It was an epic showdown. The seafaring Philistines and God-fearing Israelites had gathered their forces for war and established a battle line down the center of the valley of Elah. The Philistines took a position high atop one side of the valley, and the Israelites, the opposite. Only a narrow valley separated the armies. They were deadlocked. To attack meant descending from your position, and making a suicidal climb up the enemy’s side of the canyon. No one dared make a move. The death toll would have been staggering!
So out from the Philistine camp comes a champion named Goliath. A champion was the most elite fighter of an army. To avoid heavy bloodshed, opposing armies would often select a champion to engage in a symbolic duel. Essentially the armies would say, “Our best against your best—winner takes all!” It was the only way to end the tense standoff.
Goliath was a natural choice for the Philistines. His height was a towering 9 foot 9 inches! If he were an NBA player, the top of his head would nearly touch the rim! His arm span would have prevented any enemy fighter from getting within lethal proximity.
Goliath wore a bronze helmet, a coat of scaled, fishlike armor weighing 125 lbs.
On his legs were bronze leggings, along w/a bronze javelin slung across his back.
His spear was like a weaver’s rod, its iron point weighing 15 pounds. When hurled it would’ve penetrated both a soldier’s bronze shield and his bronze armor!
An attendant ran before Goliath, carrying a man-sized shield, for added defense.
From all appearances the odds were overwhelmingly in favor of Goliath—and everyone knew it. For forty days, every morning and every evening, Goliath came down to take his stand, and he’d shout, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us. This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” (1 Samuel 17:8-11)
Can you think of a time in your when you were terrified? I can’t imagine many things as terrifying as facing a Goliath. What Goliath’s have you faced in life? Goliath has become a metaphor for just about any threat/challenge too great to face alone. One person’s “Goliath” might be cancer, a disability. It might be overcoming an addiction, losing weight, finishing a degree, beating an opponent, public speaking.
We’ve all found ourselves at these pivotal moments of paralysis. . . where we were frozen, terrified, speechless, facing overwhelming odds. Such Goliath moments demand a kind of courage… the kind of courage absent across the Israelite battle line…
So as the story goes, a boy… the youngest of eight, handsome, glowing with health, unadulterated by war… is asked by his father Jesse to check on his three oldest brothers, to bring them roasted grain, and cheese, to give dad some assurance. But as David runs to the battle line to check on his brothers, he overhears Goliath shouting in defiance, and he watches in horror as his fellow Israelites fled in terror. The bounty for killing Goliath was receiving great wealth, the King’s daughter in marriage, and total exemption from all taxes! But grown men are too terrified to care.
David seems un-phased, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David’s older brother is the first to put him in his place, “Why have you come down here? And who’s looking after your sheep back home? Look how wicked and conceited you are, coming down only to watch the battle.”
David turned from his brother—an important detail to highlight. What’s more David says to King Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him. . . Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it and struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair and 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 rescued me from the paw of the lion and bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
As the lumbering giant Goliath moves closer to attack David, David runs quickly toward him. Reaching into his bad he takes out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead, and he feel face down on the ground. And so David triumphed over the giant. He drew out the Philistines sword and killed him, severing his head. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they turned and ran. And all men of Israel and Judah surged forward… chasing the Philistines, leaving their dead scattered.
Allow me to share some thoughts on mustering up gritty courage…
First, Courage is About Inner Determination
David had great outer qualities. But what the Bible focuses on is his interior life. He was a man “after God’s own heart.” In 1 Samuel 16:7 the Lord says to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
A lot of people when faced with a challenge, threat, or adversity say, “Here’s why I can’t do it… here’s why we can’t do it.” Talk about tackling yourself in your own huddle! The person of courage says, “How can I do it? How can we make this happen?” We know that inner determination… the heart… is a key ingredient of courage.
Second, Courage is About Past Experience
Something we can observe about David, is that he didn’t confront Goliath in a vacuum of inexperience. Initially, King Saul completely discounts David’s upbringing. He says, “David, you are a young man, and Goliath has been a warrior from his youth.” It’s true that David hasn’t been a “warrior.” But what confidence-building experiences had David experienced? Well he was a musician, he could sing, we could play the harp, he could write poetry, he could take care of sheep.
But something we don’t think about is that from youth David acquired mastery of his slingshot. He was what is known as a “slinger.” Malcolm Gladwell writes, “Slingers would put a rock or a lead ball into a pouch, swing it around in increasingly wider and faster circles, and then release one end of the rope, hurling the rock forward. Slinging took an extraordinary amount of skill and practice. But in experienced hands, the sling was a devastating weapon. Paintings from medieval times show slingers hitting birds in midflight. Irish slingers were said to be able to hit a coin from as far away as their eye could see it. . . an experienced slinger could kill or seriously injure a target up to two hundred yards.” (book, David and Goliath)
We have this false notion that God only works in a vacuum, and never through an individual’s skills or mastery. 15000 is the number of hours’ experts say it takes to attain mastery of a craft—whether singing, writing, shepherding, or slinging. How much time do you suppose David spent “slinging” in the wilderness, while caring for sheep? Its unlikely God was using some unskilled shot from the Bethlehem outback.
Part of courage is cultivating confidence, and mastery… its using our idle time to prepare ourselves to be God’s instrument. We will be disappointed if we think God will use us with no amount of preparation, practice, mastery on our end. God gave us a heart, mind, body, and spirit… relationships… eyes, ears, nose, hands, feet, strength… so we’d apply ourselves and ready ourselves for his service. Courage is not just about heart, its about how we’ve applied/prepared ourselves to be used of God.
Third, Courage is About Social Indifference
In order to be courageous, David had to exercise a degree of social indifference. Indifference is a fancy way of saying, David had to ignore his detractors. King Saul point out David’s inexperience. David’s older brother questioned his motives. But you got love it… 1 Samuel 17:30 says, “David turned away [from his brother]… and then he went to someone else…”
If the voices in our heard don’t deter us, the voices around us often do. You are too young. You are too inexperienced. You aren’t smart enough. You have selfish motives. Why do you think God can use you.” Courage makes majority uncomfortable.
If you ever try to exercise courage people some will (1) attack you openly. David’s brother said, “You have wrong motives” (2) Some will try to marginalize you, to make you irrelevant. Saul said, “David, you are young, Goliath has been a warrior from his youth.” (3) Some will try to divert your energies toward other things. David’s brother said, “Whose caring for your sheep in the wilderness?” (4) Some will try to seduce you. The other soldiers said to David “if you kill Goliath you can earn great wealth, the daughters hand in marriage, a tax-free life!” *Part of courage is you have to know which voices to turn away from, and which voices to turn toward.
Fourth, We know that Courage is About Tactical Brilliance
As we read this story, its very obvious David exercised a degree of tactical brilliance. He seemed to know exactly how he would slay the giant. The point of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, David and Goliath, is to point out that David seems to defy conventional wisdom, and practices, and norms in this duel. Goliath was inviting David to a knife fight, a sword fight… and David unashamedly brings a gun, a slingshot. In other words, David used the tactical, strategic advantages readily available to him!
I was thinking of the Indiana Jones movie, where the guys comes out of a crowd, swinging knives around. Right as you wonder how Indiana Jones is going to handle the threat, he pulls out a gun, and shoots the guy dead. A lot of you play that game ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS. Well, David brought a ROCK to a SCISSORS fight. He applied his existing know how, skill, and wisdom and gained a tactical advantage.
Part of a courage is knowing what to do in a circumstance, and how to handle yourself. When I began ministry, I regularly found myself being verbally assaulted by an angry church member. They would criticize me and emotionally abuse me at the most inopportune times… before I was about to preach, they’d interrupt me as I was teaching a Sunday school class, they’d try to embarrass me in front of others. I found myself getting very upset. I’d feel attacked, get tunnel vision, and melt!
Finally, someone pulled me aside and said, “Jon… let me show you what this person is doing… and let me teach you how to respond more effectively.” Once I knew how to respond to this person’s negative behavior, I was no longer intimidated, and I could be comfortable and courageous in her presence, no matter what her behavior!
Courage is often about learning to play a better game. It’s having a plan, thinking through your approach, knowing how to handle yourself. What I am saying is that courage can be learned. A marine is far more courageous in battle because of his training, then he’d ever be without it. You can learn to be courageous from others who are already being courageous in the very same circumstances you find yourself in!
Courage is About Unwavering Faith
A final ingredient of courage is reflected in David’s response to King Saul, “The Lord WHO… rescued me from the paw of the lion and bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” It’s very obvious that David understood himself to be God’s instrument in the situation. He understood that God was using his past experiences, his rock slinging skills, all these things.
But more importantly David knew WHO the Lord was… and He knew the Lord’s plan for his own life, and for Israel… and he knew the Lord’s track record as a God who saves. The key to courage is to both know God… and to know what God wants to accomplish in your circumstances. When you know these two things you have nothing to fear! David had this conviction, “God is going show up! The Living God isn’t going to let this Philistine his armies. God didn’t anoint me, and give me his Holy Spirit, and show me his will, and put me in this circumstance to fail!” What convictions do you have?
One conviction I developed early in ministry is that the church is the Bride of Christ, and Jesus promised he would build his church, and nothing could oppose the advance of God’s church. I remembered that every time I found myself being attacked, diverted, or marginalized from building the Kingdom. When I acted courageously, I found other leaders and church members around me began acting more courageously.
I love how David’s courage feeds the courage of his countrymen. As David slays Goliath, they come racing down the cliff, and make the suicidal climb up the enemy’s ridge. Because David was fearless, they were now fearless, and because of David’s unwavering faith in the Living God they routed the Philistines!
Prayer… this fourth of July we have freedom because of gritty courage.
More than this… we have forgiveness, freedom from sin… because of gritty courage of your Son Jesus Christ. Who came, died for us… that we might live for you…