Text: 1 Samuel 17:32-49
Theme: “Confidence Up Front”
The 3rd Sunday After Pentecost
June 21, 2009
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
Nearly one hundred years ago, Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president of the United States, delivered a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. This is the Teddy Roosevelt who uttered the all-but-immortal words, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.” At the Sorbonne, though, it doesn’t seem as if he was speaking softly. To the contrary, he spoke forcibly and directly to those cold and timid souls who spent their lives in criticism of others. Roosevelt declared:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
The two characters we have front and center in tonight’s reading – the shepherd boy David and the giant Goliath -- did not stand on the sidelines of life. They didn’t sit in the cheap seats and shout down their cheers or boos as the real players took to the field. They weren’t critics of the actions of others. To borrow the phrase of Roosevelt, these two were most definitely “in the arena.” They exuded confidence up front!
You know, it’s easy to be confident from a distance. It is similarly easy to declare that you are a confident person. And the world likes a confident person – perhaps even more than an honest person. An honest individual might say, quite honestly: “I’m not a very confident person!” But the more such a person bemoans the fact they’re not confident, the more we want to get away from them.
Speaking of confidence, I remember when my sixth grade teacher asked me to accompany the adult choir at church on the piano for one of their anthems. In fact, they gave me two anthems and we were going to practice one of them at the next rehearsal. I goofed up big time. I practiced the wrong selection before the rehearsal. When the director began the session, he said we were going to do selection A. I had practiced – and was ready for – selection B. I had no confidence in my ability to play selection A. And it showed. I had pretty much mastered selection B, but I butchered selection A. It was very embarrassing, and embarrassment is often what you end up with on account of lack of confidence.
But, as I said, there was no lack of confidence with these two characters. There stands the great Philistine, Goliath. He’s kind of like the “Mr. T” of the Old Testament. He would look at his enemy and think, like Mr. T., “I pity the fool.” Besides his massive size and weapons of war at the ready, he certainly was a loudmouth to boot. Sometimes, we must note, confident people can be a bit loud-mouthed. That was the case with Goliath. Here comes this little kid named David – a shepherd boy, no less – and Goliath starts running off at the mouth. As my golf buddies say, he starts “talkin’ some schmack.” He says: “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? … Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.”
A fair fight was one thing – warrior versus warrior, and all of that. But this was no contest. This was an ant trying to hold back a steamroller. This was a little punk kid, and Goliath was going to turn him into bird feed in short order.
But never underestimate genuine confidence. This little “punk kid” wanted a shot at the big guy. Of course, King Saul thought this was utter ridiculousness. Quite matter-of-factly, he says to little 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 this “boy” had confidence, and this “boy” had experience. Respectfully, he said to King Saul: “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God. 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.”
King Saul was impressed. He said “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” Then he gave David the king’s own armor, his own bronze helmet, his own coat, and his own sword. But that stuff didn’t work for David. That wasn’t him. David was David, and he wasn’t King Saul. David would use what he was familiar with: his shepherd stuff, his staff, his bag, five smooth stones from the river, and slingshot. But more than that, he would use his confidence, his own confidence. He would take his own experiences to the fight with him. And, most importantly, he faced down that giant with the full assurance that the God who had given victory after victory after victory in the past was not going to let him down now.
With his five smooth stones at the ready, David sets out to face Goliath. You’ve already heard how Goliath ran off at the mouth. Here’s what David said in response: “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 you know the rest of the story. This youthful young boy, in probably the equivalent of about 9th grade or so, didn’t need the other four stones. All it took was one, and it hit home.
Right there, my brothers and sisters in Christ, you catch the gist of ultimate confidence. To be sure, there is recognition of one’s own unique abilities. But most of all there is a willing to give credit where credit is ultimately due. Again, he said “The Lord will deliver you into my hand.”
The temptation with all of us is to immediately respond by saying: “That’s not me. I don’t have that kind of confidence; I never will. I never win. I just get by.” I know. I’ve said things along those lines too. But the question we all need to ask ourselves is this: who sold us that bill of goods?
The Scriptures declare that we all have been gifts for the common good. Maybe that gift is your experience. Have you ever thought of sharing it? How hard would that be? Have you ever gotten out a legal pad and jotted down the unique gifts the Lord has given you? Don’t do that as a chance to privately inflate your ego; do it as your own unique way to thank God! No, you’re not a king; I’m not a king. No, you’re not a shepherd boy; I’m not a shepherd. But you are who you are, and I am who I am.
What kind of giant Philistines, so to speak, are you facing in your life? Are you going to face them by faking confidence or by standing at a distance and trying to avoid the entire ordeal? Will you deal with them by running away, or by trying to be someone you’re not?
When Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, faced that greatest Philistine giant of them all, that hill of crucifixion, he said: “Father, if it be possible, take this cup from me. But nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”
That’s confidence up front! Our challenge is not to wish for it. The challenge is to use it!
Amen.
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