By Rick Vacek
GCU News Bureau
The story of David and Goliath has become so colloquial, most people know exactly what it represents. But how many know where to find it in the Bible?
Dr. Tim Kimmel, founder and executive director of Family Matters, answered that question and much more — mainly, what it truly represents — Monday morning when he was the guest speaker for Chapel at Grand Canyon University Arena.
It’s not just about the underdog defeating the seemingly unstoppable force. (“Whenever the Israelites saw the man,” it reads in the 24th verse, “they all fled from him in great fear.”) Kimmel, who conducts conferences around the country designed to bolster families, equated it to the challenges we face regularly — educational, medical, career, financial, emotional, etc.
“I think there are giants out there that come at us,” he said. “They can suck the air out of our lives.”
And the only way to defeat them, Kimmel said, is to turn to God, just as David did. As David said to Saul in verses 36-37, “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
David plucked five stones from the stream to fire at Goliath, and Kimmel said we need five stones in our pouch, too.
The first one is Truth. “All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal,” Psalm 119:160 reads.
Kimmel told the students in attendance that their generation has been taught that truth is only what you can see and touch, and “the most effective weapon in Satan’s arsenal is doubt.”
But our understanding of truth starts with understanding God’s word. “If there’s anything I could tell you that’s going to help you stand up to the giants you face, it’s the more you individually spend time with God in the Bible,” Kimmel said. “… God can’t remind you of Scriptures you haven’t read.”
The second stone is Rest. Kimmel retold the story of General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.’s strategy in the Gulf War in 1990 — he bombed the Iraqi forces incessantly, denying them their sleep — and stressed the importance of slowing down and pacing ourselves.
“Had David been trying to carry a 16- to 18-hour load in school, keep a couple of part-time jobs, maintain up-to-date recall on current events, see all the first-run movies and average less than six hours of sleep a night, I think the Biblical narrative would have been different,” Kimmel said. “… Satan figured out he doesn’t have to make us bad, he just has to make us too busy.”
Following close behind is the third stone, Quiet. Sure, David wasn’t listening to music on his earbuds when he was tending to his father’s flock, but there were other distractions.
“Every generation has had its noisemakers and distractors. Every generation has,” Kimmel said. “Noise and entertainment are a key part of Satan’s strategy to get the best of us.”
And if we are constantly listening to all that noise, Kimmel added, “We can’t hear the voice of God, we can’t sense the spirit of God.”
The first three stones leads to the fourth one, which shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s Prayer.
After listing a number of instances in the Bible and through history when prayer led to miraculous results, Kimmel said, “Prayer doesn’t need proof. It just needs practice. … Listen, Gilligan prayed, and he finally got off that island. We need to pray!”
That joke led right into his fifth and final stone: Laughter.
“Don’t take yourself or your tough situations so seriously – not that they aren’t serious, just don’t take them so bad. Don’t take it so personally,” he said. “We all have to face Goliath; it’s part of the deal. But you have a God that’s bigger than him, and He says, ‘Trust me.’”
Kimmel said we need all five stones because we never know which one we’re going to need, just as David didn’t know if one would be enough to slay Goliath. But the important thing to remember is who’s on our side.
“I wish that we could always go as a group and have a team behind us,” Kimmel said. “But sometimes it’s just you and the Lord. That’s all you’ve got.”
That, and the five stones.
For a replay of Kimmel’s talk, click here.
Next Monday’s Chapel speaker: Jeremy Jernigan, Central Christian Church
Contact Rick Vacek at (602) 639-8203 or [email protected].
