Kindergartners and Falling Giants

Suggested Reading: 1 Samuel 17:20-49 or 1 Samuel 17:1-58 (the whole story)

In 1990, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a movie called Kindergarten Cop. A hardened, tough guy cop with no room for family and no sense of humor who, through a series of twists, ends up undercover, teaching a class full of kindergartners. If you've seen the movie, you can probably hear Arnold right now saying, "Eet's not a toomah!" At first, Arnold's character gets run over by the kids, he doesn't know how to handle their energy, their questions, or their unique outlook. At the end of the first day he falls onto his bed, face down, lamenting, "They're terrible!" It is only after the cop decides to handle the situation like a cop that he manages to get things under control. He turns the kindergarten class into a police academy, and structures things in a way that works for him. Soon, the kids love Arnold's tough guy character and Arnold ends up loving kindergarten, but only when he finally decides to use his own gifts and strengths and not try to teach kindergarten like everybody else.

In 1 Samuel 17, we find the story of David and Goliath, with which many of us are familiar. After David began asking around about what would happen for the person who fought Goliath (assuming that person survived), King Saul heard about David and had David brought before him. Once David convinced Saul to let him fight the Giant, Saul put David into his own battle suit (maybe he was hoping people would mistake David for himself) and gave David his own sword.  When David tried to move, he realized that going into battle dressed in Saul's armor would only get him killed and he told Saul, "I cannot go in these because I am not used to them"  (1 Samuel 17:39, NIV). David took off Saul's armor and then armed himself with the tools he knew he could use, his shepherd's staff, a sling, and five smooth stones.  Most of us know the story from there, how David went out to face Goliath, proclaiming that God would win the fight for him and then slung a stone into Goliath's forehead, knocking him out and allowing David to chop off Goliath's head with the giant's own sword.

What David and Arnold's cop/teacher have in common is that they both accomplished the task that was given to them, and they did so by using their own unique gifts and talents. We could learn a thing or two from that.

Far too often, we fall into the mindset that tasks can only be accomplished a particular way. We allow other people to tell us how to do what God has called us to do or, worse yet, we try to tell other people how to do what God has called them to do. The problem is, when God calls a person, he calls that person, with all of their strengths and weaknesses,  flaws and gifts. If God has called you to something, God has called you. God wants you to use the gifts and abilities that have been given to you.

When you feel like you're being pushed into a corner because people are putting their own armor on you, have the guts to say, "I can't go in these because I am not used to them." God may have called you because your own unique way of doing things is exactly what the situation requires. A normal soldier with a sword and shield would never have gotten close enough to Goliath to take him down. David wasn't a normal soldier, but he knew what he was good at.

Are you trying to wear someone else's armor? Try accomplishing the task you've been given as if it was designed specifically for you. It probably was. 

Facing Heights and Focusing on Giants

Suggested Reading: 1 Samuel 17:32-47

In the movies, it is quite common to see people who fear heights put into positions where they must face those fears. Inevitably, they are scooting across the ledge outside of a 40-story building, or climbing the rope on the side of the Cliffs of Insanity, or talking someone out of jumping as they stare down a 300-foot drop. Putting people with a fear of heights into a position where they must confront that fear is more entertaining than someone who is completely confident with heights. We've seen those scenes so many times that we know the advice someone is going to give them: "Don't look down!" Why that advice? Because once they start looking down at the height they fear, the person in question is much more likely to fixate on the height, to focus on the height, rather than actually deal with it.

In 1 Samuel 17, Goliath had been coming out each day for forty days to taunt the Israelite army when David finally appeared on the scene. Goliath sauntered out and bellowed his challenge and David watched in dismay as his fellow Israelites literally ran for the hills and hid in their tents. David listened to the taunts and the insults Goliath hurled at his countrymen and their God, and he choose to respond.  Rejecting the king's armor for the weapons he was accustomed to using, David went out and faced the giant alone.

But though David was facing the giant, David seems to be the only one who was not focused on the giant. Each day when Goliath appeared, the mighty warriors of Israel – whose God had helped them conquer the land and had drowned Pharaoh's chariots in the Red Sea – saw only a nine foot giant and ran for the hills. Even King Saul who had defeated the Philistines on several occasions hid in his tent, frightened by Goliath's enormous size. But David, walking onto the field of battle and standing in the giant's shadow, began trash talking.

"You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel" (1 Samuel 17:43-46, NIV).

Instead of focusing on the problem – the giant – David focused on the One capable of solving that problem. But how often do we get tripped up because we can't take our eyes off of the problem long enough to look toward God? When we focus on the problem, we tend to paralyze ourselves with doubts, fears, and worries. But when we keep our focus on God, on the One capable of solving any problem, no problem seems all that difficult.

Where is your focus today? Are you focused on the giant? Redirect your gaze. Focusing on God always changes the equation.