Today we enter the Valley of Elah, the Valley of the Terebinth. On one side of this valley are the Philistines, the terrifying, war-like, pagan sea people scourge of Israel and her neighbors. On the other side of that valley are the Israelites, ready to fight, yet again, for their survival. But before the battle was engaged, an enormous, battle-hardened, blood soaked, battle-scarred giant steps forward from the Philistine lines to challenge the Israelites to a battle of champions. In order to spare enormous bloodshed, some ancient armies would commit their fate to the outcome of one champion against another. But the Philistine champion was a freak of nature – almost ten feet tall, 125 pounds of armor – just the tip of his spear was fifteen pounds! And because this freakish giant was so terrifying, the Israelites, including their great king Saul, cowered meekly in fear. They should have rushed forth their own champion, perhaps even their tall, great king, but they didn’t. For over a month, they cowered in fear as, morning and evening, massive Goliath taunted them and their weak, powerless God.But then an old man named Jesse sent his youngest son David to carry food supplies to the battle front and bring home war news. The young, sweet-faced, shepherd boy David had already secretly been anointed as King Saul’s replacement, but it was this moment God used to launch David into national prominence. We pick up the story in 1 Samuel 17:20-50.
Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear.
Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel." David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, "This is what will be done for the man who kills him."
When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle." "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?" He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him." Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you." Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"
David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands." As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
We all know this story. This is probably one of the first Bible stories we ever learned as children. Along with Jonah and the Whale and Noah’s big Ark, this was one of those wonderful stories that got made into a cartoon for us to watch and learn life lessons from. Remember the little Lutheran boy Davey and Goliath? “I don’t know, Davey – what did the teacher say about telling lies to your mother?” Like so many other Bible stories, somehow the terrifying, gory, identity shaping story of young David and this vile, Philistine pig named Goliath got neutered.
But this is not a children’s story. This is a movie my young children would not have been allowed to watch. The language, themes and violence here would have given this story at least an “R” rating. This is a story about taking what is God’s away from the devil. This is a grown up story about taking names and taking charge. As we glean from the true greatness of young David this morning, as we stand in our own Valley of Elah this morning, staring across at the hulking, evil champions yelling vile profanity and pagan challenges at us, there are three lessons David has to teach us. Young David takes three things into his hands we must learn to take into ours. If we have any hope of victory here in our valley, we must do as David does.
David Took Offense
The first is offense. David took offense at Goliath and the entire situation. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” This is not the way things are supposed to be! Why is no one striking down this vile, pagan warrior? Why is no one responding to his blasphemy? Why are the mighty armies of the LORD cowering in fear?
We must take proper offense at what is not right and godly in the world. And I’m not just talking about the easy targets for offense – those sins we Christians feel comfortable attacking in others because we don’t struggle with them ourselves so much any more. I’m talking about all types of sin, evil and injustice. The Apostle Paul told us, in Galatians 5:19-21, that “the acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” These things must be offensive to us.
We must take offense at the idea of anyone going to hell; it must break our hearts. We must take offense at people going hungry and homeless. We must take offense at racial and ethnic hatred and division. We must take offense at powerful people bullying weaker people. We must take offense at all injustice, ignorance and superficiality. We must take offense at greed and selfishness and all ungodliness. All these nasty Goliaths must be offensive to us!
And related to all this, allow me to say we must also be prepared for people not to like us for taking offense. David’s own brothers got angry at him, but that didn’t stop him – he just kept poking at people with his offensive questions. Goliath and his festering Philistine buddies certainly didn’t like the way David took offense. We aren’t trying to win a silly, polite, political popularity contest – we are faithfully, obediently embracing an offensive Cross. We are attacking the gates of hell and they will not prevail against us. All warriors (even godly, loving, gracious ones) collect enemies – get over it! David took offense. Everything young David does in this story is driven by the offensiveness of the situation he encountered. We are on offense!
David Took Responsibility
But David also took responsibility. David took stunning responsibility.
David stood in front of the great King Saul and took responsibility for the situation. “All the rest of you pansy people can cower meekly and fearfully on the hillside as long as you want, but I’m going across this valley and gettin’ me some giant!” I’m not just going to sit here in church and fume with my friends about the awful condition of the world around us; I’m going to go do something about it. I’m not just going to write some polite little check to some polite little charity; I’m going to get out there on the battlefield. As God encouraged Gideon years ago, I’m going to “go in the power I’ve been given and save my people.” I’m not just going to endlessly and religiously talk, study, write position papers, vision statements and motivational theories – I’m going to take responsibility for this offensive situation. Here am I, send me!
David Took Confidence
And the only reason David can take this kind of stunningly personal responsibility for this offensive situation is because of the confidence he took in God. David took confidence in God.
But please notice the double-sided nature of David’s confidence. David not only trusted God wanted him to take responsibility and that God would deliver him from the evil Philistines, but David also had complete confidence Almighty God had properly and thoroughly prepared him for the job. When the cowering King Saul fearfully proclaimed David too young, pretty and inexperienced to beat Goliath, David simply trotted out his resume. “Sir, I have killed both lion and bear whenever necessary to protect my father’s sheep. I have taken a lion by the beard, this bearded giant doesn’t scare me one bit. You may see a scary, threatening Philistine giant, but all I see is just another sheep-stealing vermin in need of killing. Sir, I am ready for this.”
Would it surprise you to learn scholars now say ancient “slingers,” such as young David apparently was, could fling rocks as big as baseballs over 100 yards with hair-splitting accuracy? And more importantly for our story today, did you know that, at shorter distances, these rocks could sometimes travel at speeds up to 100 miles per hour? David had reason for confidence.
Most of the time, Almighty God is not calling us to take some flying, wild and crazy leap of faith onto a battlefield for which we are utterly unprepared and unqualified. No! Most of the time, our dear LORD simply longs for us to trust in His powerful ability to use the gifts, skills, interests, passions and abilities He has already given us. God is not asking us to put on Saul’s armor or goofy stuff that doesn’t fit us. God is not asking us to carry swords we don’t know how to use. Think about it – is Marlys Wallin probably a candidate for the big leagues? Is it remotely possible Vernon Gholston might turn out to be a good Jets linebacker? Our God is calling us to take confidence in His ability to use whatever He has already given us to use.
One of the interesting, sidelight details I discovered in my studies this week was the true nature of the shepherd’s pouch into which David put the five stones for his battle with Goliath. Do you know what that little pouch was? It was David’s lunchbox. I just love that! What a picture! The battle-hardened giant Goliath with 125 pounds of blood-stained armor, keeping an entire army quivering in fear for over a month and now here comes a fresh-faced kid with a stick and his lunchbox?! What in the world is this? Hang on, Goliath, I’m about to show you!
David is not some cocky, naïve kid trying to make a name for himself by taking crazy risks. He is simply a young man utterly confident in God’s ability to use him. David is just a young guy confidently showing up for work with some stones in his lunchbox. I love that.
We can do that! This young shepherd boy David took great, godly and entirely proper offense at the evil he encountered. He took responsibility to personally do something about it. He took glorious confidence in Almighty God’s ability to use him and, because he did all these things, this kid David took home the victory. While all the other soldiers stood off cowering in the distance, David stood strong and victorious in the battle. May God help us do likewise!
Amen.
