personally

David shows up in the middle of this standoff, and the thing that David does that no one else does, the one thing that David remembers that no one else remembers, the one thing that David talks about that no one else talks about, is God.

 

That’s not easy for some folks to do, to talk about God. 

David was sent by his father. “Go check on your brothers.” When David the shepherd boy arrives, he learns that Goliath is challenging the men of Saul. And David says, “Who is this that defies the armies of the living God?” Not “Who defies the armies of Saul?” but “Who defies the armies of the living God?” This is the first time that God is mentioned.

 

The reaction is from David’s oldest brother, sounding very much like an oldest brother: “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be taking care of the few sheep our father has left? I know you have just come to watch the big boys in battle. What are you doing here?”

 

David has come to speak God into this circumstance. Saul has made no mention of God. The soldiers have made no mention of God. David’s brothers make no mention of God. David comes not as a soldier, but rather as a theologian, and he speaks God into the circumstance. That is when everything changes.

 

The words with which we praise God shape the world in which we live.

There is something to be learned from this story, and it is not simply a moral lesson that the small guy can whip the big guy. The intention of this text is to reveal that God needs to be spoken into every circumstance.

We assume that the only reason for holy speech is evangelism. The purpose of faith talk is to change the neighbor. But there is another purpose, a deeper calling, a different reason to speak our faith. Sometimes we need to speak God into the circumstance not because the neighbor needs it, but because we need it. For it is in talking that we discover what it is we believe. In talking, we don’t simply say what we believe; in talking, we learn what it is we believe. 

Until the speech of David, Goliath is the giant. But once God is referenced, Goliath doesn’t look so big anymore. Who can claim to be a giant in the presence of God? I have seen it happen in hospital rooms. I have offered countless prayers; but I have also heard testimony in the hospital room. I have listened as faithful people have tried to articulate their faith in the face of illness. And when they have been able to articulate what they believe, it is not a matter of eloquence, but a matter of honesty. When an honest faith is articulated, cancer is no longer the giant.

“If I have achieved anything in my life, it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God.” - Dorothy Day

taken from:

http://www.villagepres.org/sermons/2006/05-28-06.htm

 

Stumbled upon this notes while searching up David & Goliath, wow-ed. I needa apply too, to talk about God out loud in my life situations :)