Doing a root cause analysis of all rejection of God reveals the same underlying bug. The fatal flaw of every Goliath, no matter how large, is the same. It is pride. And the fig leaf of pride is covering up an inner fear. But for those who abandon all comfort to God, fear withers because there is more than just this life. The truth is the living God, maker of all things visible and invisible.
There is a lesson here, however, about fear, for which David and Goliath can provide the example. This lesson is as timeless as it is obvious, for David was instructed to be silent by his brothers, by his fellow countrymen, who were all trembling in fear of this large bully that seemed undefeatable. But David refused to be silenced.
He knew what was true, what was good, and he would not be quieted by muscle, shouting, or argument, because that is what the human heart must do when the Truth is being stifled. This is when the humble and simple turn bold just by standing up for what is beautiful and offering up all their worldly reputations, possessions, and lives for the glory of God.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?”
A thorough understanding of that verse must be made in order to set your face like flint against what is popular and powerful. Because when faced with death or the loss of a job, some men and women will understand that those things mean nothing, zero, compared to the Truth, and they will willingly stand, even if they are the last, single, solitary voice on earth, to declare the Truth and go out naked and alone to fight the giant with nothing more than the Truth at their side. I would like to believe I could do that, but my fear is that I will be like Peter who was bold in the boat but timid on the water and started to sink as soon as the wind came up. Why did Peter sink? Because of fear. Because he didn’t trust in God like David did.
Keep in mind that Goliath came to the camp every day for forty days, challenging the whole army, and no soldier would stand, until the youthful David said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
Did you catch that? Not the insult about the circumcision, but the last part: the living God. He is alive. He was alive then, he is alive now. And David knew that he could be trusted, because he is the Creator, the Maker, the Artist, the Author. He is Being Itself.
And his brothers tried to silence him, because they were afraid of Goliath, afraid of fighting for the Truth. His brothers said:
“Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption, and the evil of your heart; for you have come down to see the battle.” And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?” And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way; and the people answered him again as before.
David was not content to hear their defeatism, so he went straight to the leadership and asked them, and there too he was shut down and told not to speak.
When the words which David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
So he was told “No” once again, and what was his weapon? It was not yet the slingshot, but his voice, his words, for he knew what he was, what he was capable of, and most of all he knew what it meant to fully trust and abandon himself to God.
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him and killed him. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
By speaking, by asking, seeking, knocking; by speaking, he was given the right to go fight, and it’s obvious that if he needed to ask again, or a hundred more times, he would have kept thrashing about the camp until someone listened to him and was awakened to the fight. But he would go it alone.
And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
So because they were thinking like men and not like God, they dressed up the boy in a man’s armor, too heavy to move around in, so that he would be “safe,” and in that safety David knew he would lose the fight. He needed to be naked and fearless in front of God in order to defeat Goliath.
Then Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a helmet of bronze on his head, and clothed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword over his armor, and he tried in vain to go, for he was not used to them.
Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these; for I am not used to them.” And David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd’s bag or wallet; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.
With basic tools, unexpected trust, and wild abandon in his faith, he went forth, to be mocked and derided, surely even by his own army.
And the Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, ruddy and comely in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”
David did not need more. He did not need armor, nor sword, nor clothing, nor shield. He had all of these things on his side, as he invoked God, just as St. George before he slayed the dragon, just as Jesus rebuked Satan in the desert. You cannot go to war with evil alone, and you cannot go to war half-hearted. This battle is in the realm of spiritual combat. The battle for Truth, the one Truth, is always spiritual.
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.”
The battle is the Lord’s. It is always so.
When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; there was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath… (1 Samuel 17)
Faith and works. Body and soul. Ask, seek, knock. If you must speak out, do it with charity. Remember that you are fighting with something beyond the humans who appear to be the enemy. They are not the enemy, they are just behind enemy lines. This is a spiritual war. For this a sword is not needed but rather faith, hope, and charity. By your endurance you will gain your soul.
