle them for you--I’ll do your taxes.”

The great moment came.  And here this boy, who doesn't even own a sword-- picks up a pebble, puts it in his sling shot and hits Goliath right between the eyes.  Lucky shot?  No, more the grace of God.  Apparently the odds for doing any damage with that sling shot were slim.  Goliath even laughed at David when he started to swing his weapon.  Goliath wore a helmet and a body armor.  But God directs the pebble right to that one spot where Goliath is vulnerable, and the victory is won, the Philistines driven out, struck by the fear of God.

          Some once said: “I would rather have a run-in with a whole army with drawn swords than with one Christian who thinks who’s doing the will of God.  How do we react as we face the Goliath in our life?  Are we more like Saul or more like David?  Do we say: “there’s no way I can beat this problem!”  or do we say: “as sure as God lives, He will deliver me?”

          Some of us are at that very point this morning where you must decide whether you will give in to that temptation, whether you will give up on what you know is the right thing to do whether you will give up on your calling and your blessing.  And for some of us it feels like this is the hardest battle you’ve ever faced, the hardest thing you’ve ever done.  What’s your attitude going to be?  Is it: “there’s no way to overcome.”  Or is it: as surely as the Lord lives, he will deliver me?”  No matter what goliath you are facing right now, and how small and inadequate you may feel, God is calling you, right now, to start trusting Him again.  Start trusting in His strength, trust God that He will deliver you from Goliath as he delivered David.

Have faith in God’s strength, not in yours;

          and then do what you feel is the right thing to do,

                   walk what you sense in your heart is God’s path for you

                             and stand against your Goliath in the power of Jesus' name.  Amen.