Remembering Our Strength
1 Samuel 17: 1-49
Roger Lynn
June 28, 2020

David stands squarely in a long tradition of Biblical heroes. His words and his actions on the battlefield with the Philistines are a perfect illustration of a theme we see played out by countless others who came before him and who followed him. He almost gets it, but not quite. He almost grasps God’s vision for humanity, and then he lets it slip through his fingers, like a stone sliding from a sling. He comes so close that he is even able to articulate it for those who are gathered around him. “...that all this assembly may know that God does not save by sword and spear...” (1 Samuel 17:47) And then he turns around and kills Goliath with a rock! He had all the language right – God will protect me, it’s not about strength and power, it’s about trusting in God. He walks right up to the edge of a profoundly new way of dealing with the world. And at the last moment he picks up a rock and takes matters into his own hands anyway.

We’ve been following in David’s footsteps for all of the years since then. We come close and then we miss it by a mile. Trusting God is an enormously challenging thing. The learning curve is steep. Most of the time we just don’t get it. Most of the time we simply fall back on the same old familiar patterns which guided David – we stoop down and pick up a rock.

In his shouting and taunting of Saul’s army, Goliath gives a clear and concise description of how the world approaches conflicts and challenges. “Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” (1 Samuel 17:8-9) In one way or another, that is still how the world seems to work, at least most of the time. “I’m bigger than you are!” “My dad can beat up your dad!” “I have more guns and planes and bombs than you do!” “I have the power and you don’t.” “I win – you lose – now you have to do what I say!’

And then along comes little David with a glimmer of a chance to show that it doesn’t have to be like that. “God does not save by sword and spear.” Saul still doesn’t get it. He tries to approach the problem in the usual way – meet force with force, strength with strength. He tries to dress David up in full battle armor so that he can go out and play the game the way it has always been played. The scene that Samuel describes is really quite comical. Little David staggering around under the weight of a bronze helmet, a coat of chain mail, and a heavy sword strapped to his back. He can’t see out from under the helmet. He can’t stand up under the weight of the armor. And now he’s ready for battle! Fortunately, David recognizes the foolishness of such an approach. He still has a chance of grasping the bigger picture – God’s ways are not our ways. But just as quickly the lesson is forgotten. David chooses to forego the armor, not because he recognizes that meeting power with power, violence with violence, is ultimately always futile, but because “...I am not used to them.” So, instead of relying on the power of armor, he relies on the power of his skill with a sling. He simply exchanges one form of self-reliant violence for another. When faced with overwhelming odds, all his talk about trusting God to provide another way fades into the background and he stoops down to pick up a rock. He forgets to remember the source of true strength.

Hundreds of years later Jesus’ disciples find themselves in a boat with Jesus, and they fall into the same trap. We heard this story a few weeks ago. After spending time with Jesus, watching him work, listening to his stories, observing how he lives, they fall apart at the first sign of trouble. With Jesus asleep right there in their midst, they forget to remember the source of their true strength.

Thousands of years later we still find ourselves facing the same challenge. Whether it is the ways we deal with a pandemic or the ways we deal with systemic racism, so often we still find ourselves forgetting to remember the true source of our strength. We still try to do it on our own. We still try to pretend that our strength is to be found is being stronger or faster or richer or smarter or better armed. We still fall back on the old familiar patterns. And like David, sometimes when we forget to remember, someone dies. Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, New York, Minneapolis, Atlanta, our own communities. Or, if we’re lucky, when we forget to remember we just end up looking frightened and foolish, like the disciples. But either way, God’s vision for a peaceful, fearless humanity remains largely unrealized. Too often Jesus words can still be spoken to us. “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40) When will we begin to remember that God is always with us? When will we begin to believe that “God does not save by sword and spear?” When will we stop stooping down to pick up a rock? May it be soon.