The story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) has become synonymous with the facing down of seemingly impossible odds. The image of the man who temporarily stopped the advance of a column of tanks intending to forcibly remove protestors from in and around Beijing 's Tiananmen Square is a David versus Goliath image which is widely considered to be among the most iconic images of the 20th century.
Of course, the tank man only temporarily stopped the tanks in
Rosa Parks said that she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger because she was tired of giving in. Her simple but brave action led to the creation of the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King and the dream of equality that he articulated has eventually resulted in the election of a black President of the United States
It can be done and the story of how David overcame Goliath has been an inspiration to many who have faced impossible odds in personal lives, communities, and globally.
It can be done and the story of how David overcame Goliath has been an inspiration to many who have faced impossible odds in personal lives, communities, and globally.
The story starts with the facing of Goliath. So, David said to Saul, “Your Majesty, no one should be afraid of this Philistine! I will go and fight him.”
What are the Goliaths or giants that we have to face? In our lives? In our communities? In our world? Jeremy Alvin suggests that we instinctively know our own Goliaths: “You know your Goliath...? You recognize his walk, the thunder of his voice. He taunts you with bills you can’t pay, people you can’t please, habits you can’t break, failures you can’t forget, and a future you can’t face.” For many at the moment, the Goliaths we face are to do with debts and unemployment.
Accordingly, without our local community there are Goliaths to be faced concerning cuts in facilities and services together with the need to support and empower those who are in debt or out of work or both. Then, thinking globally, we still need to face the giant of making poverty history with all that that entails in providing aid, achieving trade justice, tackling corruption, reducing our carbon footprint, and reconciling those in conflict.
So we start by facing the reality of our giants; acknowledging their existence while refusing to be cowed by their existence. Then, we see David placing his trust in God as he says, “The Lord has saved me from lions and bears; he will save me from this Philistine.”
Martin Luther King concluded his last sermon, delivered at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple in
Finally, we see David refusing the armour and weapons of King Saul and using what he has to hand and what is familiar to him: “David strapped Saul's sword over the armour and tried to walk, but he couldn't, because he wasn't used to wearing them. I can't fight with all this, he said to Saul. I'm not used to it. So he took it all off. He took his shepherd's stick and then picked up five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his bag. With his sling ready, he went out to meet Goliath.”
Similarly the "direct action" of the Civil Rights Movement — primarily boycotts, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, marches and similar tactics - relied on what was to hand, in others the mass mobilization of those who were discriminated against in nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience.
Using these means David defeated Goliath and the Civil Rights Movement gained the Civil Rights Act and other subsequent developments. But, having said this, we also need to acknowledge that David does not always defeat Goliath or, at least, not straightaway.
In Hebrews 11 we are given a role call of heroes of the faith. It starts as we would expect: “They shut the mouths of lions, put out fierce fires, escaped being killed by the sword. They were weak, but became strong; they were mighty in battle and defeated the armies of foreigners. Through faith women received their dead relatives raised back to life.” But then it changes tack: “Others, refusing to accept freedom, died under torture in order to be raised to a better life. Some were mocked and whipped, and others were put in chains and taken off to prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword. They went around clothed in skins of sheep or goats—poor, persecuted, and mistreated. The world was not good enough for them! They wandered like refugees in the deserts and hills, living in caves and holes in the ground.”
“What a record all of these have won by their faith!” the writer of this letter ends by saying and what an encouragement to us when we don’t always see David defeating Goliath. Just like Martin Luther King saying on the eve of his assassination - “I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land – the writer to the Hebrews says, “They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them.”
Howard Zinn, who was involved in the Civil Rights Movement, wrote this: “Social movements may have many 'defeats' — failing to achieve objectives in the short run — but in the course of the struggle the strength of the old order begins to erode, the minds of people begin to change; the protesters are momentarily defeated but not crushed, and have been lifted, heartened, by their ability to fight back."
So, the story of David and Goliath doesn’t give us a foolproof cast-iron methodology for overcoming giants but it does give us the inspiration and encouragement to take to the field and play our part. Here at
May we each take encouragement from this story – personally, locally and globally – as so many others have done over the centuries and commit ourselves afresh, with God’s help and the support of each other, to facing down the giants in our lives, our community, and our world.
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Bobby Womack - Deep River.
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