The story of David and Goliath is just about my favorite story in the Bible. I especially love it when David says to Goliath, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts whom you have defied. This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” From where does this come? Is David so different than King Saul, so different than everybody else that when he hears the challenge instead of being afraid he gets offended because the Lord’s name is being dishonored?
There are a couple of things about this story that I would like to mention right up front. First, David was not a child. Most commentators put his age in the early to mid-twenties. The reason Saul calls David a boy is because of his lack of experience in actual man to man combat. A chapter earlier we find David referred to as a man of valor. And the next chapter we see him leading raiding parties into Philistia. He was young, but he was a young man not a boy. Secondly, the sling was a real weapon. Probably most of the soldiers in Saul’s camp had a sling as one of their weapons. Earlier in the Bible there is a reference to a troop of 700 men of Benjamin who could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. The Greeks, the Romans, the Persians all had troops that were expert with slings. Archeologists have found evidence for the use of slings as weapons all over the world. The sling itself was easy to make and transport; the ammunition was all over the ground. No, the sling was not a child’s toy—it was a lethal weapon in the hands of an expert and clearly, David was an expert. Furthermore, David was strong and fast. He told King Saul that he had fought a lion who was trying to snatch one of his sheep. David went after the lion and when it turned on him, David grabbed it by its beard and smashed his head in with his staff. David was one tough customer. He was brave; he was skilled; and he was quick. .
Even understanding all this, his response is a remarkable response. And even if David is strong and brave and skilled and quick, Goliath is still a giant and Goliath is still a proven warrior and such a warrior as to be the champion of the Philistine army. Just because his response is so remarkable; it is such a great contrast to the disciples in our Gospel reading. In the Gospel reading we have the Lord Jesus who is obviously exhausted after teaching and preaching all day getting into the boat and telling his disciples to go to the other side. And he crawls into the stern on top a cushion and promptly falls fast asleep. The storm comes and the boat almost sinks. Let’s look a little closer at the story. The disciples are fishermen. They are professional boatmen. They have lived through all kinds of storms. They have spent in the past several years hundreds of hours on the sea. They have sailed and survived through many, many storms. But this storm—well, even they do not think they are going to make it. They are going to die—they know it. The boat is struggling with waves up to 10 feet high and the winds are gusting up to 30 miles per hour and more! The water is filling the boat. And when the disciples notice that Jesus is still asleep they wake him up and ask “Don’t you care that we are all going to die?” Jesus wakes up, looks around, and says to the wind, “Stop!” And then he turns to the water and says “Peace, be still!” And immediately, immediately, the most powerful forces of nature obey. Then Jesus turns to the disciples and says, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
Why are you afraid? Have you no faith? At the outset obviously the disciples were not afraid—they were terrified. They thought, they knew they were going to die. And they were afraid to die. So what does the next half of Jesus question to do with anything? Apparently, faith, even in the midst of that terrifying storm, in the midst of the certainty of death, faith would have kept the disciples from being afraid. At least that is what Jesus was insinuating wasn’t it? So what is faith really? The Bible in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 verse one describes faith as the assurance or confidence of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Faith is having confidence and assurance in God. It is having the conviction of what is the right thing to do. And later in the lives of the disciples they were unafraid even in the face of death! What was the difference? Apparently later they really did have faith. David clearly has this sort of faith when going against Goliath.
So what has all this to do with us? Note to self, next time I go out to fight Goliath, make sure my faith tank is full or next time I go out on a boat and it looks like a bad storm; make sure I am really feeling full of faith? Faith doesn’t work like that does it? Faith is not a feeling. I cannot conjure up faith. I believe; I believe; I believe. I cannot work myself into having faith. Confidence, assurance, and conviction are emotions one cannot develop in a couple of minutes There are some people on TV that one hears that gives us that impression, but they are wrong. Last week, Father Rick gave an excellent sermon from the parable of the mustard seed. He pointed out that we need to grow up and we grow down. Just like the plant grows towards the sun and then the roots spread out and go down deep to get nutrients and water in the soil. Our walk of faith is a matter of growth as well. So how do we grow in faith; how do we grow in confidence, assurance, and conviction?
Sadly, there is no easy answer. There is no one key. Just like living a healthy life is not simply eating oatmeal for breakfast, or not simply doing 25 push-ups. No, being healthy includes making sure you breath clean air, eat the right foods, and includes exercise, enough sleep and healthy interactions with other people. In the same way, growing spiritually includes a number of components and they are all important. The Bible is full of instructions on how to grow spiritually, how to grow in faith. And let me list just a few of the ones that are repeated over and over in the Bible.
We are told to pray to talk to God, to look for God, and to desire God. We are told to pray about everything; we are told to pray all the time. We are told to ask for forgiveness and to be thankful for our blessings. We are told to pray for other people. We are told to pray fervently, that’s with passion.
We are told to meditate, that means think seriously about, God’s word. This means we read through the Bible, and we think about what it means. What it means and how should it affect my life. How is it true? What does this show me about who God is? This is one of the main ways to grow in faith because the Bible says in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Hearing in this sense is in the same way my mom used to mean it. She would say, “Lance, do you hear me?” Hearing in this sense means hearing and responding.
We are told to behave like God’s children. That means to be kind and patient with others. It means to work hard when we are supposed to work. It means to be grateful and respectful to others. It means to be generous. God’s children worship God regularly.
So in a way these 3 are components of a healthy Christian life. Breathing clean air, which is praying, eating healthy food, that is reading and meditating on God’s word, and behaving like a child of God which corresponds to exercise.
Goliaths and storms, metaphorically they are part of all of our lives aren’t they? Dangers and fears are either in our lives right now or they will be. We can respond either like the disciples did or like David. May God give us the grace to grow in faith so that we can respond like David.
