Pastor Thanael Certa-Werner
Scripture | 1 Samuel 17:32-50 (NIV)
32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 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. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” 38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” 45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
Who Doesn’t Love an Underdog Story? What is your favorite underdog story? Take a moment and think about it. If you think about it long enough, you might realize that most of our favorite movies are underdog stories. If we look at the top four grossing movies of all time, we find this to be true: (by the way, spoilers ahead!) 1. Avatar: About a man who cannot walk going to a foreign world to help the natives of that world who have bows and arrows defeat the invaders who roll around in futuristic technology. 2. Avengers Endgame: After the villain Thanos destroys half of all life in the universe, a group of people with almost no power in the grand scheme of things come together, and against all the odds, against an army they could never defeat, win. 3. Titanic: Two people who should never have met fall in love and despite everything, their love survives longer than they do. And 4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A orphaned girl with no prospects but to be a junk scavenger becomes a Jedi who saves the galaxy from the First Order’s Starkiller Base. Together, these four movies alone have generated $9,900,396,534 since they were released. And all are about underdogs.
As you can tell, we’re looking at another underdog story today. In the story of David and Goliath, we find a little child, probably around 13 years old, taking on this hulking gigantic warrior to defend Israel. No one else is brave enough to face Goliath, not in the entire army of Israel. Yet, when this little shepherd boy arrives on the scene, he takes on the task. He’s told to go home, that he has no business here, that there is no way he can win, that he needs to wear special armor – everything in the book to stop him from actually taking on this giant. Still, he goes to meet Goliath. He takes five stones and uses the weapon of a shepherd: a sling shot. With one hit to the forehead, the giant Goliath is knocked out cold and the day is won for Israel.
This is perhaps one of the best-known underdog stories of all times. Yet this story is not just another feel-good, rooting for the underdog story. The New Interpreters Commentary states, “The story is not simply a matter of rooting for the underdog. It embodies the hopes of all persons when they are faced with overwhelming and evil power that there is a way to overcome that power and win the future” (vol. II, 1114).
Raising Kids as an Underdog
There are many moments in our lives when we feel like underdogs. Maybe it’s entering a job for the first time, taking on new education, or trying something new. I think one of the most universal feelings of being an underdog is when you have children – especially for the first time. You’ve been taken care of by your parents all of your life, and they made it look so easy. But all of a sudden, it’s up to you how to raise this child. This human being is depending on you to give it the right tools and knowledge to live a good and successful life. And for Christians, there is the pressure that we want our kids to grow up honoring God.
How we accomplish this can feel like a closely guarded secret and even for us members of the church who have already had our kids, or are not yet there, there is the pressure that we feel as we make vows to help parents raise their kids in the faith. The perpetual question is, how do we do that? Is there any way for the underdog to win in this situation?
There’s a famous story in the New Testament. It’s found in many places, but we’ll read it from Luke: “People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it’” (Luke 18:15-17, NIV).
Clearly, children are really important to Jesus. Yet, one can’t help but wonder if Jesus is one of those guys – you know the ones who “love babies” but its only because they only hold them after they’ve been fed, napped, and changed. There were a lot of people who said to my parents what wonderful children my siblings and I were – and all my parents could do is say thank you while knowing that we were real demons at home. Jesus says that kids are essential to the kingdom of God, but doesn’t seem to give us a lot of direction as to how to raise them well! Many times, being a parent or trying to figure out how to help parents raise their kids in the faith can feel like little David facing the giant Goliath.
Having Faith
But that is, in some ways, a good thing – because that means we have the perfect guide to help us through facing our Goliath. When I read through the story, I find that there are two things which really stick out. The first is that David chooses God’s way over the way of others. When the fight first begins, all of David’s brothers are sent off to fight in the army of Israel – except for David. He’s too young, in experienced with the ways of the world. There’s no way he could ever figure out what to do in a battle situation. When he shows up at the battlefield to bring food to his brothers, again he’s reminded that he shouldn’t be there.
Even still, when he’s permitted to fight, he’s told he needs to do so in the way that others expect of him – the way the world fights. He’s given armor and a sword – all the normal tools of a king warrior of the time. Yet, despite all these things that those around him are telling him to do in order to stay alive and win the battle, he chooses another way. He chooses to fight how God calls him to fight. Rather than meeting strength with strength, technology with technology, David meets Goliath as a shepherd. He meets strength with his own weakness and dependency.
Often, we see this story simply just as God versus the heathens of Philistine. But it’s actually a story of faith versus a lack of faith. The New Bible Commentary says, “It is… between David’s faith and the lack of faith of Saul and Israel. They can think of nothing more to do that to imitate poorly the very forces of oppressive power they oppose” (vol. II, 1114). What the real problem here is that the Israelites were trying to win this battle – to defeat Goliath – with the same tactics that they were fighting against. Sword for sword – shield for shield. Yet, David chooses a different route – not because he wants to be different, but because he has faith in God. He knows that he cannot defeat Goliath alone.
David even says, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” He does not come as a warrior, or a wise tactician – but as a faithful servant of God.
This brings me to the second point – trusting in God to use us. It is David’s trust in God which really comes out in this moment. His skills are not enough for the job. His training is not enough. He is not enough for this job. Yet, we see that through his trust in God, what he has is made enough. In normal life, there seems to be no way that a 13-year-old shepherd could ever defeat a battle-hardened warrior. Yet, through God, and David’s trust of God, David was made enough. As the commentary says, “Trust in God nurtures hope that there is a way into the future where there seems no way, that there may be a chink in the impregnable armor, that a well-placed stone of opposition can bring down… armored giants” (vol. II, 1114).
In many ways, this reminds us of our work of raising kids in faith. The reality is that we are not enough. We don’t have the right skills or training to do it on our own. But the lesson we learn from David is that in our trust of God, who we are and what we have are made to serve God and His purpose. In other words, we can not concoct a way in which we can successfully raise children on our own.
If we try to listen to all the differing viewpoints around us, we will fall victim to raising children in the very way that we stand against. If we try to raise our children by our own means, we will never be successful at our job. But when we listen to God’s way and put our trust in Him – He can take what we have and work His wonders through it. So as we strive to raise and help raise the children of our Church, our calling is clear. Like David, we are to choose God’s ways over our ways. And we are to put our trust in God knowing that He can make the impossible a reality. And for that, thanks be to God. Amen? Amen.