Using Our Divine Resources

FIRST READING 1 SAMUEL 17:(1A, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49 /  GOSPEL MARK 4:35-41

Last week’s text led us to consider the unexpected ways in which God works and the confidence we should have in Him no matter WHAT circumstances we face – and this week’s text also very much does the same.

But it goes a little further by giving us two different examples of HOW we might choose to do that. One that calls on us to exhibit our own cleverness as we face the trials before us (David facing the wrath of the would-be mighty Philistine Giant) and one that calls on us to call upon Him – albeit perhaps in a less fearful and dramatic way than the disciples did when faced with the perils of the storm as Jesus sleeps lay sleeping peacefully in the boat.

Our first story certainly is a familiar one, but as also mentioned last week, when hearing the whole of the text there may be a few things we don’t quite remember as before.

This week for me there were several things: First of all I had forgotten all of the detail that is given in the story of David slaying the giant. From the weight of Goliath’s armor and spear tip to the effort put forth by David to explain to Saul why he thinks he is the guy to kill this big cocky Philistine to begin with!

Indeed, there is lesson a plenty as we consider what David has learned in the fields as a young shepherd and how he translates and interprets those lessons such that he is able to draw a convincing parallel between lions and bears and Goliath as well as the more subtle notion that it is now the people and armies of Israel who are the sheep who really need the tending and protecting.

Although he clearly doesn’t understand it all, Saul, of course, buys into this – even though David, who is now supposed to represent the whole of the nation on the battlefield, was just moments before, a mere “baggage handler” behind the lines. He was actually a “food porter” who was responsible for getting enough sustenance to members of his clan who were serving as soldiers and it is in the performing of this duty that he hears the giant Goliath belittling both the Hebrews and their God as he calls them out as being powerless to overcome his worldly “might.”

And David recognizes this as a critical juncture for both he and the nation – an opportunity for God to work – and he seizes the moment!

Interestingly it is not unlike my super bowl analogy last week wherein unheralded, unknown, undrafted, New England Patriot substitute Malcom Butler clearly felt the inspiration to break on the ball with everything he had – and was thus willing to be either goat or hero for doing so. David too is risking everything for a moment he believes has been brought before him by God. i.e. living out the immortal words of Horace that would come 13 generations later from his poem “Odes” written in 23 B.C:  “Carpe Diem!” or “Seize the Day!”

In Latin “carpe” is actually the second-person singular, present active imperative of “carp?” which means “to pick or pluck” – also defined commonly (at that time) to mean “enjoy,” “seize,” “use” or “make use of.” Which brings a whole new sense of the moment doesn’t it? To trust God so fully even in a high pressure or dangerous moment that we actually ENJOY it?! (Much as Paul described himself doing) AND that we are – like David – seizing the moment and “making use” of it . . . before the opportunity to do so gets away!

How often are we like that? Do we step bravely into the unknown moment or opportunity? Or do we just settle back and let the world beat us down such that we become convinced that, “I’m too small,” or I’m too old,” or “I’m not good enough . . .” or “I’m just not made for that  . . .” or “Someone else can probably do it better than I can . . .”

Well “Horse Hockey” as Colonel Sherman Potter of MASH fame used to say, because maybe you’re right. Maybe YOU aren’t. But guess what – GOD IS! So get out there and enjoin the battle. Allow yourself to BE God’s Will in the world. Take what He has given you and give it your best shot so that HE TOO can give it His. Because that’s the way things happen in this world. When we willingly and pro-actively seek, trust and move forward in right relationship with Him, God then joins His will to ours. And so often that relies on us having the confidence to initiate the first step!

David does just that of course, and it’s’ both interesting and important to see how he does it – in accordance with who HE genuinely is. Notice that, while willing to try it on, he turns down Saul’s armor – recognizing that it is a handicap, not a help, based on who God has made HIM to be. David knows that he needs to trust and play to his OWN strengths – not by breaking the rules, but by creatively operating within them in a way that suits HIS God given gifts and abilities.

Did you notice what he did? Just as the cock-sure Giant declares his intention to dismantle him David does something completely unexpected. In lieu of drawing back in fear or even caution, (or second guessing or debating) he races forward to the agreed upon battle line that has been drawn between them. And upon reaching it, pulls out a stone, loads it in his sling and before Goliath even has time to contemplate what is happening he is struck down by a perfectly placed rock that lands directly between his two arrogant eyes.

Battle over. War over. Legacy of Kingship fully begun.

David didn’t change the rules of the game but rather worked within them using the God given resources he had been given . . . and somewhere in there God surely did His part to ensure that the throw was indeed a deadly accurate one.

Can you imagine the joy felt in the hearts of Saul and all the other Hebrew warriors? As well as the shock and horror felt by the Philistine who believed so completely that they were going to be the victors?

Again, last week’s wildly unexpected super bowl example comes to mind where hundreds of millions of people watched as arrogant Seattle superstar cornerback Richard Sherman’s expression slowly transformed from one of egotistical superiority to utter shock and dismay.

It’s also sort of interesting to note that both Malcom Butler and David had to race to a predetermined spot on the field to affect their inspired plans. In both cases a “rock,” (as it is often known in football parlance) was thrown. In one case it was, of course, slung – and in the other “received – but it worked out pretty well for both of them. I bet Mr. Butler would like that analogy.

In our second reading the disciples are once again in full panic mode – as the boat in which they are riding is being tossed and turned to the point of sinking while Jesus peacefully sleeps undisturbed in the stern upon a soft cushion.

Well, you do have to hand it to them – at least they have the good sense to CALL upon him – but they wind up getting rebuked for doing so. Why do you think that is?

A closer look at the text reveals that Jesus wasn’t questioning so much their waking him as he was the WAY in which they did it, full of fear and with a complete lack of confidence that the situation is OF COURSE fully in God’s hands! And his angst is clear.

But this is a very familiar theme. Over and over and over again, Jesus rolls his Holy eyes at them and says, “Ye of little faith . . . Have I not been with you so long . . .? Oh that you had the faith of a mustard seed . . . ? Were you not watching . . .? Were you not listening . . .? And here in the midst of the storm, “Have you STILL no faith?!”

You have to wonder if the next words were, “What’s it going to take? Calming this storm?! If the healings and the raising from the dead – and the casting out of demons – and the feeding of thousands – and the countless whispers wherein you felt the Father’s presence and power flow through me (and in turn you!) aren’t going to do it, maybe I should have just given up after turning the water to wine way back in Galilee! Do the works themselves not declare to you the Glory of the Father found so directly before you in me?”

And later that’s EXACTLY what he says in response to Phillip’s asking him to show them the Father! “Believe me when I say that I AM in the Father and the Father IS in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves! Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these!”

And we, of course, are no different than the disciples! As I said in my benediction last week – we look back over our lives and see all the places where God has worked so powerfully – guiding and leading and producing the most amazing outcomes when we least expected it . . . Yet when we turn towards the future we tend to forget it ALL! It’s as though we have some sort of spiritual amnesia and our minds cast this awareness aside and we go forward in fear – totally unable to call upon the divine resources that God has planted within us – and the greatest of all resources . . . Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself.

And so our response is not entirely unlike theirs: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  Well I will give you three guesses and the first two surely do not count.

Lord of Lords . . . King of Kings . . . Son of God . . .  Prince of Peace . . . Redeemer of all that is – and all that ever will be . . .  To all who, in humility and penance and trust, will return unto Him!

Well, we know at least something of the truth of that. We really do. If we are here in this sanctuary it is for a reason. We have already “heard” or “felt’ the whispers – and who knows – maybe even witnessed, as many of us have, our share of miracles.

And so now the burden is, in reality, upon us. To respond in hope and faith and love to the very worst of what the world has to throw at us . . .  To cast ALL our doubts, worries and fears upon Him – such that our burden truly is light. We have been and will be given more than enough resources to accomplish His will, if we will simply step boldly forward in confidence and faith.

So let us go and do and be just that – His Most Perfect Will – trusting no less than David that whatever obstacles might rise before us that none of it really matters – that we ARE the Lord’s – children of the Most High God – faithful and trusting servants who will rely on Him to the end.

– Stuart Revercomb

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