Читать книгу Finding Shelter - Russell J. Levenson Jr. - Страница 18
ОглавлениеGiants Don’t Have the Last Word
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 . . . .”
—1 Samuel 17:45
New beginnings are great—always a chance for a fresh start. But sometimes new beginnings are weighty. When fall comes, for many the lightness of summer gives way to the enormity of what follows. The year-end numbers are closer than they were back in January. We cram not one, but several holidays into the months ahead, the home may need to be readied for cooler temperatures, and so on. For a good bit of my adult life, I was a parent of children who were off to school as summer ended. There was always a good bit of stress and strain around that—even more so when they left home for college. For some of us it may just be overwhelming, beyond our capacity to defeat the giant tasks before us.
There is no better story in the Bible about defeating giants than the well-known combat between David and Goliath. You know the story. The Philistines and Israelites were at battle, but the Philistines’ best tactic was not warfare, it was fear. They sent out Goliath of Gad, who was, by all accounts, about nine feet tall—think Yao Ming on steroids. For forty days (which is the Bible’s way of saying “a long time”), like the bully on the playground, Goliath would come out and taunt not only the Israelites, but also their God.
But Goliath was a giant, and his stature alone was the source of the Israelites’ reluctance to take him on. In stepped David . . . young David, from field of sheep to field of battle. He refused armor, and armed with only a slingshot and five stones, he stepped out to the disdainful sarcasm of the giant.
