David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine (Goliath), your servant will go and fight him.” – I Samuel 17:32
This past week during some down-time, I watched a movie entitled David and Goliath, a re-enactment of I Samuel, Chapter 17. David defeated Goliath because of his faith in God compared to the Israelite soldiers that included three of David’s older brothers at the battle front facing the Philistines and the nine feet tall Goliath whose rhetoric drove fear into all who heard his taunts. David was there as an errand boy, normally home tending sheep. Before he volunteered to do what no one else would do, I imagine him saying to himself, “Fear not. Be bold. Do justice.”
I detest bullies like Goliath and suspect most of you have had people like him in your lives who have taunted you. I like that a boy never trained to be a soldier offers his skills in fighting bears and lions that attacked his sheep.
I suggest that each of us, with faith in God, can bring the skills we already have to fight the injustice in today’s world. We have a choice: we can be like David’s older brothers losing courage and let evil win or we can be like David, perhaps naïve but brave and with faith, and say, “I, your servant will go.”
Most recently we grieve for the 49 people killed and 50 others injured in Orlando last Sunday, senseless shootings out of perhaps a misguided understanding of religious teachings. While one man pulled the trigger, are not all of us responsible when we have allowed a misuse of religion and politics to perpetuate hatred against people whom God has created, whether homosexual or bisexual? They are our family, friends and neighbors; yet we have stood by and let religious and political teachings denigrate who they are and their very creation.
Think of Goliath as a metaphor for bigotry. Like the Israelite solders facing Goliath, many may think that bigotry is impossible to conquer. But like David, you and I with faith in God can bring the skills we have to challenge the bigotry we see in religion, politics and elsewhere today and every day.
Be David to bigotry. Fear not. Be bold. Do justice.
Blessings,
Chesie Lee
P.S. The Wyoming Association of Churches is here to oppose bigotry in all its forms and the other injustices in Wyoming, often times with little resources. But even David needed a rock and a slingshot to kill Goliath. Your financial contributions are needed and appreciated. To contribute, click here. Or mail your contribution to WAC, PO Box 1473, Laramie, WY 82073.