• He deals with the issues of life that relate to us
• He is also known for some of the unusual stories he tells
Illus: One day Paul Harvey announced on his news program that some days things never go right for some people.
He then went on to tell about a man that had many things go wrong in his life, so he decided he was going to end his life by jumping off a five story building.
He jumped, and he landed on top of a man driving a convertible. The fall killed the driver of the c
Paul Harvey said, “For some people things never go right, he is now being charge with murder…Good Day!”
This is true. Some folks seem to have more than their share of bad things happen to them.
Illus: After finishing an out-of-town errand, a man discovered that his car wouldn’t start because it was out of gas.
He asked where he could find a gas station, and a passer-by told him there was a service station a mile away. He took a gas can from the trunk of his car and trudged the distance in the sweltering sun.
The attendant filled his two-gallon can, and he lugged it back and poured the gas into the tank.
But when he tried to unlock the car door, it wouldn’t open. Just then, he noticed an identical car parked a short distance away. That was his car; he had filled a stranger’s gas tank.
He had to walk back in the heat of the day and get two more gallons.
There are some days we wish we had never gotten out of bed. That guy was having a bad day.
But some folks have REALLY bad days.
Illus: Lawrence Hanratty was, at the time the newspaper article was written, a 38 year-old resident of Mt. Vernon, New York. He was described in the article as being the unluckiest man in New York.
• First, he was nearly electrocuted in a construction accident that put him in a coma for weeks. He recovered from the coma only to have to hire a law firm to fight for his liability claims.
• One of his lawyers was disbarred; two of the others died and his wife ran off with her own lawyer.
• Still, his problems were not over. He came down with heart and liver disease, that required him to be on oxygen continuously and he had to take 42 pills a day to survive.
• He was involved in a car wreck. The police responded to the call for help and investigated the accident. But when the police left, a thief came along and robbed him.
• When the article was written in 1995, his insurance company had notified him that they were going to cut off his workman’s comp benefits and his landlord told him that he was being evicted.
It seems that many of us live our lives by “Murphy’s Law”, that says “If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.”
Illus: For example, have you noticed:
• The later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the next morning.
• The longer it takes you to make a meal, the less your child will like it.
• If the shoe fits...it's expensive.
• The surest way to get something done is to tell a child not to do it.
• The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet.
• Backing the car out of the driveway causes your child to have to go to the bathroom.
Illus: Many of us feel that IF WE DID NOT HAVE BAD LUCK WE WOULD HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL!
The apostle Paul experienced plenty of bad days, but look what he said about these bad days.
Look at Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Paul did not live his life according to MURPHY’S LAW but according to GOD’S LAW! God’s law says that no matter what we face, God will give us the strength to face it.
For example, Paul said in 2 Cor. 4:8-9, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”
In these verses of scripture, Paul was saying –
• He was down, but he was not out
• He was beaten, but he was also blessed
• He experienced persecution in following Christ, but also the sweet fellowship of other Christians
• He experienced both the good and bad in life
We all do!
As we look into the scriptures, we discover that God always has a purpose in the GOOD and the BAD that comes our way.
Let me show you two things about the events in our life. I will only have time to show you one this morning and I will show you the other one this evening. We can see from the scriptures-
I. GOD’S PURPOSE IN THE BAD
We all have our BATTLES or GIANTS to face in this life, and many times we feel we do not have the weapons to defend ourselves.
Illus: Seems there was a young soldier, who, just before battle, told his sergeant that he didn't have a rifle.
"That's no problem, son," said the sergeant. "Here, take this broom. Just point it at the Germans, and go 'Bangety Bang Bang'."
"But what about a bayonet, Sarge?" asked the young and gullible recruit.
The sergeant pulls a piece of straw from the end of the broom, and attaches it to the handle end. "Here, use this... just go, 'Stabity Stab Stab'."
The recruit ends up alone on the battlefield, holding just his broom. Suddenly, a German soldier charges at him. The recruit points the broom, "Bangety Bang Bang!" The German falls down dead.
More Germans appear. The recruit, amazed at his good luck, goes "Bangety Bang Bang! Stabity Stab Stab!" He mows down the enemy by the dozens. Finally, the battlefield is clear, except for one German soldier walking slowly toward him.
"Bangety Bang Bang!” shouts the recruit. The German keeps coming.
"Bangety Bang Bang!" repeats the recruit, to no avail. He gets desperate. "Bangety Bang Bang! Stabity Stab Stab!" It's no use.
The German keeps coming. He stomps the recruit into the ground, and says, "Tankety Tank Tank."
If we were to ask some of the historians in the congregation what some of the great battles that have taken place were, some would say:
• The Alamo
• Gettysburg
• Pearl Harbor
• Waterloo
But there are some other battles we face that are different than these battles.
• Sometimes neighbors battle. We all remember hearing about the Hatfields & McCoys.
• Sometimes people battle not with guns or fists, but with words.
• Some of the fiercest battles are those fought inwardly—within one’s self. They are private battles with pain or physical illness, depression, financial difficulty, grief, worry, stress, frustration, loneliness, temptation, and you could go on and on. These problems can appear so huge and so overwhelming, that we seem to be no match for them.
• There are also battles of ideas. If you believe in God and the Bible, you may find your beliefs under attack in the college classroom or in conversations with unbelieving friends.
There are all kinds of battles we have to face. But as we think of battles in the Bible, many of us think of the Battle of David and Goliath.
As I think about this battle I think of two things:
(1) THIS WAS SOME BATTLE
It was probably the most uneven battle that has ever been fought.
WHY DO I SAY THAT? Look at 1 Sam. 17:4, we read, “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.”
HOW TALL IS THAT?
A conservative figure is that he was over 9 feet tall. But notice, the Bible says he was “six cubits and a span.”
There are some disagreement how much a “Span” might be. But from the disagreement, scholars believe that Goliath was between 9’2” and 11’4”. Now that is a tall fellow.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger was in the hospital waiting room one day waiting to see a lady who attended his church that was having some serious surgery. As he was waiting, he was talking to her daughter when he saw this fellow squat down to come through the door. He said, “He did not tip his head over to get through the door, he had to squat down to get through.”
The ceiling had a standard eight foot ceiling, and his head was almost hitting the top of the ceiling.
He went over to talk to the receptionist who was sitting in her office behind a closed window, and he almost had to get on his knees to talk to her.
He then went into the crowded waiting room to find a seat and Dr. Belger had already made up his mind that if he came and said, “I want to sit in your seat,” he was going to give it to him without argument.
In fact, he had made up his mind that if he said he wanted the seat of the woman he was sitting with, he would let him have both of them.
But instead, he sat across the room directly in front of Dr. Belger and it seemed as if those long legs were going to reach across the room. He looked at his big foot and he said, “What size shoe do you wear?” He asked that question with some reluctance, because if he said, “It’s none of your business,” Dr. Belger was going to agree with him whole heartedly. Dr. Belger said, “If my memory serves me correctly, he told me he wore a size 22.”
But listen, Goliath was 2’ to 4’ taller than the center on any professional basketball team.
Illus: Goliath could walk up to Shaquille O’Neal and pat him on the head the way we pat some of these youngsters around here.
There are some advantages in being tall, such as:
• People look up to you because they have to.
• Don't have to worry about getting lost in a crowd.
• You can hold a flashlight at the airport and change landing patterns
• Have a bald spot? No problem, only those who live in tall buildings can see it.
GOLIATH, WAS NOT ONLY TALL, HE WAS VERY STRONG. We know that because of the armor he wore. Look at the WEIGHT OF HIS ARMOR!
Look at 1 Samuel 17:5-7, we read, “And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.”
HOW MUCH DID HIS ARMOR WEIGH? Since no one knows for sure exactly how much a “shekel” weighed back then…whether this had reference to the lighter “Babylonian shekel” or the heavier “Syrian shekel”, they tell us:
• His coat of armor (scale armor—like a fish’s scales) weighed 5000 shekels ( Babylonian shekel it weighed 90 lbs. If it was a Syrian shekel it weighed 220 lbs.)
• His spear shaft was “like a weaver’s rod”—at least 2” thick.
• Even the head of his spear weighed 600 shekels (10 to 25 lbs.) That’s heavier than an Olympic shot put!
• In addition to the coat of armor and the spear, the text mentions a bronze helmet, bronze “greaves” (which were like shin guards), a sword, a shield, and a bronze javelin.
• It is significant that the text says the spearhead was “iron” because iron is harder than bronze and could therefore pierce any bronze armor that his enemy might be wearing.
Not only was he tall and heavily equipped, HE WAS VERY EXPERIENCED IN WARFARE.
We don’t know how old Goliath was, but he was evidently old enough to have had children already.
2 Sam. 21 and 1 Chron. 20 seem to indicate that Goliath had 4 sons who later became quite formidable warriors themselves.
But something that really stands out about Goliath was, he was big, but he also had a BIG MOUTH. The Bible tells us he used that BIG MOUTH to defy the God of Israel.
On the other hand, David was only a shepherd boy, believed to be only a little over five feet tall, and some scholars believe he was less than 5 feet tall.
HOW OLD WAS HE?
The fighting men of Israel were supposed to be at least 20 years of age (according to Num. 1:3). Since David was not officially part of Saul’s army, we presume that David was not yet 20 years old, but probably only 15 to 17! Listen if Las Vegas existed then, Goliath would have been the odds-makers choice.
But, of course, despite all David’s disadvantages, he won! That fact shocked the Philistines.
God allows GIANTS in our life sometimes, just to show the devil and the devil’s crowd that God is BIGGER THAN OUR PROBLEMS! THIS WAS SOME BATTLE, but also-
(2) THIS WAS SOME VICTORY
Now, why is that? I have a lot of problems with many Sunday School teachers teaching about David and Goliath. They tell their students that David won, but they do not tell WHY HE WON.
There are very good reasons why that battle turned out as it did. God wanted to show the Philistines that He is greater than their GREATEST, and now God wants to teach us that same lesson.
No, maybe we don’t have to do hand to hand combat with Andre the Giant ,or Hulk Hogan, or the Ultimate Warrior. But we do have some “giant problems” of our own from time to time, don’t we?
From David, we can learn how to conquer those giant problems. What is your “giant problem”?
• Perhaps it’s some sinful practice or habit you’re struggling to overcome.
• Perhaps it’s a feeling of inadequacy or inferiority. You’re just not as talented, or good-looking, or smart, or popular, as you’d like to be (and think you need to be).
• Maybe you have some physical, emotional, or circumstantial handicap.
• Maybe finances have you down. Maybe worry has you by the throat.
Whatever your “giant problem” is, you can win the victory over that problem in the same way David defeated Goliath.
HOW? Are you ready for the secret now? Here it is. David had the knowledge that the God He served was bigger than the GIANTS HE HAD TO FACE! And if you don’t know this, you are going to be WHIPPED EVERY TIME!
The Israelites were like the comic strip character, Charlie Brown, who said, “There’s no problem so big that I can’t run from it.” And the Israelites were running from Goliath as fast as they could run. But David did not run from his problem, HE FACED GOLIATH HEAD ON!
Goliath was the first WALKING WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION.
• He had the best equipment money could buy!
• He had the experience! He probably glittered under the sun and clanked as he walked.
• He appeared invincible.
BUT THROUGH this little Jewish boy, God brought him down like a falling tree.
We learn from the BAD GIANT that came into David’s life, that IT IS NOT ABOUT US, IT IS ABOUT THE GOD WE SERVE!
God wants to teach us that when we face the BAD GIANTS, He has a purpose. He wants to use that GIANT in our life to develop us into the Christians we are capable of becoming.
Conclusion:
Illus: One time a preacher asked a little boy, “Sonny, who made you?” The little boy replied, “Well, to tell the truth I ain’t done yet!” That is why God allows these GIANTS to enter our life. HE AIN’T DONE WITH US YET!
I. GOD’S PURPOSE IN THE BAD
II. GOD’S PURPOSE IN THE GOOD
Note: You can hear some of the sermons preached by Dr. Odell Belger on Sermon Central on Youtube. Go to Youtube and type the word Lykesland
