David had every right to be mad with his brothers. Here he
was in 1 Samuel 17, delivering aid to the brothers he thought would be hard
pressed in war, and they were instead caught in a fear-fueled stalemate. A horde
of Philistines loomed on the other side of the battlefield, but his bros and
all the men of Israel were too paralyzed to meet the threat in battle. Or maybe
“paralyzed” is the wrong word for it. Israel’s soldiers were running . . . just
in the wrong direction. They fled the battlefield at the mere appearance of a
fierce brute you may have heard of before. The man who stood nine-and-a-half
feet tall. The Philistine soldier who could hoist a weaver’s beam as a spear
and who’s armor alone weighed 125 pounds. The giant Goliath.
And this giant was calling for hand to hand combat, a
winner-takes-all duel of nations—the Israelite’s champion against the
Philistine’s champion, Goliath himself.
So sure, maybe it was kind of understandable that David’s
brothers were hiding in fear. We might be tempted to understand their
cowardice, but David certainly didn’t. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine,
that he should taunt the armies of the living God?” he shouted for all the
cowering men around him to hear. He couldn’t understand why no one had risen to
the challenge. With the living God on their side, after all, who wouldn’t want to take the giant out?
The response to David’s question by his oldest brother, Eliab,
was a biting put down. Eliab was too scared to take on Goliath himself, but he
wasn’t about to let his baby brother be the hero. “Why have you come down?”
Eliab cries. “And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I
know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in
order to see the battle.”
With this one sweeping verbal blow, Eliab sought to undercut
David’s intentions, his occupation, and even his character. It was utterly
unfounded and uncalled for, and a modern macho American portrayal of what happened
next would feature David reducing his brother to shreds. He had plenty of dirt
on his brother to sling back with, for sure. “Oh yeah, maybe I did come to see
a battle, but looks like there is no one man enough to bring it!” “Samuel
anointed me king over you, remember?” “If I’m wicked, what does that make you?”
But instead of bickering with his brother, David merely dismissed
the insult and moved on, trying to find someone who would give him the scoop on
the giant in town. Turns out, though, his brother wasn’t the only one to treat
David like a nosy, annoying little boy who should be ignored. He was given the
cold shoulder by the callous soldiers again and again. How frustrating it must
have been to David to see such apathy and indifference! But still, he didn’t
give in to his frustration and start quarreling with the soldiers. His
question was probably double-edged. He wanted to know about this giant who was
as haughty as he was hefty, but he was also challenging the soldiers to action.
When they refused to answer him and rise to action, he didn’t waste any more
breath on them.
David’s persistence and zeal finally got him an audience with
King Saul, and then, a matchup with the Philistine brute. When the dust settled
from their climactic face off—you know the story—David held up the severed head
of Goliath for all to see. The Philistines lost their confidence and the soldiers
of Israel finally found their courage at the sight, and an all-out rout of the
enemy followed.
There’s a huge lesson here for all of us, I think, and that
is this: What would happen if we stopped squabbling with our brothers, and
started pursuing the real fights? Sure, some of our Christian brothers are
annoying. They are camped on the sidelines of the battle, too apathetic to join
in—or even, we might be tempted to think, drop the "a" in apethetic. But what would happen if we stopped trying to
babysit fellow believers into being as engaged in the struggle for hearts and
souls as we think they should be, and instead just got down to the business of
slaying some giants?
I enjoy making snarks at Southern Baptists and the pandemonium
at your local mega-church’s youth group just like most people do, and I so
often gripe about Contemporary Christian Music or Tobymac’s latest attempt to “make
Jesus music cool”. But all those guys are in my camp! The real fight is across
the valley, and he’s yelling profanities and curses against my Lord. He’s a
giant, a lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. He’s a formidable foe,
a doctrine spawned by demons, but I have been given something better than David’s
sling to take him down with. As a soldier for Christ, I have been given
divinely powerful weapons for the destruction of strongholds!
So, no more walking in the flesh. No more posturing and
boasting and laying the smack down on my brothers who annoy me, or even insult me. Wherever there is teaching
that is clearly contrary to God’s Word, that is where you’ll find the true
warriors of Christ rallying. They won’t be found arguing over the worship music
or the color of the carpet in the foyer. The personal strongholds of sin are
what you’ll see stalwart Christians laying siege to. They will be focused on
removing logs instead of pinching at specks. It’s time to run out into the
battlefield and meet Goliath head on. When we trust in the Living God, there’s
nothing we can’t conquer.
My sister Caroline recently lived this out. In talking with
a local mega church pastor, trying to get him engaged in the fight for life
through the Forty Days for Life prayer rally, she was frustrated with his
response that he’d rather be known for “what he stands for, not what he stands
against”. She tried to reason with him through a couple more e-mails (doesn’t
standing for something automatically mean you will be standing against that
which is contrary to it??). But when he kept graciously bowing out of the
conflict to publicly stand in prayer for the endangered unborn, Caroline moved
on. She had to get back to rallying the prayer warriors who were willing to
stand and take on the giant deception of abortion. And through God’s blessing
on the campaign, she saw much, much success in our community.
I wonder if, years from now, that pastor will regret that he
didn’t have a hand in the transformation of our society from a culture of death
to a culture that values life at conception. It’s not our place to say what
battle he should or should not join, though. God will hold him accountable to
that. We just need to be faithful to bring down the giants in front of us. And
if we fight the right battle and bring a giant down, perchance our distracted
or fearful brothers will find their courage and join us.
Now I, Paul, myself urge you by Christ—I who am meek when face to face
with you, but bold toward you when absent! I ask that when I am present I need
not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against
some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare
are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the
knowledge of God, and we are taking every though captive to the obedience of
Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is
complete.
2 Corinthians 10:1-6
