June 22, 2009 — 11:06 AM
Keep your calm
Texts: 1 Samuel 17:33-49; Mark 4:35-41
There David stood, proclaiming his desire and ability to take on the much larger enemy, Goliath, to the complete and utter amazement of King Saul. “Could this one be serious?” Saul must have been thinking. It was obvious that David would lose a thousand times over based on the physical attributes of the two combatants in question.
And there Jesus was, sleeping in the face of a terrifying storm that threatened to sink the boat. He did not rise to lend a hand to the rest of the crew in fighting against that eventuality. He did not give any suggestions to how they might get themselves safely to the other shore. He just lay peacefully on a cushion while the tempest swirled.
How could David and Jesus remain so calm while chaos, fear, and panic raged around them? Why didn’t they get sucked into the anxiousness with which they were confronted?
Why? Because they knew a different way. A way that God had prepared them for. A way that God would empower them to traverse successfully. They saw things differently. And that allowed them to find peace in the midst of the panic and storm.
If David had followed conventional wisdom on hand-to-hand combat, he most certainly would have lost. And that’s what King Saul was envisioning. Hand-to-hand combat was what Saul knew best. It’s what he excelled in. It had served him well before and during his reign as king. So when David presented himself to Saul as the one willing to go up against the largest and most feared of all the Philistine fighters, how could Saul do anything less that guffaw?
Could this kid be serious? He was short. He wasn’t very strong. He wasn’t a fighter in the army so he didn’t have his own armor or training in how to use the weapons. How could he think he would ever triumph over a skilled warrior many times his size?
But David was persistent. He argued that his time minding the sheep had more than prepared him to face enemies much larger than himself. He had gone up against lions and bears and come out of it well – not only in one piece but having saved the sheep in the process. Going up against the giant Philistine didn’t seem all that different in his mind.
But David’s argument failed to impress the king. So he pulled the God card. Seeing the non-plussed reaction of the king, 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.” David knew that if Saul wouldn’t listen to him, a lowly shepherd, he most certainly would listen to God. So he used that angle to soften Saul’s resolve.
And it worked. King Saul really didn’t have any other options. None of his warriors were stepping forward to take on the challenge. He didn’t really want to send any of his best men into what would surely be a death sentence. And this young whippersnapper seemed so bent on taking on this giant, why not let him have a try?
So King Saul assented. And he set about preparing David in the way that he would any member of his army. He brought out the best armor – that happened to be his own: a bronze helmet, a coat of mail, and a large sword. Not only was all this armor heavy and unfamiliar to David, but it was also made for Saul who was much taller and larger than him. It must have been quite a sight. Can you imagine it?
It must have looked something like a child who has rummaged through a parent’s closet to play dress-up with the clothes found there. They don’t fit. They are too big. They just end up looking silly and don’t allow the child to actually move or function well.
David knew from the outset that the armor wouldn’t work. But, he had to go along with the king’s wishes. So David let them try the armor on him. But when it became apparent that this would never do, he went with the plan he had in mind all along. Just him, and the things that he carried with him on his wanderings with the sheep – a staff and a sling.
It wasn’t what was expected. It wasn’t what Goliath was prepared for. But it was what David knew. David was using the experiences that he had had and the gifts that God had given him to face a foe who was challenging God’s authority. David knew that the unexpectedness of it all would work to his advantage. He needed that in order to have a chance at success.
David was calm when everyone around him was in a panic because he trusted God to work through him and empower him to do great things. David knew that God had done this in the past. And that helped him to trust that it would happen now.
With this confidence in God and the gifts that God had given him, David ran toward Goliath and got off a perfect shot with his sling before anyone had any idea what was happening. Success! Much to the amazement of all present.
A similar situation faced Jesus as he lay sleeping on the boat.
It was a dark and stormy night. Nothing good ever happens after you hear those words, right?! But, that’s what it was. Now, we have to keep in mind that Jesus had called his first disciples from men he saw working ships in the sea. So these were no newbies to handling ships in less than ideal weather. It would take more than a simple storm to get them in such a state of panic.
We can imagine that they all got in the boat to make their way to the other side and little by little the wind began to pick up. The men made preparations to face it. They drew on their knowledge of the sea and the skills they had developed over the years to navigate the increasingly choppy waters. They drew on the conventional wisdom that had helped them weather such storms in the past.
But things kept getting worse. Conventional wisdom wasn’t helping. Water was coming on board faster than they could get rid of it. The waves began to be so tall that the ship was in danger of capsizing. And all of them, minus Jesus, were doing everything in their power to keep the ship upright and heading in the right direction.
I think I would have been more than a little annoyed if someone sat the whole thing out – leaving the rest of us to handle the situation. This was an “all hands on deck” kind of situations. And not all the hands were there. That’s the type of situation that breeds more than a little bit of contempt.
And so the disciples, in complete exasperation and great fear, woke Jesus and cried, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” That was the only explanation they could come up with for why this man lay unaffected by all the commotion around him not deigning to lift a finger to help in the battle against the wind and sea.
How could he be so calm while this storm threatened their very existence?
How? Jesus knew that he, empowered by God the Father, had the ability to quiet that storm. He knew that it would be powerless against him. He knew that it would only take a word from him and the storm would go away. And that is exactly what Jesus did. He spoke. “Peace! Be Still!” And all was calm.
David, had the gifts of being quick on his feet and a good aim with his sling. Jesus, God incarnate, had the power of God at his command. Each one knew that he was ready for the seemingly insurmountable challenge that faced him. Each knew that trust in God would empower him to use his gifts and talents in ways that would save the day.
That is how David and Jesus kept their calm. They trusted God to empower them and to protect them.
Following Jesus’ rebuke of the storm, he turned and asked his disciples, “Why are you afraid?” This is just another way of asking, “Where is your faith?” David, being just a boy in the service of the king, was not able to ask such a question, but his very actions highlighted his trust in God in opposition to Saul’s lack of trust.
The calmness of David and Jesus in the face of fear and chaos put into stark relief the lack of trust in God of all those around them.
This story of David facing off with Goliath comes just after the passage that we looked at last week where God rejected Saul as king, sending Samuel to anoint someone new. And even though David had been anointed, he could not yet step into the role of king since Saul was still alive and was still very much in control of the kingdom. David had to bide his time, waiting for Saul to either realize that he no longer had God’s favor and step aside or die. Until then David needed to keep on Saul’s good side or he would surely die.
Last week’s passage told us that Saul had rejected God leading God to reject him. This week’s passage gives us a very clear example of just how Saul rejected God. It shows us that Saul did not trust God to provide. Saul did not believe he or anyone around him had the gifts and experiences from God to meet the situation. Saul did not believe that God would empower the Israelites to overcome their foes the Philistines.
David did all of these things. And because he did, he was successful in bringing down Goliath and, by extension, the whole Philistine army.
The story of Jesus and the disciples comes just after several parables that Jesus had been teaching to explain how the kingdom of God is different than what we would expect. Last week we looked at two of those parables – that of the seeds that grow no matter what amount of attention they receive from the one who sowed them and that of the mustard seed that grows to be the biggest plant in the garden.
Jesus shared these parables and more with his disciples and others gathered to demonstrate that with God all things are possible. And yet, here they are only a few hours later, and the disciples have lost all confidence in God – not even calling on God’s name for help in the face of distress. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, this is the picture that we get of the disciples. They hear Jesus’ teachings. They see Jesus’ miracles. And yet, they don’t have faith. They don’t understand what they are witnessing. They don’t trust God.
David and Jesus are calm in the face of great fear and chaos because they trust God and they know God will use them to further God’s kingdom.
Who are we like today? Are we like David and Jesus? Or are we more like King Saul and the disciples?
I bet we’d all like to say that we are like David and Jesus. And I hope that we are. But, it’s not always easy to keep our calm, to trust God to work in and through us in the face of a great challenge.
Sometimes it’s obvious, to both us and those around us, that we are the right person for a job. Maybe we have a gift or skill or have had a certain experience in our life that gives us the insight and perspective that is needed. In those times, it’s probably easier to step up and allow ourselves to be used to help the situation or tackle a problem.
But what about those times when we have gifts or skills that others aren’t aware of or maybe even doubt the usefulness of? What about those times when we are like David, having to make our case as to why we should be allowed to help? Are we as diligent as David? Do we trust that God can and will work through us, using the gifts that God has given us to face the challenge successfully?
Or maybe we have faced times when we know we are the right one for a job, but we feel overwhelmed by all that is going on in our life and we just can’t take on one more thing. We say to ourselves, “Someone else will step up. Someone who has more time than me. I’m already doing more than I have time for.”
Maybe this is true. But maybe God is calling us to make room for that challenge. Maybe God is asking us to stop doing something else and start doing this new thing. It’s not easy to know what to do in these situations. It takes trust in God.
Or maybe we have gifts and skills that we aren’t even aware of. Maybe someone is asking us to branch out into a new endeavor, encouraging us in this way because they see something in us that we haven’t even noticed. We shouldn’t be too quick to brush these encouragements off. Maybe God is speaking through that person trying to help us see that we are being called to be used in a new way by God.
What gifts has God blessed each one of us with? What life experiences have we had that would enable us to give wisdom and insight to others? God wants to work in and through every one of us to bring about God’s kingdom. Will we let God do that?
We need to trust that God will empower us. And then we will be able to keep our calm. Amen.
