1 Samuel 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield… The duel of David and Goliath is but one chapter in the history of faith and force in conflict. Brute force here appears with sword and shield, helmet and spear; faith comes with the simple sling and stone, but, with God's strength and in His name. Force looks down contemptuously on faith, and holds itself proud and arrogant. Faith is submissive and humble, but full of hope and courage. It, matters not what form force takes — that of numbers, of wealth, of social prestige, of intellect, of educational or of political superiority; if it arrays itself against simple faith in God, the duel of David and Goliath is again repeated. Let us notice certain central facts. 1. This is a faith that is in action. Nothing is said of prayer, though David may have spent the whole night in prayer before the fight. His is a faith that acts, rather than begs. There are times when even prayer is out of place. God once said to Moses, "Why criest thou unto Me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward." It was a time for marching. The spirit of prayer may be continued, though the form be suspended. Faith here stands alone in the person of David. A grain of mustard seed rather than a can of dynamite is the chosen type of Divine working. A single soul like Luther is filled with God's thought and power, while the community is not in sympathy with that thought. Vox populi is by no means Vox Dei. The voice of the people killed Jesus Christ, it killed Socrates, it killed the martyrs. It is the minority, often, that more truly represents the right and the truth. 2. Faith controls forces or forces will control faith. There was a young man who once was sent out by our missionary board reluctantly, for they doubted his efficiency; but in a single year he led ten thousand to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. John Clough was a surveyor, and he preached to companies of men under him on one verse, "God so loved the world," etc., till 15,000 were reached and two-thirds of them accepted Christianity. This was in connection with a mission field so apparently unfruitful that it was thought hardly worth continuing. He dedicated his surveying talent to Christ Where is your confidence — in faith or forces? Which? Michael Angelo worked so long on ceilings and on things overhead that it is said he had formed the habit of looking upward as he walked the street or field The true believer is "looking unto Jesus" He brings all he has to Him. "My faith locks up to Thee," in his language. 3. Faith is simple and unchanging It can overcome one difficulty or form of opposition as easily as it can another. Not so in the play of material forces David subdued the bear in a different way from that employed with the lion, and Goliath was met with still different methods of physical action; but the training in faith which the son of Jesse had received enabled him to meet and overcome all things through God's power. But petty, pestering trials are sometimes harder to meet than great ones. A Turkish army once forced their way into a German city, but were driven back by swarms of bees, whose sting was harder to meet than the blows of a battering ram. It may require less faith to meet some great Goliath of difficulty than to preserve one's Christian equanimity during a single night's siege of mosquitoes in a New Jersey hotel. The housekeeper loses her temper at home amid dust and din, and the merchant amid the buzzing annoyances of the store. For great ills and small ones alike, faith in God's promised presence and strength will alone avail. 4. Faith is protected, though its power seem vain; and force alone is vain, though it may seem protected. Bystanders at this duel doubtless said: "Goliath is safe and David is in danger." But the giant died and the boy returned in triumph. The three Hebrew youths in the fiery furnace were in the safest place in all Persia. was unharmed trusting in God. After he confided in the sovereign a promised protection he was betrayed and burned at the stake. Finally, temporary defeat is to the believer the highest victory. He may be "killed all the day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter," but none of these things need to move him. None of them can separate him from the love of Christ. (A. C. Dixon, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. |
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