Guest Blogger: Andy Morgan

Andy Morgan currently serves as Assistant Rector at Prince George Winyah in Georgetown, SC.  Andy blogs at http://lukefourteenthirtythree.wordpress.com

“DAVID AND GOLIATH”

Have you ever had a “I am not coping” day. Things just get too much; everything is going wrong or at least you think everything is going wrong and you feel that just one more issue, one more thing and it will crush you. Maybe you have had a “I am not coping week / month / year.”

You may have heard the phrase “I am at the end of my tether” – end of  the rope – I’ve run out of things to hold onto and I am about to fall. It is one of the worst feelings in the world. It is an incredible lonely feeling. We may have  experienced something of this, at varying degrees or levels, whether its from a stressful day at work or being on the verge of a breakdown and beyond.

The common denominator in such feelings is fear. Fear can paralyze us. Fear can destroy us. Fear of failure, fear of everything coming down around our ears; fear of not coping; fear of illness; fear of losing the job, not paying the bills etc, etc.

King Saul was having one of those days. He is up against the old enemy the Philistines and this huge, enormous, fearful looking, battle hardened warrior, Goliath, is now demanding a one to one battle which would decide the outcome of the war. 1 Sam 17: 11 sums up the issue, When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Saul was between a rock and a hard-place. He had no where to go. He was running out of rope. He was not coping because he did not know what to do. He was scared. He was terrified.

Now I have heard many sermons that take the story of David and Goliath and teach that what we need to do is to trust in God and be bold. We need to recognize whatever problem we encounter in life – whatever OUR Goliath is – we can stand up, face it, confront it and do battle with it and we will, in God’s power, have victory over it.

Maybe that is true. But I don’t think that is the point of story of David and Goliath.

We can stand up to many things in life through the power of the Holy Spirit. But the emphasis of the above interpretation still involves us having to stand up against the Goliath in our life. The emphasis is on US. It places us on the front line. For some people, even those who know Christ and walk in the ways of Jesus, the Goliath maybe too big. We can feel that if we have the Spirit in us we should be able to topple the Goliath that stands before us – and when we don’t, we can feel discouraged or even a failure. We can even end up questioning our faith because we feel we have some how not been able to conquer the Goliath in our lives.

I actually think this passage shows us something even more incredible.

David comes to stand before Goliath not for his own sake – not because Goliath was a problem to HIM. No, he stands before Goliath for the sake of the entire nation of Israel – because this Philistine and all the Philistines defied the army of the living God.

David stood and defeated the enemy Goliath on behalf of the people of Israel. His victory meant that the people did not have to face the enemy directly. However David is also known in theological terms as a ‘type’. He points to an even greater King; to Jesus Christ. And just as David defeated the enemy of Israel on behalf of the nation, Jesus Christ came and defeated the enemy of sin and death on our behalf. David was the one on the front line for the nation and it is Jesus who has gone on the front line of the battle on our behalf. Yes we are soldiers of Christ. Yes we do fight. But not on the front line.

The issue is not that we can face the enemy with the Spirit in us – but that Christ has already faced the enemy AND has defeated the enemy on our behalf, leaving us free to trust in him, follow him, obey him and love him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we have trusted in Christ – if we claim Christ to be our savior, our redeemer, our King whatever we face, whatever is before us, we know that Christ has already defeated it. The cancer in our body, or the disease we are afflicted with or disabled by, or the tragedy we have faced, or the pain we have experienced has been defeated, because Jesus has gone out and defeated it through the Cross and by his resurrection and ascension. It is defeated because the outcome of the cancer, or disease, or pain comes to the same place – spending eternity in the city of our lord – our destiny is secure – our names are written in the book of life in the heavens. Our sin’s will not be held against us and we will enjoy eternity with our God. Life everlasting.

How do we begin each day? Do we feel that  we are on the front line – pushed out to face the enemy? That is how Saul lived and ruled. That was his philosophy. Have courage –go out and face the enemy. If that is how we live each day then we will struggle.

Instead we are to begin each day knowing that our Lord has defeated the enemy on our behalf. That He has taken the battle for us. Our job now is to trust completely in the victory. Yes, the path is not an easy one, but it is the victorious one. We are to obey the Kings commands – to love the Lord our God with our heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our focus, our lives, our hearts are to be on HIM. The Victorious One. The one who has defeated the enemy.