Our Sunday Message

Confronting Our Personal Goliaths: 1 Samuel 17:4, 10-16, 32-38, 48-49
Rev. Dr. Kenneth A. Corr
June 25, 2006
Third Sunday of Kingdomtide

  What is the biggest challenge that you are facing this morning? Is it a health challenge, financial challenge, family challenge, career challenge, or an emotional challenge like depression, grief, stress? Do you have it in mind? When you think about the biggest challenge in your life, would you say that you are:
   a. Energized by the possibilities of tackling this challenge;
   b. Mildly annoyed that you are having to deal with this now when everything else is going well;
   c. Frustrated, but determined;
   d. Completely overwhelmed and totally discouraged?
  If you answered, “d. Completely overwhelmed and totally discouraged,” this sermon is for you. It is never easy to be completely overwhelmed. But there are times when we must come to the end of our own abilities before new possibilities can emerge.
  Last Sunday, I introduced this summer series of sermons on the life of David. The David cycle begins with the unlikely choice of the boy David to be king. The very last thing that was said about David in the text last Sunday was, “And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward.”
  Here is my question for today: What would that look like? “The Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David.” What would that look like in ordinary living? We are in the season of Pentecost in which the church boasts that the Spirit of God indwells our lives. What does that look like in ordinary living? What practical difference does the indwelling Spirit make? Is the Spirit of God a real resource that can make a difference with the big challenges of my life?
  This story of David and Goliath is our example. It was in the course of his daily routine, in the midst of ordinary living, that David confronted and defeated Goliath. What might that look like in our life?
  Look with me at the story.
  v. 4, “And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.”
  At six cubits and a span, Goliath was 9 ft tall. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world’s tallest recorded human was Robert Pershing Wadlow from Alton, Illinois. He was measured on June 27, 1940, and measured 8 ft, 11.1 inches tall. Goliath was taller than that. The spear that he carried had a head that weighed 16 lbs, just the head. His daily taunts not only created fear in the hearts of the Israelis, but also shame.
  We are not likely to face the physical challenge of a Goliath in our daily lives. If you do, run for your life. Goliath is a larger than life figure that represents everything in our life that is overwhelming, frightening, and discouraging. Goliath represents all those life circumstances where we come to the end of our rope and say, “I can’t handle this,” and feel afraid and ashamed.
  Delores is a single mother of four. She is strong and very courageous. She manages two jobs and is determined to keep the family together. She has often told herself that there is nothing that she can’t handle. But when her oldest daughter announced that she was infected with HIV, Delores finally broke down and said, “I can’t handle this.” There was her Goliath.
  Frank is committed to keeping his wife, Edie, at home. Edie is in the last stages of Alzheimer’s and her care is physically and emotionally demanding. But Frank is determined not to quit. But when the doctor said that it was prostate cancer, Frank finally broke down and said, “I can’t handle this.” There was his Goliath.
  There are some challenges that energize us. There are some challenges that are frustrating and it feels like we are butting our head against a wall, but we keep at it. But then there are some challenges that are too big to handle, that are beyond our physical resources, and we find ourselves regressing into fear and shame. There is our Goliath.
  “For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.”
  Forty is a good biblical number. It is the number for wholeness or completeness. I don’t think anyone was keeping count on the calendar. It was another way of saying that Goliath had completely confounded the army of Saul. Saul’s army had no solution. There literally was no man that was able to defeat Goliath. They had reached the end of their physical resources. Something completely new was needed.
  There are times in our lives when we have to admit that we simply don’t have the resources to deal with the challenge. It is only when we get to the end that we can receive that which is new and needed.
  “David said to (King) Saul, ‘Let no one’s heart fail because of him (Goliath); your servant will go and fight this Philistine.’”
The solution comes in the most unlikely form, the smallest, the least likely, the most easily discounted, dismissed, and denigrated. It was Goliath who said what everyone was thinking. When David marched onto the battle field without sword, spear, or shield, Goliath asked, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” To paraphrase, Goliath was saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
  If someone had said, “Goliath, that little boy with sticks and stones, is going to kill you before you can blink an eye,” he might have died laughing. The point is that David would never have been in the field of battle if there had been any other option.
  David explained to King Saul that he was not afraid of Goliath for three reasons: He had faced the lion and bear in tending the sheep, i.e., he had previous experience. His skill with the slingshot was reliable, i.e., he had developed his ability. Most importantly, he believed in God. This text makes it very clear that God used David’s life experiences and his skill to kill Goliath, but it was God who was at work providing the victory.
  David did not need trickery, duplicity, or deceit to kill Goliath. He simply needed a heart that was open to God.
  Every larger than life character has a weakness. For Achilles, it was the heel. For Samson, it was the hair. For Goliath, it was the forehead. What these archetypal stories teach us is that there is no problem that is too big.
  “David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. . . . So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone.”
  What is the biggest challenge that you are facing this morning? For the apostle Paul, it was a “thorn in the flesh.” When he reached the end of his rope, he learned a valuable lesson. “God’s strength is perfected in our weakeness.”
  Frank is committed to keeping his wife, Edie, at home. Edie is in the last stages of Alzheimer’s and her care is physically and emotionally demanding. But Frank is determined not to quit. But when the doctor said that it was prostate cancer, Frank finally broke down and said, “I can’t handle this.”
  Frank was a member of a Sunday school class, but he had not attended in quite some time because of Edie’s illness. When the word of Frank’s illness reached the class, they rallied to help. Some volunteered to sit with Edie while Frank got his chemo treatments. Some helped with the shopping. Some brought food on those days when Frank was physically not able to cook.
  Unexpectedly, an opening for Edie in a healthcare facility became available. With the encouragement of his Sunday school class members, Frank was able to agree that it was time.
  Soon he was strong enough to attend the class again and one day he shared that he would not have made it without the support of the group.
  It is Pentecost in the church calendar. The Spirit of God is at work in us. Trust it.

1 Samuel 17:4, 10-16, 32-37, 47b-49
4And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six* cubits and a span.
10And the Philistine said, ‘Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.’ 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.* 13The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
32David said to Saul, ‘Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ 33Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.’ 34But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.’ 37David said, ‘The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.’ So Saul said to David, ‘Go, and may the Lord be with you!’
47b the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s
48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.