Daily Devotions

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD. 2 Kings 4:42-44

It happens all the time but I never really noticed it until I was in a training class on the 11^th floor of the Lutheran Center in Chicago for my orientation to the position I currently hold in our synod. I was one of the first in the room so I took my customary seat in the back row. I watched the other people filing in – and that is when I noticed it.

The scramble to get seats within power cord reach of their laptops.

Being the back row has its benefits. I’m tall so I sit there without worries that I’m blocking someone else’s view. But I also, without even thinking about it, ended up close to the wall outlet for my power cord. The latecomers scrambled for “power seats” and those in the middle were just out of luck. Evidently that training room was built without regard for the computer age. Notebook paper is power free.

At some point the illustration hit me. How is it that we can be so cognizant of the need to plug in to the wall to power our laptops but so forgetful when it comes to plugging into the power of God to power our lives?

What shall we call this? This tendency of ours to live life on our own steam, to be driven by our own needs, desires and dreams with nary a thought as to what God might be thinking? How much pride, ego, anxiety and failure is driven by that kind of spiritual amnesia that leads us to forget who we are and Whose we are? Maybe we could call it “selective consciousness”?

Elisha’s short story demonstrates a very different orientation. He draws on God’s power over and over again. In just the first four chapters of 2 Kings – when the river got in the way, Elisha parted it. When the well water was bitter, Elisha purified it. When the Shunammite woman’s son died, Elisha revived him. When there was famine in the land, Elisha fed the people stew and bread. Again and again, without a thought or a doubt, Elisha called on the power of God and God delivered.

Here’s the invitation – plug in to the power of God and amazing things can happen!

36,000 kids are still in New Orleans. They are covering the city every day with over 200 servant projects. They will be part of a city-wide health clinic tomorrow. They are experiencing something together they never imagined – the power of God’s love focused intently through them to make a lasting difference in a hurting city – and every night they gather in the Superdome to celebrate.

I hope they make a deeper connection. I hope they see that the power isn’t in their numbers. I hope they see that the power isn’t in the planning or the logistics. I hope they see that the Power lies in God and that they won’t be leaving it behind when their buses head back home. The power of love. The power of hospitality. The power of sharing time, talents and treasure.

The power of making a difference because we are plugged in to the power of God who makes US different.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, thank you so much for the promise that you will never leave us or abandon us. Thank you for never giving up on us, even when we stray off on our own. Thank you for the power of your love flowing through us whenever we give ourselves away. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal. She said to her husband, “Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” 2 Kings 4:8-10

A wealthy woman made room at her home and at her table for a stranger traveling through town. A simple gesture of hospitality and care. A simple sharing of “what we have” for “what they need.” Yes, at the end of the story, the woman would receive a blessing…but first she would be a blessing. Welcome to the faith!

This is what we spend a lifetime of Sunday School classes trying to teach children. And this week, we’re sending 36,000 of our teenagers to New Orleans to put those lessons to work. The following is an excerpt from a story in yesterday’s New Orleans “Times-Picayune”:

“The Lutheran assembly is designed to be more than conventional youth Bible-study and worship, although, like any church youth meeting, it will include that,” said [chief planner] Heide Hagstrom. “More to the point, the triennial event is the church’s best effort at introducing teens to the concept of social justice, and to their obligations as Christians to the poor in their own communities…Basically, we’re going to help them learn how to live their baptismal vows.”

On each of the three days a third of the group, clad in distinctive orange T-shirts, will fan out across the metropolitan area to volunteer in hundreds of schools, churches and non-profits that organizers laboriously lined up months ago.

“We tell them to pay attention to what you hear. Then take this back to your own home towns. Find out what’s going on in your backyard … That’s the ultimate goal, ” Hagstrom said.

The others will remain at the convention center, working their way through workshops on justice issues, Scripture study, leadership and other topics.

Each day will end with speakers and worship at the Superdome.

Hagstrom said Lutheran leaders expected to come to New Orleans in 2009, but Katrina forced a deep re-thinking and re-opened the question.

On reconnaissance visits in the spring of 2006, Hagstrom, Weigel and other planners said they were concerned whether the wounded city’s convention industry could handle the logistics. But they were listening for something else as well.

“Every time we go to a city, we approach it not as a consumer … but ask ourselves, what has God planned for us in this place? We’re supposed to be God’s people, ” Hagstrom said. “There are people in need and that’s what we’re called to respond to.”

As it happened, Weigel said, the convention industry was begging them to come. She recalled the day one hotel executive came to a meeting with his foot in a cast.

“I asked him what happened. He said he was up on his roof, fixing it, and he fell off.

“How could you not come after hearing something like that?”

So it was that a sense that New Orleans is a special case suffused meeting plans.

Tuesday morning at the convention center — just yards from where thousands suffered four days in the heat in 2005 — the Rev. Sean Ewbank of Mandeville’s Hosanna Lutheran told a crowd of early arrivals during morning worship, “Make no mistake, you are on holy ground.”

Still, choosing New Orleans was not a slam dunk, several Lutheran leaders said. The city’s cultivated reputation for adult sensuality, not to mention its well-documented return of street crime, meant the decision was not without its opponents, several said.

Some people objected. Hagstrom remembered what she told them:

“We told them this is a culturally significant city for the United States. That there is a gift that New Orleans can give to the rest of us.

“Your understanding of death and resurrection is incredible. Joy and Pain. It’s the theology of the cross. You live it.”

Let us pray: A simple meal, a guest in an extra bedroom, a glass of cold water, a listening ear, a visit to a prisoner, new clothes to replace rags, in the simplest of ways we can extend to others the love which we constantly receive from you, O Lord. May we never forget that this is your will, daily bread and lives of justice for all. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and then returned to Samaria. 2 Kings 2:23-25

Now here is a Bible passage that one doesn’t see often in a devotion. I doubt a single children’s sermon has ever been preached on this text. Even in the old days of “Sunday School by flannel graph”, there weren’t many teachers prepared with two little cut-out she-bears and the 42 naughty kids they mauled. But, just like you sometimes discover when you read a list of ingredients, believe it or not, it’s in there.

Evidently Elisha sported a hairline of a rapidly receding manner when a gang of hooligans caught the blood scent of someone they could pick on so they attacked him with those “words that are never supposed to harm us.” The text doesn’t say whether or not the words harmed Elisha but it leaves nothing to the imagination about whether or not the guardian angel she-bears harmed the little bullies.

It is a fun little story. We need not make much of it. We don’t need to look for deep symbolical references or otherwise seek to make sense of a horrible story. Perhaps parents through the ages might have pulled it out as evidence that it isn’t wise for kids to tease bald men.

But I doubt that would stop them. Especially when they gather in the safety of numbers.

Please understand, any picture of the teenaged years that sounds idyllic is also quite a fantasy. The growing up years can be incredibly cruel. Kids pick on other kids. Incessantly. Intolerably. Cafeterias can be a gauntlet of well defined social classes, misfits and miscreants. Bullies and the bullied huddle in their respective corners, some planning their next attack while others cower and long for the end of the day.

A story appeared in the news this past year of a young kid who went home from school one day and ended his own life. He couldn’t take the abuse any longer. At least his tragic story made the news.

As children of God we are followers of the Prince of Peace. He told us that to love him is to love other people. This, more than denominational name tags, liturgical aerobics or membership on a church roster is what it means to live a Christian life. We can never teach or learn this lesson too often for the sin which lies within us is ever ready to pounce on the weak, the vulnerable, the different, the other.

We dropped off our son at the bus this morning for his trip to the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. I looked at a group of kids, most of whom I’ve known since they were babies, some of whom I baptized. I know their wonder but I also know their capacity to inflict and absorb pain on and from one another. So I pray for their safety and I pray that they simply be kind, gracious and hospitable to one another. The stakes are much higher than they realize.

Let us pray: Forgive us, Lord Jesus, for the unkind words and deeds that we have inflicted needlessly on others. Forgive us for laughing at that which isn’t funny. Help us see you reflected in the lives of every human being you have made – black, white, brown, gay, straight, tall, short, boy, athletic, shy, rich, poor, girl, Christian, Muslim, Jew and every other stitch of diversity you have woven into the rich fabric of life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.” 2 Kings 2:1-3

This chapter opens with Elijah and his protégé, Elisha, on their last road trip together. Elijah realizes the end is near, Elisha doesn’t want to see it happen. Elijah wants to leave Elisha behind, but Elisha – like a sticky little kid brother – won’t stay behind.

They meet several groups of people on the way – the prophets of Bethel, the prophets of Jericho, and fifty prophets at the Jordan river. Elijah works his final wonder, the parting of the river, and then disappears in a chariot of fire. Elisha, now left alone, picks up Elijah’s cloak, his mantle, and begins his chapter as primary prophet of God.

It is a key moment in the story and, like some of the best such stories, it comes to us embedded in a road trip. A trip marked by adventure, meeting new people, struggling against the unplanned things that go wrong, culminating in a major change.

As I mentioned yesterday, parents all over the country will be sending their teenagers on a road trip to New Orleans this week. Some by airplane, some by car, most by charted bus and fancy church vans, the traveling to and from the gathering is part of the journey. The constant conversation (at least among those wise enough to turn their incessant cell phone texting, i-pod listening devices off) will be of memory and anticipation.

Few such journeys will be uneventful. Something will go wrong, careful planning will crumble, at least for a few minutes along the way. There will be a measure of suffering if it is to be any kind of road trip at all. If those traveling pay attention, if they have eyes to see and ears to hear, they will come to know each other better and will craft memories that will last a lifetime.

For this time will not last forever. Even among those kids coming from small towns where they have shared their lives from their first breath, this time together will not last. Like Elijah and Elisha, the time will come to hand life over to the next crew standing in the on deck circle. For this is the journey of life, the way things go. Beginnings and endings with grand adventures marking the trip.

And above it all, just a quick fiery chariot ride away, stands the One who holds every step of the journey in his hand.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, thank you for those with whom we share our journey through life. Thank you for the Elijah’s who went before us, and the Elisha’s who follow behind us. Thank you for those with whom we share the adventure of today. Bless our kids as they travel to New Orleans. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay injured; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.” But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ Now therefore thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not leave the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went. 2 Kings 1:2-4

I have two things on my mind as we open this new week of devotions. First, the readings for next Sunday open with a passage from the 4^th chapter of 1 Kings. I want to put that reading in a wider context. And second, later this week, a magnificent horde of 36,000 t-shirted Lutheran teenagers will be descending on New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering. What ties these two together? The questions of relationship and response.

Who are we? To whom do we belong? Where does our trust lie? What difference does it make?

2 Kings opens with the, quite literal, fall of Ahaziah. The king of Israel (the northern kingdom) hurt himself in a fall. So he sent his messengers to ask the prophets of Baal-zebub whether or not he would recover. The problem? He is turning, especially in a time of need, to the wrong god. The real God, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac, doesn’t appreciate the slight. The real God, as Ahaziah must have known, is a “jealous” God, a position codified in the first commandment, “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.”

Is this jealousy of God a character defect? No it isn’t. God creates us. God loves us. God wants only what is best for us. So God knows that, when we turn to the gods who are not gods, we do so only to our own peril and the continued brokenness of life. God knows that, to get the world right, we need to be right. This is the open question and the mystery of the journey of faith.

If you would read through the entire Old Testament, especially the prophets, you would easily see that the two issues that continued to divide God from God’s people had to do with idolatry (chasing after false gods) and injustice (the failure of God’s people to show hospitality to the stranger or care for the widow, the orphan and the powerless.) Those two broken relationships, the relationship with God and the relationship with the neighbor, are what the prophets of God seek to restore. Both relationships are rooted in the question of loyalty in that a right relationship of God will lead to right relationships with our neighbors, for that is the will of God for us, for all times.

Jesus would capture these two relationships in his twin call to the Great Commission (to bring people into a right relationship with God) and the Great Commandment (to love our neighbor which issues forth in justice.)

But Ahaziah cared nothing for any of that. He just wanted his pain to go away. He didn’t draw a connection between his life situation and the God who had given him life.

Back now to our teenagers heading to New Orleans. They too know well the pain and the insecurities of life. The questions of who they are, who they belong to, who they can turn to in trouble or pain, who is trustworthy in their lives, are all wide open questions. So now the church that loves them has prepared an experience for them that will be marked by worship (relationship with God) and service in the community (relationship with their neighbors.) We pray not only for their trip, their safe travels and safe return, but also that the Spirit guide them in making the right connections.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we realize that we are still prone to chasing after the gods who are not gods. We are tempted by the quick fix, by whatever works, so we are fickle in our faith. Draw us to yourself that we might know your care and concern, that your will might be done in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and 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 very 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 Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.” When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.” 1 Samuel 17:45-49

Now we reach the end of this story. The end of THIS story, not the end of THE story. Goliath falls. THIS Goliath falls. But David will face many more Goliath-sized challenges in his lifetime. There will be more battles for him to fight. More struggles for him to face.

His greatest battles will be fought within himself as he struggles between faithfulness and faithlessness. The struggles of marriage and infidelity, parenting and children who go their own way. There are many battles ahead for David. But Goliath has fallen.

Martin Luther often talked about the difference between a theology of glory and the theology of the cross. The theology of glory is about victory, progress, “every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.” It is about human striving, human ability, human accomplishment. It sees Jesus as the great hero, the great example, the one we emulate and ask ourselves “What would Jesus do?”

The theology of the cross calls it as it sees it. A rejected and humiliated man hanging in agony on a cross – a vivid portrayal of God’s suffering love for his own, the central act of history. The cross defies any kind of easy categorizing of the world into good or evil. Saint and sinner, good and evil, death and new life are all there, both/and, always.

So we come to the end of the battle with Goliath and we are tempted to see it only as the triumph of brave David against evil Goliath. We are tempted to hear David’s reliance upon the God whom he trusts to bring victory as our example.

“Come on everybody, David slew Goliath by trusting in God, go on out there and get ‘em. You can do it!”

But that isn’t where I end up in my reading. I see the bigger picture. Yes, God is there in with and around David. Yes, David saw the reality of Goliath, he confronted his fear, he considered his own gifts, he responded to the call to serve, and he nailed him on the first shot. There are times when it works like that for us – when the Goliath-sized challenges of our lives melt away.

But the bigger picture tells us that there is always another Goliath just over the hill. And the Goliaths on the outside are often easier to defeat than those on the inside.

So we best not fight alone.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, all week long we have been listening to this story of David and Goliath. Each day, my heart has gone out to those who are facing challenges that feel bigger than life – sickness, unemployment, relationship struggles, war. Encourage us, each in our own battles, with the reminder that the battle truly does belong to you and that you will not abandon us in the fight. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”…. But David said, “The LORD, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you!” Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:31-40

When I was growing up, the best war movies starred Audie Murphy. The most decorated soldier of World War II, he almost didn’t get to serve. Only 5’5″, 110 pounds, he was turned away by the Marines and the Army Paratroopers. Finally allowed to join the regular Army, he served with remarkable courage.

Is that what it is about David? Is it remarkable courage that leads him to answer Goliath’s call? Or is it just plain foolhardiness? David’s eldest brother, Eliab, discourages him – “I know your presumption and the evil of your heart,” he says to him. Maybe Eliab is just jealous or maybe he knows something about the character of David that we haven’t yet seen.

Verses 24-27 help us see what drove David – The promise that the king would enrich the man who stopped Goliath (as the youngest son, David didn’t have many good prospects for life.) The promise of getting the hand of Saul’s daughter in marriage (you could marry into a worse family than that of the king.) The promise of freedom for his own family. And the real kicker – shutting up the guy who was causing the army of the living God to cower in fear.

In other words, David had many motives for offering himself to Saul. Some honorable, some less so. As David makes his case to Saul, he tells Saul (and he reminds himself) of the times in the past when God saved David’s life in the face of danger. Saul gives him a shot.

But Saul doesn’t want David to be unprepared so he lends him his weapons and armor. But they are too much for David. He can’t walk under their weight. Instead, he takes what he knows – five smooth stones, his sling and his shepherd’s staff.

What do we learn from this part of the story? If it is telling us that the only answer to Goliath-sized problems is the remarkable courage of an Audie Murphy or a shepherd boy like David, we’re in trouble. Few of us are heroes.

But every one of us has memories. Every one of us can remember those times when God sustained us in the past – such memories give us just what we need to confront the Goliath’s of life.

And every one of us has gifts and resources that God can use. We don’t have to take on someone else’s solutions and someone else’s answers that don’t fit us. With God’s guidance, we can find those five smooth stones that will prove to be all that we need.

We don’t need remarkable courage. We just need the willingness to step up to the plate and give it our best shot. Not because we are so brave, but because God is bigger than Goliath.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, when we feel overwhelmed by what we aren’t, what we don’t have, what we can’t do, we pray for your grace to open our eyes that we might see who we are, what we have, and what you can do through us. Help us find the five smooth stones that will prove to be all that we need. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. Jesse said to his son David, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them.” 1 Samuel 17:12-18

Twice a day, for forty days, Goliath beat his chest. Forty days in a wilderness. Forty, a time of trial, testing and temptation.

Enter the calvary? John Wayne leading the reinforcements? Rambo in the wilderness? No, God sends David. The youngest son of a shepherd. Born in Bethlehem. Bringing lunch to his brothers in Saul’s army. An errand boy.

Jews can’t read this story without seeing the majesty of God being worked out through his lowly and unlikely hero, David. Christians can’t read this story without seeing all of the details which point to Jesus, the one who also discovered God’s providential care in the wilderness, the Good Shepherd.

But for now it is just David running lunch out to the boys. Little did he know what he would find once he got there.

Goliath-sized challenges are like that. We seldom anticipate them let alone plan for them. They are what happens when we are on the way to something else. Perhaps that is why they seem to be so much larger than life…they shock us as we round the next hill of life and suddenly hear their roar. There we stand, with nothing to fight back with but our lunch.

It is only Wednesday. The rest of the story awaits us. For now, please understand that this isn’t a story about Goliath. It isn’t a story about Saul and the army of Israel. It isn’t even a story about David. It is really a story about God – the God who uses Goliath-sized problems to redirect our lives and return us to himself.

For now, leave this story with the image of a young man surprised to see a giant roaring in the valley. A young man sent on one mission only to discover a far different one awaiting him. Like us – a young man seemingly, just seemingly, unprepared and ill equipped and inadequate.

Goliath isn’t going to just go away. And God isn’t going to forget.

Let us pray: Dear Jesus, our shepherd, our guide, our protector, so often we feel exposed like lost sheep. We’ve run off on our own, surrounded by enemies, confused and afraid while Goliath roars in our ears. Still our hearts and silence our fears. Remember us, that we might remember you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? 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.” And the Philistine said, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” 1 Samuel 17:8-11

Athletes call it “trash talking.” I used to think it was great fun. When Yogi Berra said something along the lines of baseball being “110% mental and the other 90% hard work” he was pointing out the power of talking trash. Getting into your opponent’s head.

A famous Knute Rockne story tells of the time that he led his Fighting Irish – virtual unknowns from the sticks – out to California to play football. Before the trip, he rounded up every big guy he could find on the Notre Dame campus and gave them all uniforms. When the day of the game came, the Notre Dame players waited until the last minute to come out of the locker room. When they did – all of the big guys up in front – they circled the field before heading to their bench. An imposing sight! Game over.

Goliath, fully decked out for fighting, stood between the opposing armies and invited a challenger. An over-sized Bluto, he struck fear in the hearts of Saul and his men. But it was just words. It wasn’t a fear based on what was real (actually fighting Goliath) but a fear based on what possibly could be – actually fighting Goliath!

How often are our Goliath-sized problems, fears and challenges just like that? Fear of the unknown. Fear of what could be. Fear generated by the voices of those who have torn us apart in the past or potentially could in the future? How many of our fears exist only in our heads?

That isn’t to say that they aren’t real. Many people are immobilized by past trauma. Their Goliath-sized challenges stem from deep in their past but reach deep into their souls. They hear the voices belittling them yet feel powerless to defend themselves. Game over.

When you take the “could be’s”, “should be’s” and “might be’s” out of our thinking, life is a whole lot easier to live. But when Goliath is roaring in our ears, he is all we can hear.

Unless we take a moment for a deep breath. A moment to remember who we are, who we belong to. A moment to focus – not on ourselves but on the power of God within us. The power of God around us. One halting step follows and if that goes well we take another. One step at a time and God sustains us.

The deeper meaning of this story isn’t the fear generated by a trash talking Goliath. The deeper meaning is the good that God is soon to do despite Goliath’s prideful bluster. God is up to something. God is up to something in our lives.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, when we hear the voices which challenge us and see the obstacles that stand in our way, we can become immobilized by our fears and shrink. We pray, when our going gets hard, for the courage to trust in you and your power within us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes dammim. Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield bearer went before him.” 1 Samuel 17:1-7

Goliath was a giant warrior. “Six cubits and a span” – according to the notes in my Bible – means he was about ten feet tall. Goliath Schwarzenegger. The Incredible Philistine Hulk.

Every time I read this story, I immediately imagine the assorted characters who crossed the television screen when I was a kid and my mom let me stay up late enough at night to watch All Star Wrestling. Goliath would have been a great bad guy. He had all the tools, including the attitude (more on that tomorrow.)

I used to think professional wrestling was real. Evidently, lots of people still do today. Or at least they are willing to suspend all vestiges of rationality in their enjoyment of the mayhem. Professional wrestling ranks among the highest sources of pay per view television. It is wildly popular. I’m not sure what it is that is so attractive – surely it has to be more than beef cake.

I wonder if the attraction has more to do with its simplicity. Good vs. Evil. Good that isn’t perfect vs. Evil that isn’t so bad. Evil that seems on the verge of victory until Good ultimately prevails.

That is there in the story of Goliath. As the Philistine bad guy, he personifies the challenges that awaited the Israelites as they continued their journey as God’s people. He was larger than life. Over the course of time, he kept growing. He became legendary, living in the collective unconscious as a symbol of all that stands in the way of our destiny as children of God.

In all of our lives, at any given time, we are faced with Goliath-sized challenges and problems. The more we think about them, the bigger they get. So we look for diversions that take our mind off them. Symbolic escapes. But Goliath isn’t going to go away.

The first step is to define reality. For the Israelites that day, reality consisted of a big obstacle named “Goliath”. But he probably wasn’t as big as they imagined him. He did have his weak spots. And most of all, they weren’t alone.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, as we begin a new week, we do so mindful of the challenges that await us. As we listen this week to the story of David and Goliath, we pray for your gifts of courage and insight, that we might grow through the struggles of our own lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.