"I
appreciate the large number of boys who make so great an effort to come
to these meetings. It is not easy for many of them. We are grateful to
you. I should like to say some things particularly to you, and I do so
by recounting a portion of a story with which you are already familiar.
It is the story of David, the son of Jesse.
As
you will recall, the army of Israel under the leadership of King Saul
was engaged in a deadly war with the army of the Philistines. One army
was poised on one hill, the other on an opposite hill, with a valley in
between. Now, the Philistines had among their men a great giant of a man
named Goliath of Gath. His height was six cubits and a span. If I have
figured correctly, that would put him somewhere in the neighborhood of
nine feet tall. What a basketball center he might have made!
Clad in his armor, he came down to the valley and called out to the army of Israel:
“Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
“If
he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your
servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be
our servants, and serve us. …
“I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” (1 Sam. 17:8–10.)
When
Saul and the army of Israel looked at this giant and heard his chilling
challenge, they were frightened because they had no one of their own of
such stature.
Now,
while all of this was going on, Jesse, David’s father, asked his young
son to take some food to his three brothers in the army. When he arrived
at the battleground, Goliath came out again, issuing the same
challenge, which David heard. There was fear throughout the army of
Israel. David, who was no more than a boy, said to the king, (and I
paraphrase his language): “King, why are you so afraid of this giant? I
will go and fight him.”
Saul
replied, “Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with
him: for thou art but a youth, and he [is] a man of war [trained] from
his youth.” (1 Sam. 17:33.) David
then persuaded Saul to let him try. He told the king of how he had
fought with a lion and a bear to save his father’s sheep and concluded
by saying that the Lord would deliver him out of the hand of the
Philistine. Saul, possibly thinking that one more life lost would not be
serious among the great losses they had already sustained, said to
David, “Go, and the Lord be with thee.” (1 Sam. 17:37.) Saul
then placed armor on David until the boy could scarcely walk. David
said unto the king, “I cannot wear this,” and he took the armor off. He
then “took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out
of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had … and his
sling was in his hand.” (1 Sam. 17:40.)
This
stripling of a boy, with only a slingshot and five stones and without
any armor other than the armor of faith, went down into the valley to
face Goliath. “And
when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for
he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. “And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?” And
Goliath swore at David, saying, “Come to me, and I will give thy flesh
unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.”
Then David spoke these great words:
“Thou
comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I
come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of
Israel, whom thou hast defied. [1 Sam. 17:45]
“This
day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee,
and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host
of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild
beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in
Israel.” (adapted from 1 Sam. 17:42–46.)
That was brave talk for a boy who stood against a nine-foot giant.
In
anger Goliath came at him. Then David, running toward the giant, “put
his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote
the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead;
and he fell upon his face to the earth.” (1 Sam. 17:49.)
You
know the rest of that story. I would like to bring it down into your
own lives. There are Goliaths all around you, hulking giants with evil
intent to destroy you. These are not nine-foot-tall men, but they are
men and institutions that control attractive but evil things that may
challenge and weaken and destroy you. Included in these are beer and
other liquors and tobacco. Those who market these products would like to
enslave you into their use. There are drugs of various kinds which, I
am told, are relatively easy to obtain in many high schools. For those
who peddle them, this is a multimillion-dollar industry, a giant web of
evil. There is pornography, seductive and interesting and inviting. It
has become a giant industry, producing magazines, films, and other
materials designed to take your money and lead you toward activities
that would destroy you.
The
giants who are behind these efforts are formidable and skillful. They
have gained vast experience in the war they are carrying on. They would
like to ensnare you.
It
is almost impossible to entirely avoid exposure to their products. You
see these materials on all sides. But you need not fear if you have the
slingshot of truth in your hands. You have been counseled and taught and
advised. You have the stones of virtue and honor and integrity to use
against these enemies who would like to conquer you. Insofar as you are
concerned, you can hit them “between the eyes,” to use a figurative
expression. You can triumph over them by disciplining yourselves to
avoid them. You can say to the whole lot of them as David said to
Goliath, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a
shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of
the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.”
Victory
will be yours. There is not a boy within the sound of my voice who
needs to succumb to any of these forces. You hold the priesthood of God.
You are a son of God. You have His power within you to sustain you. You
have the right to ministering angels about you to protect you. Do not
let Goliath frighten you. Stand your ground and hold your place, and you
will be triumphant. As the years pass, you will look back with
satisfaction upon the battles you have won in your individual lives.
When
temptation comes your way, name that boastful, deceitful giant
“Goliath!” and do with him as David did to the Philistine of Gath. God
bless each of you, I humbly pray."
