Facing Goliath

Sunday Sermons

Mark Dunagan
08/20/06 - Sunday Morning

Facing Goliath

The Challenge: Comfortable with an Annoying Problem?

Goliath proposed that single combat replace fighting between armies (1 Samuel 17:8-11). “This daily winner-take-all challenge dismayed and intimidated Saul and all Israel. For forty days the daily challenge continued (17:16). Neither army moved during that period” (Smith p. 292). “The fact that the Philistines later reneged on the agreement (cf. 18:30) suggests that representative combat was not taken seriously, even by those who advocated it” (Bergen p. 190). Yet the reader has already been told (16:7), that appearances can be deceiving. When David is sent to bring food to his brothers, his father said, “For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines” (17:19), yet very little “fighting” has been going on. Saul and the men with him are certainly not happy with this challenge, but they seem to have settled into a certain level of comfort with the status quo of neither army moving. Yes, the daily challenge is unnerving, but it beats actually meeting him in battle. Does this story somewhat mirror something in our lives? We are annoyed or bothered by a sin, but we have accepted the lie that the cure would be worse than the problem itself?

The Challenge: Dealing with Spiritual Eliabs

David is immediately rebuked by his brother Eliab (17:28-29). “David gives a normal youngest-brother response: ‘What have I done now?’ Sounds like exasperation over a few years of carping” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 43). There are many people like Eliab. Since he will not move, he ridicules anyone who tries to be faithful. He does not want to grow spiritually; rather he tends to want everyone to remain at his level, and accepting his excuses. This is one reason why we always need to be converting people, because the zeal and optimism of new converts can help us from becoming spiritual Eliabs. We must rather encourage one another to take the necessary risks involved in serving God and others (Hebrews 10:24).

Applications:

· Do we tend to be negative like Eliab?

Do we tend to shoot down ideas with statements like, “That will never work”?
Are we threatened with other people, either in the congregation or in the family, who start to get their lives together?
Are we negative because we are trying to cover our tracks, that is, excuse our lack of action when it comes to saving others and growing?
Are we preoccupied with things that just do not matter at the moment (17:28)?

“One might say David has to fight three Goliaths in this chapter, for in Eliab he faces the contempt of Goliath and in Saul he meets the mind of Goliath (i.e., it’s only the experienced-verse 33, and the equipped-verses 38-39, warrior who carries the odds of winning” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 43). David deals with Eliab in the most effective manner—just ignore him and do not let him get in the way of getting God’s work done.

The Challenge: Seeing it from the Right Perspective

In the eyes of Israel, Goliath was “this man” (17:25), in the eyes of David, Goliath was an “uncircumcised Philistine”. “David brings a whole new world view…now David injects the godly question into the episode. Doesn’t having a living God make a difference in all this? This fellow has mocked ‘the ranks of the living God’. If God is so identified with Israel, do you think He is indifferent toward such slurs on His reputation? Do you expect a living God to allow an uncircumcised Philistine to trample His name in military and theological mud? Israel thought the Philistine invulnerable; for David he was only uncircumcised. A living God gives a whole new view of things. David’s question is not a magic charm for solving every problem; but surely it instructs us. It shows us how crucial it is that we hold the right starting point, that we raise the right question at the very first. All the believer’s life and all the church’s life requires theocentric thinking” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 42).

Application:

· How do we view our sins—as surmountable problems?

· How do we view challenges at work or with our children—as within our abilities, through Christ who strengthens us?

· How do we view problems in our relationships—as solvable, through biblical principles? We need David’s fresh perspective. “This problem needs to be dealt with and we have God on our side”.

The Challenge: Letting our kids kill the lion and the bear

Initially Saul in unimpressed by David’s confident assertions (17:33-37). Yet David isn’t spouting, rather he has the proof to back up his assertions. He has defeated enemies far more powerful and swift than Goliath. If God had delivered David out of the paw of the bear and the lion, then how much more will God deliver David from the hand of a man who has mocked God! This Philistine may have been a warrior since his youth, but David’s youth hadn’t been wasted on frivolous matters. Note that David does not describe his prior victories over a lion and bear to mere luck or skill. God had delivered him. “This is instructive for the people of God. Faith is sustained in the present and for the present as it remembers Yahweh’s provision in the past. The rich history of God’s past goodnesses nurtures faith in its current dilemma. It is here that memory (Yahweh delivered me then and there) and logic (If He handled that, is He not equipped for this?), can be handmaids of faith. It is so crucial to remember God’s past deliverances. If you’ve trouble doing so, invest in a diary. David will be delivered not because he has true grit but because he knows the true God. Circumstances vary, but Yahweh is the same whether among the sheep or in front of the Philistines” (Dale Ralph Davis pp. 44-45).

Applications:

· Confidence does not just happen; rather it is rooted in prior victories.

Are we allowing our children to experience some victories of the moral and spiritual kind? Do we rush them away from neighbors or relatives when they are becoming too vocal about God? Do we unnecessarily protect them (and maybe more often ourselves) from ridicule? The lion and bear in modern times might be confronting an unfaithful relative. Not backing down from an aggressive and unbelieving educator. Writing a letter to the editor, or voicing their opinion about the moral choices of the local store and television station.
David would have probably never faced Goliath if Jesse had never let David fight some of his own battles. Allow your children to become spiritual warriors.
Have we lost sight of some prior victories? That is, we have indeed conquered various sins and temptations of the past. Be armed with this information when you do battle with the temptations of the present.

The Challenge: Meeting the Problem with Speed and Fury

“David can match Goliath for spicy speech (17:45-47); he can carry on about corpses and carrion. More important, David avers that all the earth will know from the box score in tomorrow’s papers that there is a God, a real God, in Israel. David especially stresses that Yahweh saves not by the instruments of human power but through the weakness of his servants. The theme of ‘weakness’ has been building throughout the chapter. All the important people regard David as weak. If we might colloquialize, Eliab tells him, ‘You’re a pain’ (28), Saul warns, ‘You’re green’ (33), and Goliath sneers, ‘You’re puny’. What matters is not whether you have the best weapons (or material resources) but whether you have the real God” (Dale Ralph Davis pp. 46-47).

Applications:

· Do we tend to excuse ourselves from doing something because our resources seem small?

· Do we really believe the above statement, that what matters is not material resources, but the fact that we have the living God?

· What are our present challenges and problems that we think are beyond repair, beyond us, beyond all human wisdom—that are not beyond God?

· How should one attack a temptation, problem, or challenge if they really believe that God is with them?

· When is the last time that you really believed that God was with you—and what were the results?

If we walk about from this chapter thinking that David won because he was clever or had more courage than Goliath, we have missed the point. Goliath has mocked God (45). “The driving concern of this chapter is the honor of Yahweh’s name, His reputation, His glory. David is driven by a passion for the honor of God. Hence in this chapter David essentially says to Israel and to us: ‘Yahweh’s reputation is at stake; that matters to me; that matters enough to risk my life for it’. Can we say that? Is that our vision, our point of view? Can we say that that matters to us more than our advantage or reputation or security?” (Dale Ralph Davis p. 48). Our battles with Goliath may not appear to be as breathtaking as the battle in this chapter, but they are just as important. Romans 8:37 “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us”.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017