July 30, 2023 homily on 1 Samuel 17:32-37 by Pastor Galen
David and Goliath
The two opposing armies had reached a stalemate, and so there they were, camped out day after day, staring across the valley that lay between them. Neither the Israelites nor the Philistines wanted to launch an attack that would involve rushing down their own mountain, across the valley, and up the enemy’s ridge, leaving them vulnerable to the enemy’s spears and arrows raining down on them from above. And so the Philistines sent out their best warrior, Goliath, to engage a single Israelite soldier in hand-to-hand combat to the death. The army with the winning warrior would be declared the victor.
The problem was that the Israelites could not find a soldier from among their own ranks who could match the stature of Goliath, who was somewhere between 6 and 9-and-a-half feet tall, covered in armor, and who carried a massive sword and spear. And so, day after day, Goliath would call out to the Israelites from the other side of the valley, challenging them to send someone out to fight against him, but to no avail.
Until one day a young shepherd boy by the name of David bravely volunteered. David wasn’t even a soldier, but had simply come to visit his brothers on the battlefront and bring them gifts from their father. His brothers and even the king could not talk him out of going up against Goliath and so David rushed out into the valley to challenge Goliath armed with only his shepherd’s staff, a sling, and 5 smooth stones. Before Goliath even knew what hit him, David slung a rock that struck him directly in the center of his forehead, penetrating his skull, and knocking him to the ground. David then used Goliath’s own sword to cut off the giant’s head. And the Philistine army ran away in fear.
For many of us, David’s willingness to fight against Goliath represents the epitome of faith. David never wavered in his belief that God would give him victory over Goliath. So often we think that if we could just have as much faith and courage as David, then surely we too could conquer any giants that might come our way.
The Rest of the Story
But the reality is that David’s story doesn’t end with his defeat of Goliath. In fact, the story of David and Goliath comes very near the beginning of David’s life, and while David had many other successes, he also had quite a few failures as well.
The most famous example of David’s moral failing, of course, was David’s assault of Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11), and his subsequent murder of her husband. Although David eventually repented, and despite the fact that David fasted and prayed, David and Bathsheba’s child took ill and died. Surely this was one of the lowest points of David’s life.
A few chapters later, one of David’s grown sons, Absolom, revolted against him and tried to usurp his kingly throne. David was so broken by this that in Second Samuel chapter 15, we see David walking up to “the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and walking barefoot; and all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.” (2 Sam. 15:30). As he walked along, a man by the name of Shimei came at him cursing and throwing rocks at him. One of David’s soldiers asked permission to kill Shimei (2 Sam. 16:9), but David responds by saying, “My own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Let him alone, and let him curse…So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went, throwing stones and flinging dust at him” 2 Sam. 16:11,13). (Talk about being kicked when you are down! Talk about adding insult to injury!)
What Happened to David’s Faith?
We hear this, and we might wonder to ourselves, what happened to David’s faith? What happened to the bold and courageous young shepherd boy who refused to stand back and listen to the giant curse and rail against God’s people, who operated with utter confidence that God would give him victory over his enemy? What happened to the faith of the boy who was absolutely certain not only that God could protect him, but that God surely would protect him?
Well, what happened to David is surely what happens to all of us. And that is something called “life.” Life happens. We experience tragedy. We experience difficulty. We experience hardships. Sometimes we go through a season where it’s just one thing after another and the pain and grief just pile up. I talked with a woman this past week whose mother passed away in November, her husband passed away in December, and her daughter passed away in March. Needless to say, she was devastated. Sometimes life is like that.
Occasionally, like young David, we experience amazing victories. But as we go through life quite often we realize that the “giants” that we face in life are not always so easily defeated. Even if we do experience victory, often we come away battle-scarred and limping. Sometimes the problems face do not flee at all, but instead, they continue to follow after us and mock us, and fling dirt and rocks at us. In those times, our courage gets shaken, and our faith sometimes wavers as well.
The Start, Not the End
But the perception that David’s willingness to go up against Goliath represents the pinnacle of faith actually misses the mark. The reality is that when David went up against Goliath, his view of the world, and thus his faith in God, was actually quite shallow. In young David’s rather narrow worldview, there were clearly good people, and there were clearly bad people. Goliath was clearly bad because he fought for the enemy, whereas David and the Israelites were clearly good. Therefore God was on David’s side and would surely give him the victory.
But later on in his life, due to his own moral failings, David came to the realization that people cannot be divided up into the categories of good and evil, but rather there is clearly both good and evil inside each and everyone one of us. No one but God is purely good. David’s own moral failings demonstrate that even someone who is described as “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14) can still fall into sin. But we also know that each and every person is made in the image of God and reflects aspects of God’s character. And we also see through David’s story that there is grace and forgiveness available to each and every one of us, no matter how far we have fallen.
Hitting “the Wall”
For David, this growing awareness of his own moral failures, combined with the experience that he and Bathsheeba had of losing their child, would be described by those who study the stages of faith development that people of faith go through throughout our lives as hitting “the wall.”
Hitting “the wall” is what happens when we encounter pain and disappointment in life. It’s what happens when we are forced to realize that we don’t have all of the answers on how to make life work. In those moments, our certainty and confidence erode, and the arrogance we had when we were younger begins to dissipate as we begin to accept that sometimes bad things happen, and we don’t always know why. Many people hit a wall when they really begin to confront the pain and injustice in the world around them. Experiences like this can leave us feeling angry with God and the world, or we can push through them and continue reaching toward God who is both beyond and within the painful experiences that we face in life.
Many of us probably know people who experienced painful circumstances in life, or were confronted with the reality of pain and suffering in the world, and walked away from the church of their faith altogether, feeling that God had let them down. It saddens and grieves us to see people walk away. But it is encouraging to know that hitting “the wall” does not have to be the end of the story.
Life with Open Hands
David indeed pushed through the wall, leading him to a much deeper and more nuanced understanding of God and of God’s grace, and to a stage of faith that has been described as “life with open hands.” Rather than sorting people into categories of good and bad, or irrationally believing that he had to confront every foe that came his way, David came to see that every experience that happens in our lives can be an opportunity for growth and learning. In the end, David became a more grace-filled and compassionate person who extended God’s grace to others. Indeed, David grew more and more to become a man after God’s own heart.
Or course, as we look at examples of faith in the Bible, there is no better example of a journey of faith than that of Jesus. Although Jesus is God who became flesh and came to dwell among us, the Bible tells us that as a child, “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people” (Luke 2:52 NLT).
Surely Jesus hit “the wall” when he was tempted by all manner of sin by the devil in the wilderness. He was confronted with the evil desires of the human heart, and with all of the wickedness in the world, and yet he pushed through the wall, and his journey of faith continued. Indeed, throughout Jesus’s life, he lived a life with open hands, completely surrendered to the will of God the Father, secure in the knowledge of God’s presence even in the midst of trials and tribulations. Even when Jesus stretched out his arms to die on the cross and experienced what it was like to feel abandoned by God, still Jesus cried out to God, continuing to reach toward the God who is both beyond and within the suffering that we experience in this life. Surely Jesus modeled for us what it looks like to live life with open hands, open to whatever God has for us.
And so this morning, may we be inspired by David’s faith. But not just the faith that he had when he met Goliath. May we be inspired too by the faith he developed as he confronted his own failure and asked God to forgive him. May we be inspired by the faith that grew as he faced the incredible pain of a son who turned against him. And may we be inspired by his journey of faith that led him to a deeper and richer and fuller understanding of God’s presence with us even in the midst of grief and sorrow—a faith so filled with the knowledge of God’s grace that it overflowed even to his enemies.
May we aspire to such a faith with open hands and with open hearts. Amen!
Hampden United Methodist Church 