Last night at First Wednesday, our amazing pastor, Mark Beeson, led us on a whirlwind tour of Biblical History. At each stop, great works of art from the likes of Rembrandt or Dore’s woodcuts were projected larger than life on a 30ft wide screen.
While Mark told the story of David and Goliath, this picture was displayed.
Charming, eh?
Instantaneously, breaking the hushed silence of worship, my daughter Whitney spewed out with little volume control, “Ewwww! Disgusting!”
The point is inescapable. David slayed Goliath. When I’m holding your head in my hands, that means game over.
Many religious people have arbitrary rules about film ratings, like “No R movies EVER!,” forgetting that much of the Bible itself is rated R and some times NC-17.
Of course, we must be wise and selective about what we watch. Accordingly, not many parents will let their children watch movies about kids who decapitate people. That’s a good thing. But the same parents will open up a children’s Bible with an image of a little boy, arms raised, holding a blood-dripping decapitated head in his hand. That’s a good thing too.
What is the point of this picture? Injustice must be addressed. Evil must be vanquished. The giants must be slain.
I want my kids to know that. I hope this image is burned in their brain.
All over our world, the giants of oppression, poverty, hunger, ignorance, spiritual lostness and evil rape, pillage and plunder the lives of countless millions.
We must not ignore these giants. We must not appease these giants. We don’t want to toss a few pebbles at the giants of evil, tuck tail, and run. We can’t hide behind the battle lines waiting for someone else to fight.
I want to run to the battle.
God hasn’t called us to play patty cake with the giants.
Giants must be killed. Decimated. Decapitated. Put in the ground.
We were made for this battle. We were born into a world at war. We live in a massive conflict that is far deeper and more profound than we even know. You and I have a crucial role to play.
Like off-duty, drunken sailors fighting each other, when we don’t man our battle station, we end up fighting the wrong people and the wrong battles.
Maybe that is why she shops a lot. She was created for the battle and she’s not in it. So, she wanders the mall look for a sale to conquer. She was made for something more. But until she finds it, she’ll settle for tossing pebbles at a sale sign at the mall.
Maybe that is why he yells at his kid’s referee like he does. It’s not just that it was a bad call. It’s something deeper. Maybe he was created for the battle, to overcome evil with good, but he is not in the battle. So, he has to make a battle over stuff that is not really the battle.
That leads me to the Wet Wipe Warmer Incident.
Shortly after Christmas 2003, our youngest daughter Belle was born. Around the first week of January, I was sent on a mission to buy a new wet wipe warmer since the old one had expired. A baby’s job description consists of three things: eating, pooping, and hopefully, sleeping. I figure the least I can do is provide the proper equipment to ease the process.
While in the checkout line with my wet wipe warmer, a women pulls up behind me with a cart jammed full of Christmas clearance items. She easily had a dozen Santa Hats, a dozen of those Reindeer-Antler Head thingies (she was sporting a pair on her head), scores of those little Chocolate Santas, and other a sundry holiday items. She peaked over my shoulder and asked, “What is that?”
Confident that I would be perceived as Super Dad, I said with a smile on my face, “A wet wipe warmer for our new baby.” No doubt, I’m a great parent.
She came out from behind her cart and said, “Let me that see that.” She turned it in her hands, locked eyes with me and spat out, “What is this for?” I could tell she was offended. I wasn’t sure why. I explained, “ It’s a wet wipe warmer. It warms up wipes, so they’re not ice cold on the baby’s bottom.” She looked at me and exclaimed, “This is the most obtuse appliance I’ve ever see!”
If I had known what the word obtuse meant, I probably would have been very offended.
Remember, I’m at the check-out counter. The check out guy was waiting to scan the item. Other people are in line behind us now. It’s was getting awkward.
She continued in a mocking tone, “Now I suppose mom can’t just take a towel and dip it in some hot water? She could do that…or you could by this convenient wet wipe warmer for 19.95!” I exchanged glances with the guy at the check-out line, he had this frightened look on his face, and I can tell he was thinking about pressing that little emergency button under the counter.
Again she continued, “I suppose that it has to be plugged in all day, every day, just burning up electricity. I wonder how much that adds to your electric bill each month?” She closed her tirade with these words, “The most obtuse appliance I have ever seen!”
I was dumbfounded and discombobulated. I wasn’t expecting to be mocked by a total stranger. I took the item back and mumbled, “Yep, it keeps the wet wipe warm.” The irony of the fact that she was wearing fake reindeer antlers on her head the whole time never even dawned on her or, even worse, on me. If I wasn’t a lame pastor, I would have said, “Yeah a white wet wipe warmer is so much more obtuse than a dozen Santa Claus hats, reindeer horns, and 500 chocolate Santa clauses!”
For some reason that is beyond me, that women wanted to turn the wet wipe warmer into a battle with a stranger.
When we are not tapped into the real battle, we make stuff into battles that isn’t battle-worthy.
Maybe you feel it this Christmas season. Maybe there is slow-burning anger brewing inside of you, a longing for something worth fighting for. We were created to be up to our neck in a cosmic battle between good and evil.
You were made to slay a giant.
But here’s the question: Do you know which one?
Do you know where your giant lives? Do you know what your sling is? You have a unique set of God-given skills you can leverage to take that giant down.
David said to the Philistine, "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. 1 Samuel 17:45 (NIV)
The Hebrew for the phrase can also be translated:
… Commander of the Lord Army’s
….The God of Angel Armies
….The God who is at war.
We live in a world at war, a cosmic battle between Good and Evil. Until we come to terms with war as the context of our days, we will misunderstand life. We will misinterpret 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us. We will misunderstand who we are.
46 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. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."
1 Samuel 17:46-47 (NIV)
If you’re looking for a place to start, consider Second Saturday next weekend. If you’re wanting to leverage your resources along with other warriors, consider giving to the Christmas offering.
For goodness sake, don’t just stand there. Do something. You were made for this battle.
Great insights and very well put, We do tend to choose the wrong battles just as we ask the wrong questions, Well at least I do. Thanks for the reminder and encouragement today.
Posted by: Ron W | December 03, 2009 at 10:38 AM
still a scary pic--but great story-telling.
Posted by: betsey | December 04, 2009 at 08:36 AM