Valerie Rae Hanneman
1 Samuel 17:48-51 (The Message) “That roused the Philistine, and he started toward David. David took off from the front line, running toward the Philistine. David reached into his pocket for a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine hard in the forehead, embedding the stone deeply. The Philistine crashed facedown in the dirt. That's how David beat the Philistine—with a sling and a stone. He hit him and killed him. No sword for David! Then David ran up to the Philistine and stood over him, pulled the giant's sword from its sheath, and finished the job by cutting off his head.”
A co-worker stopped me for a moment in the hallway, “I heard you are going back to Africa” she said. Yeah,” I responded, “But only for four weeks this time.” “Why would you want to go back there?” “I love the friends I have in Jos, I love the country, and I love being part of making a difference in the AIDS pandemic.” I answered her truthfully. “I don’t know how you could love it in Africa with all the troubles they have – and anyway – what difference do you make to AIDS? It’s not like you’re a doctor or anything.” Boy, didn’t I feel good after that!
David’s dad sent him to the army encampment to see how his older brothers were doing. What an unpleasant surprise he found there. The army of Israel, the army of GOD was cowering in fear from a giant named Goliath. Every day Goliath would come and challenge any one soldier of Israel to meet him on the battlefield – winner take all. Every day - for who knows how many days - his challenge went unanswered. When David started asking questions he was immediately attacked by his older brother. “Why are you here? Did you just come to see the slaughter?” David then went to King Saul and offered to fight the giant. “You can’t fight the giant, he’s a battle-seasoned warrior and you’re a snot-nosed kid!” But David prevailed and he went out to do battle with the giant. When Goliath saw this 14 year old child he was first astonished and then insulting. David very calmly said, (in the vernacular of the day) “You have insulted the Living God. I am going to cut off your head and spit down your throat.” Goliath went ballistic and charged at David. And the shepherd boy RAN AT Goliath. And with one stone in a slingshot David killed Goliath and cut off his head. Did you see that? David, whose faith was in his God, ran at the giant and the giant came crashing down.
There are still giants in the world - real giants. They have different names – the biggest one is lack of a personal relationship with Jesus – but there are others almost as big - poverty, starvation, tyranny, terrorism, disease, crime, and so on. And they are really big giants – so we think that they are too big for us to defeat and we pull back into our camp. We tremble while the giants shout challenges at us, and we pray, “Please, LORD God, don’t let them get me or mine.” Where is our David who will come to our rescue and kill the giants?”
I found my David, I found him at a Third Day concert when they flashed statistics of the number of children in Africa orphaned by AIDS, and from the depths of my soul I cried, “I can’t just ignore this, what would You have me do?” and I found David in the lyrics of Todd Agnew’s song “My Jesus” when I cried out to God again, “I want to be more like Jesus – use me!” The David I saw looked like me. My David is me. Am I going to single-handedly defeat AIDS? I don’t think so. Am I going to find homes for every orphaned child? Only if they come live with me. Am I going to feed every child who is not reacting well to the HIV anti-virals because they are also fighting malnutrition? Probably not. I am not that kind of David. But I am the kind of David that is going to run at this giant – and not cower in fear from it. I am the type of David that is not going to stop just because others think that I cannot make a difference.
God has called all of us to be David, to run at the giants that surround us. We are all called to fight the biggest giant of all – we are all called to be evangelistic, to introduce others to Jesus. None of us are given a weekend pass on this battle for souls. And we are all called to fight other giants as well. Not everyone is called to fight the same giant. I am called to fight AIDS, maybe you are called to fight hunger in India, or called to help children in poverty to read, or maybe you are called to fight Biblical ignorance in the Church. When David defeated Goliath, he did not defeat him through his power; he defeated him through God’s power. Goliath was deader than a doornail the moment that David ran at him, secure in his victory because he was secure in his God.
There are giants in this world, but they can be defeated – maybe not by just one of us, but by the Eternal Church fighting them as one. They can be defeated but not through our power and not through the Church’s power – they can only be defeated through God’s power. But if we run at them as one – they will come crashing down.
Do I make a difference at Faith Alive? Do I make a difference in the AIDS pandemic? I think that I do – otherwise God would not send me. Maybe I just make a miniscule difference – but one thing I know for certain. If I do not follow God to Nigeria then I will make no difference at all, I will simply be one more soldier cowering in the tent while the giant roars. If I refuse or ignore God’s calling, then am I not complicit in the AIDS deaths?
What giant are you called to run at? What Goliath are you going to bring crashing down? We can do it, you know. We can defeat them all. We can all be David. We just need to have faith in God, depend on His power and start running at that giant.
Papa God, what a privilege it is to be used by You to fight the giants. Help us all to have David’s faith in You and in Your power. Help us to run at the giants, secure in knowing that they are already defeated.
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Posted by Valerie at April 10, 2008 01:14 AM