Facing The Giants

June 24, 2012

1 Samuel 17:32-49
Mark 4:35-41

Who are the “giants” who challenge you? What “giants” do you face? Let me tell you a story about a man who faced the giants in his life and came out on top.

His name is Grant Taylor. Grant Taylor is the head football coach for a private Christian high School called Shiloh Christian Academy in the 2006 movie entitled, “Facing the Giants”. The Shiloh Eagles have not had a winning season in the six years he's been coaching the team.

A new season has started and with it a renewed hope that the Shiloh Eagles will finally end their losing ways. Unfortunately, at first, the new season is not any better than the previous ones. Coach Taylor is a losing coach with a losing record.

The coach is discouraged and depressed for many reasons. He drives and old car that keeps breaking down and he and his wife can't afford a new one. He's discouraged because he can't provide his family a decent home to live in. There's a leak in back room, the dryer only works half the time, the stove is broken, and there is a foul smell that comes from somewhere under the house; it's exact source is unknown. He's discouraged because he and his wife have been trying for four years to have a baby, but can't.

The situation with the football team is so bad that many parents complain to the school administration that they want a new coach. The parents say that Coach Taylor is dead weight and is not capable of winning. Coach hears this and is crushed by their lack of confidence in him. Sitting with his wife, he cries out, "What's God doin'? Why is this so hard? Why can’t I win?" The chaos and stress are crushing his spirit.

The giants of fear and failure are staring down at Coach Taylor. The storms of life are raging against him and he needs hope and faith in someone greater and more powerful than himself. He needs someone to give him the eyes to see and know the truth of who he was created to be.

Our scripture readings today offer us two dramatic stories depicting God’s powerful intrusion into human time to overcome the forces of injustice and chaos in the world. The 1 Samuel text reveals to us that lurking behind the encounter between David and Goliath is the God who refuses to tolerate continued oppression, and whose unconventional weapons of warfare (that is, a boy too small for the appropriate outfit for battle, who uses stones and a sling) signify the odd ways by which God wars against and overcomes injustice. Our Mark text reveals the in-breaking of God’s reign into human time in the life and actions of Jesus. The story recognizes those times in the life of the church when it is threatened by the forces of chaos and confusion, forces that turn out to be no match for the reign of God present in the person of Jesus.

The story of David and Goliath is a story about Yahweh and his moral commitments. The giant will be defeated, not because David is stronger or cleverer than Goliath, but because Yahweh is both more clever and stronger than either Goliath or David. Our God is a God of justice committed to the preservation of all faithful people and to the defense of those who cannot defend themselves. David, the anointed one, is thus set apart to put into practice Yahweh’s will in regard to the crucial matters of justice and equity.

When you get down to it, the point of the whole narrative is that Goliath is a predator, and as God’s agent of justice, David will deal with him as such. The battle has been decided even before it happened. The death of Goliath is no accident. It signals that Israel’s new king, this shepherd like no other, will defend his people against their oppressors. But more than that, it reaffirms that God will never permit injustice to prevail.

When Jesus calms the storm, it is not merely a brute demonstration of power over nature, but a redemptive act, in which the chaotic forces of the sea are “rebuked” (Mark 4:39). The miracle has a purpose in the rescue of the disciples from fear and disorder. In fact, it is safe to say that Jesus' demonstration of his own trust in God brings him a remarkable peace, even in the face of the storm. It draws quite a dramatic contrast with the panic of the disciples at the chaos of the sea.

I am impressed by David's bravery in the face of the threat from the giant Goliath. Goliath was literally a giant, over 9 feet tall. Not one of the Israelite soldiers was brave enough to accept the challenge. And when David killed him with a stone from his slingshot, it not only won the day for Israel, but also started David on the road to fame, and he eventually became Israel's king.

Unless you've read the rest of the story, you may assume Goliath was the only giant David ever faced. But not so. 2 Samuel 21:15-22 reports that in David's later years, he had to deal with some other gigantic opponents. One incident took place when David was king, and Israel and the Philistines were again at war. A Philistine giant named Ishbi-benob, whose spear tip alone weighed more than 12 pounds, sought to kill David. But Abishai, one of David's soldiers, stepped in and slew that giant. After this, David's men began to worry about their king's safety, telling him, "You shall not go out with us to battle any longer, so that you do not quench the lamp of Israel" (2 Samuel 21:17).

But that did not put an end to the wars with the Philistines, and over the course of the next battles, David's men faced and killed Goliath's giant brother (2 Samuel 21:19, cf. 1 Chronicles 20:5), and two other super-sized men.

With David, the giants kept coming.

And so it is with us. No matter how massive or vicious or powerful the giants we faced in our past proved to be, and no matter how soundly we defeated them, nobody goes through life with just one giant to face.

If, early on, we battle a giant called temptation, we may, in midlife, battle one called discouragement, and later on, one called bitterness or loneliness. Or, we may face the soul-crushing depression that follows a marital breakup or the death of a loved one or the self-destructive behavior of one of our children. We may face the terror of life-threatening illness, or, as is certainly possible in today's economy, the loss of our job and the evaporation of the resources we expected to carry us through our later years.

We may not realize it at first, but words like circumstances, sickness, accident, abuse, misfortune, setback, trouble, problems and hurt are often family names for giants. What's more, giants often come against us when we are least able to resist them. The other giants came after David later in life as an old man, when his days of military prowess were over.

If there is one thing both David's story and the disciples’ story teach us, it is that the giants and the storms in our lives do NOT have the last word on our lives. Sometimes all it takes is the right stone from the right slingshot. In some cases, that stone may come from the brook of medicine or counseling or friendship or courage or hard work or prayer.

Sometimes we don't possess the right stone ourselves. David took care of Goliath by himself, but he needed the help of his troops with subsequent ones. Our troops include friends and family who stand by us, professionals whose services and skill can help us, our church family whose thoughts, prayers and actions strengthen and comfort our spirits.

There are also times when the right stone is our work helping somebody else fight their giant and face their storm. One example is "survivor therapy," where the survivors of extreme trauma -- sexual assault, terrorist hijackings, torture, abuse, etc. – find help for themselves by helping others who have experienced similar tragedies. The afflicted person can neither absorb nor get rid of the trauma, but some find they can redirect the horrible memory of it by helping others. Sometimes it proves to be the right stone from the right slingshot.

Another thing that may help us in dealing with giants and storms is to remember that as frightening though they are, our giants and our storms can shape us for the better. Bible scholar Christina Bucher tells how as a child, one of the hardest things from the Bible for her to understand was how it was that even after David was anointed to be king, had defeated Goliath and was wildly popular with the Israelites, it still took decades for him to actually become king. During that time, he had to fight many battles with powerful opponents, including the "friendly fire" from King Saul. Bucher concludes, "It took years of maturing for King David, shaped by the giants and storms he faced, to prepare him to be ready to step into kingship. I don't know what kind of king the young David, fresh from slaying his giant would have become -- but I am certain he would have been a very different ruler."

The next day Coach Taylor prays asking God to take away his fear because he is tired of being afraid. He confesses his struggles praying for God to reveal himself. What emerges is a new philosophy for living, one that calls him to shift his focus off himself and turn it toward Christ. For his football team, it addresses the question, “what is the purpose of this team?” Football is one way his team can honor God. It is one way to give God their very best effort, to play to their full potential, and not worry about the results. God will decide the outcome. Win or lose, they are to praise and honor God.

Coach Taylor and his team begin to live according to their new team philosophy. Not only do they begin to be successful on the field winning games for a change, but it also has a positive, lasting effect on all areas of their lives: their studies, their friendships, the relationship with their parents and more. In the end, they win enough games to make the playoffs. They go all the way to the state championship game where they face the Richland Giants, a team that is bigger and stronger than Shiloh. In the end, it was the undersized, inexperienced, back-up kicker, a former soccer player named David, who kicked the winning field goal fifty-one yards into the wind in the closing seconds of the game. They faced the giants and won!

The giants and storms we face are not bigger than God's power and might. They do not have the last word on our lives. The last word belongs to God. And God wants to use each of us to fulfill his kingdom on earth.

May you allow God to use you; to use your life to slay the giants, so you may know God's justice and mercy; and calm the storms, so you may know God's true peace and freedom. Amen.