When Goliath Stares You Down

 Emma begged and played the “but it’s my birthday. Don’t you love me?” card, but I wasn’t budging. “Someone has to watch your bag,” I countered.

 Emma begged and played the “but it’s my birthday. Don’t you love me?” card, but I wasn’t budging. “Someone has to watch your bag,” I countered.

In lieu of a birthday party or big presents this year, I offered to buy Emma a season pass to Six Flags.  Boom, she took the bait. Easy peasy, epic birthday accomplished with one quick online purchase.

Except I forgot I’d actually have to take her there.

We set the date for our first trip, and invited a friend and her mom who also had season passes. Had I known there would be hail, 30-degree temps, or extreme winds that day, I might have backed out. But we arrived at the gate, and it was too late to turn around.

I did my best to play the cool mom part, and managed to ride three roller coasters, one after another, with no incident. Surprisingly, I had fun.

Then came Goliath. 

This, my friends, was a hard “no” for me. Goliath has one of the steepest drops of any coaster in America, and I wasn’t about to put my stomach through that degree of trauma. 

Emma begged and played the “but it’s my birthday. Don’t you love me?” card, but I wasn’t budging.  “Someone has to watch your bag,” I countered. 

She knew I was full of bologna, but she let me off the hook anyway.

Bigger than Life

Ironically enough, our lesson in my adult Sunday school class the next morning was about the roller coaster’s biblical namesake. 

Our teacher, LeAnn, recounted the story of the nine-foot giant who came out to taunt the Israelite army day-after-day. 

“Why do you come out and line up for battle?” he’d sarcastically bellow. “Choose a man and have him come down to me.”

The Bible recounts, “On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” (1 Samuel 17:11)

LeAnn asked a question that has been rolling around in my mind ever since. “What’s your Goliath?”

We do, after all, face our own Goliaths, don’t we?

Goliath may be a person, but more likely, it’s a situation or failure that appears to be bigger than life.

It’s a fear, a sense of inadequacy, a frustration, a broken relationship. It might be failing health, your struggling kids, a difficult job or any number of circumstances that seem to be spiraling out of control.

Day after day, our Goliaths rear their ugly heads, daring us to take them on.

“You think you can take me?” they taunt sarcastically. We tremble at the reverberating no that’s pounding in our hearts.

Even as I type this, I see my own Goliath staring from across the field, and I don’t understand how I can possibly bring him down.

David’s Approach

Of course we know that in the biblical account, the boy ultimately conquered the giant.

In revisiting this familiar story, I see two of David’s tactics that bolster my personal resolve to fight.

1.       David’s victory began with limited armor, understanding or skills.

Once King Saul realized David was serious about going into battle, he attempted to delay the boy’s defeat as much as humanly possible. Saul dressed David in his own heavy tunic, armor, and bronze helmet, and he fastened a sword to the boy’s side.

It only took a few moments of David trying to walk around to realize there was a hefty problem.

“‘I cannot go in these,’ he said to Saul, ‘because I am not used them.’ So he took them off. 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.” (1 Samuel 17:39b-40)

David could have been overwhelmed by the situation or followed the complicated and misguided advice of others.  Instead, he approached the giant while sticking to the tools and tactics he knew best.

He knew the battle wouldn’t be won through his own strategy or strength anyway. The giant could only be defeated through the intervention of his mighty God.

2.       David stepped forward in confidence, knowing his God was bigger than the giant.

While an entire army of grown men was paralyzed by fear, tween David realized he had the upper hand. He gave the mother-of-all-comebacks to the lug who’d been running his mouth for far too long.

“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.’” (1 Samuel 17:45)

Pick Up a Stone

On Sunday evening, I sat beside Emma at a church dinner, alongside two friends from my Sunday school class.  Out of the blue, she asked, “So what’s your deal with Goliath?”

My friends and I looked at each other astounded. We wondered, a) how she’d overheard our lesson that morning and b) what prompted her to ask me about it so boldly.

I laughed, suddenly realizing she was still daydreaming about that crazy roller coaster and my lame attempt to avoid it. 

Now let’s not be hasty about drawing the wrong moral from this story... 

I still have no intentions of ever taking a 180 foot plummet at 72 miles an hour. There’s no need for that level of nausea in my life. Still, her inquiry brought me back to the bigger question.  What IS my deal with Goliath?

Why am I letting Goliath taunt me, and what am I going to do to bring him down?

What stones can I pick up as I formulate my approach? Am I praying? Am I even trying? Am I resolved to doing the best as I know how?

What’s stopping me from claiming victory? Am I going to keep my eyes focused on my circumstances, or am I willing to look up to the One who’s never let me down before?

It’s time to put my trust and my future in the hands of the God who’s bigger than the giant. It’s time to quit trembling on the sidelines and take a few steps forward.

It’s time to pick up my slight shot, get ready for battle, and watch what God can do.