(I was given an assignment to "preach" last week for Preaching&Teaching II, and seeing as I dont dig the American three point sermon, I wrote this dramatic monologue, or rather just visualized the setting using the Biblical script. Much of my public speaking has been in church but also musicals in highschool. I want to learn to be a storyteller! note this is just my script without pauses, tones, ect. so just use your imagination)
I run into battle.
My name is David.
Son of Jesse, servant of the God of Israel.
A Shepherd boy from Bethleham
And yet, I run into battle. Let me tell you my story...
I went to the battle to deliver gifts for my brothers,
I rose early in the morning, with the sunrise, and carefully left my familiar flock of sheep in their fold. And set out…
Hours later, Coming around the last crest between the mountains, I had already been hearing the battle cries.
I could see in the valley, the multitude of my people, encamped on the slopes below me, and the Philistines on the mountain across the valley, like a great swarm of locusts in the heat.
My people were assembled, marching forward, down the slopes toward the battle line,
Abandoning my belongings I rushed down among them, soon lost in the clamour and clatter of armour and the stampede of hoofbeats. We were all caught in the ranks, bodies raging forward into the deep of the valley, until there we were, nearly army to army assembled for war.
Suddenly a deep voice shook across the chaos, commanding attention.
And a hush sweeps the people as a giant man steps forward looming feet above his comrades,
Goliath of Gath, the champion of the Philistines.
Who could stand before this giant?
His helmet of bronze glinted in the sun, and a weighty coat of armour was easily born by his muscled form. A javalin the size of my body was slung across his shoulders...
He roared,
“Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come to me; if he is able to fight with me and kill me then we will be your servants, but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. I defy the ranks of Israel this day, give me a man that we may fight together!!”
The words were issued barroling out of his broad chest and spit from his lips.
It was beyond a threat, it was blasphemy, it was blatent mockery against our people, our cause, our very God!! They cut to the heart of the men around me like arrows and I saw them shrink back in fear. terror. shame. The worse part was the shame .
The shame of his threats and their prophetic claim to our God abandoning us, that sunk like a cold weight over the valley, even in the heat of the day.
Our people were shrinking back and my brothers among them, knowing this, but my heart burned against this man. A thousand questions rose in my heart.
Could he dare to slander the name of our God, and the hope He has given my people?
Do these Israeli ranks even know their God?
Why would even my brothers tremble before this pagan?
The troops around me were abuzz with the talk of what would be given to the man who killed this giant. Riches, priveledge, and even the hand of the king’s daughter.
I found my way to my brothers quickly, hoping to find some answers with them, as my heart continued to burn... Who would defend our God?
My brother Eliab resented my questions, fueled by his own shameful lack of courage. I could see the wearing hopelessness of Goliath’s threats day after day, had been taking a toll. Eliab burst out. “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those FEW sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption, and the evil of your heart; for you have come down to see the battle.”
Yes, I know what he thinks. I am but the youngest in my father’s house. The one who didn’t make the cut to go to battle. The one whose hand wasn’t big enough yet to grip a sword and left with a staff and musical instruments. The one left alone tending sheep in the wilderness.
I responded, “What have I done now? Was my questions not but words?” I turned my back toward him to hide my shameful tears of frustration, for how could I ignore the burning in my heart, it was wounded with the sting of slander against my God.
Pondering my questions and what to do I was again interrupted, for my inquiries had rippled through the hopeless men - up the ranks - all the way to King Saul!
Summoned before him my heart could no longer bear the weight of this injustice.
Me? A Shepherd boy? Yes, but the GOD OF ISRAEL has been defied….!
I cried out, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him, your servant will go and fight with this Philistine!”
I could see surprise in the king’s face, surprise mixed with pity as he said, “You…are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he.. Is a man of war…since his youth.”
Since his youth? A man, trained, in war? I thought.
And what am I? But a shepherd… yes, a shepherd! Trained. In. the presence of the God of Israel. Trained in warring for the care of my sheep.
I remember. The lion, yes,
and I remember, the bear.
I faced them,
I ran toward them without fear.
God’s presence upon me, God of Israel gave me victory.
I delivered my lambs out of their mouth.
How is this any different?
Again cried out, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and when there was a lion, or a bear that took a lamb from my flock, I pursued him and delivered it out of his mouth, and if he rose against me I caught him by his beard and smote him and killed him. Your servant has killed lions and bears and this uncircumcized Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine!”
It seemed as though God’s very presence was among us that moment. I knew my God’s heart was turned for I had just invited Him to defend His own honor. This mighty presence confronted the expression on Saul’s face as I saw his pity melt into wonderment mixed with confusion. “Go, the Lord be with you” he said.
His men clad me with royal armour, a helmet of bronze, a coat of mail. Far too quickly, they attempted to prepare me for battle, as they saw me, unfit.
But the king’s armour weighed uncomfortably on my shoulders, so heavy I could barely move.
It was uncomfortable, unfamiliar.
I said, “I cannot go with these, I am not used to them.”
A thousand questions ran through my mind,
How was I to go into this fight?
I know not the ways these men have learned.
All I knew were the weapons I had been trained with in the fields.
I had to be alone, to escape a moment to pray.
So firmly gripped my worn shepherd staff in my hand,
I went down to a stream in the back of camp, quieting my spirit to hear the Lord.
I stood there a moment ankle-deep in the water, the reality of my decision setting in, but the determination burning in my heart overcame it.
In the quiet I could sense He was with me, the same as he was in my shepherd fold.
I carefully selected a few smooth small stones from the creek bed.
I knew my God who delivered me before could deliver me again.
The ways of men, and even the ways of my king could not prepare me for this battle, God alone had prepared me.
I was, in a sence helpless, unless He would come through for me,
And I was staking everything, the honor of my people and my family and my God
On what I knew deep down to be true about the God of Israel.
He would come through for me.
Slipping the last damp stone into my pouch, I returned toward the frontlines. Without armour, without heavy weaponry, without anything but the sure hand of my God, compelling me...
There I was pushed forward from my trembling comardes and brothers, into the open space.
Goliath rose forth from his troops, his shield bearer walking ahead of him.
I could see his face from where I was standing, and squinting his eyes, his hardened countenance was quickly forming into a sneer of disdain.
His surprise in seeing such a young boy emerging as his opponent was boiling over into enraged contempt!! His eyes skimmed over my vulnerable form without armour, and the shepherd’s staff in my hand…
"Am I dog, that you would come to me with sticks?” He shouted, and began spewing profanities in the name of his gods…
He stepped forward again, screaming, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
I stood still. Unmoved. The Spirit of the living God burning like a furnace within me.
I cried, “You come to me,
with a sword, and a spear, and with a javalin;
But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts,
The God of the armies of Israel,
Whom you have defied!!!”
“This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head, And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines, this day to the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know, that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves, not with a sword and a spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand…”
Before the final words of my scream left my lips the valley had erupted, all the Philistines had taken arms,
and I ran forward.
Fearlessly, yes, I ran forward,
My hand fitting a stone into my sling, as I had done a thousand times before I drew back my right arm with everything within me, and let it loose… it flew above the crowd in an instant.
CRACK!
It sunk straight into Goliath’s skull between his mighty brow and his massive body collapsed, crushing anyone in its wake..
I ran toward Goliath, stood over him, unshiething his sword, and raised it with both arms above me head, and down, cutting off his head in one final bloody blow.
When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled…and the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines to victory...
Yes, I am David, and I run into battle,
Because I know the God of Israel.
I've been suprised since coming back to Michigan about the Lord's grace. Going to a Christian college past few years I got pretty acclimated to being in a spiritual green-house. (Except for internship in Cambodia which was the polar opposite experience) Somehow through those years the Lord put foundations in me that I am beginning to see. I was afraid going home that somehow I would grow cold, distracted, caught up in "life." But the opposite has actually taken place - I've realized that God in His grace, draws me closer to Himself wherever I am, and I dont have to be afraid. Yes I need God's people, and my community is slowly growing here. But I dont need to be in a bubble to be steady. Jesus is steadfast and faithful within me, and I am walking a level path toward the Light. I anticipate this will only increase the rest of my life. There isn't a separation between living life and loving God, the two are one and becoming more and more congruent. The more I know Jesus the more JOY is exploding in all of my daily doings. He makes me so glad!
