Words matter…

David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.  Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.  The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.  David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to 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.

 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.  He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.  He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.  “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

 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.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.  Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

(1 Samuel 17: 32-49)

Background

The Philistines occupied a hill. The Israelites another. There was a valley between. Tensions were high. And mounting. The Israelites were poised for battle. So were the Philistines. But neither had yet been prepared to make a decisive move. And so this 40 day epic dance played out. Sometimes in battle you make the first move. Other times you prepare to make the second counter move. And sometimes you just wait. Both sides were waiting.

The Philistines offered an interesting proposal: Each side present their best fighting man. Man versus man. Winner take all. Slight problem from the Israelites lens. The Philistines had Goliath. The giant. Goliath taunted. Goliath flexed. And Goliath raged. The Israelites watched. And listened. They looked from side to side at potential candidates to represent Israel. And they began to wilt.

The Israelite king was on the scene. King Saul. And he was being called out. Publicly shamed. An effective tactic for the male gender that attaches so much to personal respect. Something needed to be done. And he knew it. His men were beginning to lose heart. Truth was that Saul was terrified. But he needed to do something….but do what?

David, who had recently been assigned as a harpist for Saul, had arrived on the scene to hand out cheeses to one of Saul’s military commanders. After dropping off the cheeses at the supply tent, David raced to the front line to check out the status. He wasn’t impressed. Goliath wasn’t just defying any army. Goliath was defying the army of God. David’s question – “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?” All were fixated on the Goliath obstacle. David’s mind had already shifted to the other side of the victory. David was different.

Saul was informed that David was visiting. And offering a much different point of view. David’s final reminder to Saul “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

David reminded Saul that God was a worthy defender. It was his power that would guarantee victory.   Give Saul credit – he made a decision to accept Goliath’s challenge. Israel would have a representative in the battle after all. In the spirit of “go big or go home” Saul put all his chips behind the young Bethlehem shepherd; the harpist; the cheese deliverer. The hopeful young man with faith in a bigger power.

David’s persuasive reminder to Saul was a critical ingredient in this story. It is often overlooked. It awakened hope in Saul. It persuaded him. Saul reviewed his options. He reviewed his most experienced warfighters. His best. He reviewed David. He thought about David’s words.

Simply, this clash between a giant and David never takes place unless Saul ratifies it. And he did.

Words instill hope. They remind. They offer hope. Simply, battles can be initiated and won or lost on words. Words matter.

Reflections

This heart of ours is so easily prone to be faint. To melt. To fixate on the giant in front of us. To easily elevate the strength of the seen. Over the power of the unseen. And to allow our minds to be preoccupied with the oh so visible giant – that circumstance that seems insurmountable. And it is in this focus that our words can follow. And be negative.

These last few months the world is facing a new giant – a giant called the coronavirus. It is so easy to fixate on the statistics. The endless news feeds. On the negativity. On the hopelessness. To get frustrated. And to lose faith.

It is important to be reminded again that words matter. As believers we are meant to represent a world view that contrasts to the secular. The conventional. We are obligated to make sure that our narratives and our language focus on hope. And faith. And the strength of an unseen power. Of a God who relishes redeeming the broken. This is a massive opportunity to demonstrate a kingdom perspective. With our friends. And our families.

Why? Because words matter. And the world right now is desperate for hopeful and faith-filled words.

Lord, you know that this entry was written as a reminder for me. You have been whispering that my narratives and descriptions this last month have fallen short on this virus topic. I have disproportionately focused on the challenge. Please help me and others to begin shifting our language to reflect more faith and hope. Ultimately, recognizing and acknowledging that you “have this”. Please initiate an assault on the current enemy as you did on Goliath. Be gloried in it all. Amen.

What if one of God’s principal plans through the virus challenge is for believers to represent a kingdom vision against a backdrop of hopelessness? Even to our families? Our children?

What if our more hope-filled narratives provide critical ingredients for searching friends and family member to some day come to faith?