9/30/07                                                                                            1 Samuel 17:32-49                                                                                                                          

"PREVENTING HEART FAILURE"

Rev. James Singleton

            There’s a relatively new product out on the market from the computer company Hewlett-Packard called a portable AED. No, it’s not another type of computer, but rather it is a portable Automatic External Defibrillator. A defibrillator is what you see on ER when they call for the shock paddles and yell, “Charge…Clear…”and then Kerpow! With 250,000 Americans dying from heart failures each year, Hewlett-Packard sees a big future in these text-book sized portable models. They can be used at home or carried to the office or taken anywhere you travel for someone else to use on you just in case you go into cardiac arrest. 

            Our story this morning is all about heart failure. “David said to Saul, ‘Let no one’s heart fail because of him.” The him David was talking about, of course, was Goliath. Goliath was a ten-foot Philistine giant covered from head to toe in armor that weighed over 150 pounds and who carried a nineteen-pound spear. He stepped forward to challenge the children of Israel, the people of God, to battle. As it is recorded, “All of the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid.”

The people of God were in cardiac arrest. Here were the chosen people of God, standing on the sidelines, afraid and intimidated by this giant of a warrior who stood before them mocking their lack of courage until finally a young shepherd boy named David stepped forward. 

            The story of David and Goliath is, along with Noah’s ark, one of the most familiar and popular stories in the Bible. Every child learns it in Sunday school. But, unfortunately, we adults often forget it. The story of the simple shepherd boy triumphing over insurmountable odds is more than just a childhood story. Rather, it is an adult story that shows us how to prevent that which ruins more adult lives than anything else—heart failure.

            Everyday we suffer from potential heart failure. Every day someone or something arises to threaten our life, our security, our loved ones, our freedom, our health, our reputation, our peace, our success. Some giant steps forward and we find ourselves being confronted by death, grief, failure, rejection, addiction, sickness, tragedy, divorce, corporate policies, crime, financial problems, family troubles, challenges, critics and changes—just to name a few Goliaths that are out there.

            The battle of David and Goliath is the theme that our High school youth will be focused upon this year. What an appropriate theme for that age group. How many giants do they face? Drugs, tests, sexual temptations, parental expectations, peer pressure, college, career decisions—just to name some of them.

And what is our natural reaction when faced with a Goliath problem? I think it would be fair to say that for most people, the first reaction is a combination of fear and panic. It is a feeling of end-of-the-world hopelessness; a sense of immanent defeat and ruin. Facing Goliath leads many to depression or suicide or at the least the urge to run away.  

            Everyone has fear. Whenever something stands before us and threatens us, we fear. But fear is really not the problem. David had fear. His palms were sweating and his mouth was dry when he stepped out onto that battlefield and looked up at all ten feet of Goliath. The problem is what do we allow that fear to do to us?

Unlike the other children of God, David alone stepped out onto that battlefield! As far as the rest were concerned, their fear paralyzed them. Their fear defeated them. Their fear panicked them and caused them to want to run away. Their fear brought on heart failure.

            Whenever our fears prevent us from doing what we believe we are being called to do; whenever our fears keep us from going forward, from growing, from standing up for what is good or right—then fear becomes sin.  

Whenever we believe that the Goliath problem standing before us is greater than the God power standing with us, then we are suffering from heart failure. And no shock paddles are going to revive us. This is the kind of heart failure that only faith can prevent. For God’s people are not called upon to be fear-less, but faith-full.

            You know what we do whenever we are faced with a challenge or problem—we start playing the what-if game. A little boy named Donald faces his first day of school:

“My name is Donald, and I don’t know anything. I have new underwear, a loose tooth, and I didn’t sleep last night because I’m worried. What if a bell rings and a man yells, ‘Where do you belong?’ and I don’t know?

“What if the trays in the cafeteria are too tall for me to reach? What if my loose tooth comes out when we have our heads down and are supposed to be quiet? Am I supposed to bleed quietly? What if I splash water on my name tag and my name disappears and no one knows who I am?”

            Goliaths cause us to worry about all sorts of what-ifs. What if my actions cause people to not like me? What if I take on this new venture and fail and people ridicule me? What if I lose my job and have to move? What if the doctor tells me what I don’t want to hear? What if my kid chooses to not listen to me and does what I told him not to do? What if I can’t sustain my discipline to stay sober? What if...

We can drive ourselves crazy with What ifs. What ifs are a product of our brain on drugs—the drugs of fear and panic. But suppose we play a different sort of what-if game whenever we face a great challenge or problem?

·        What if the God for whom all things are possible is really with me?

·        What if the God who raised Jesus from the dead can raise me up from this dead end I have come to and into a new life?

·        What if the God who gave David the ability to slay his Goliath gives me the same ability to slay my Goliath?

            A boy and his father were walking along a road when they came across a large stone. The boy said to his father, “Do you think if I use all my strength, I can move this rock?” His father answered, “If you use all your strength, I am sure you can do it.” The boy began to push the rock. Exerting himself as much as he could, he pushed and pushed. The rock did not move.

Discouraged, he said to his father, “You were wrong. I can’t do it.” The father placed his arm around the boy’s shoulder and said, “No, son, you didn’t use all your strength—you didn’t ask me to help.”

            The children of God stood on the sidelines complaining, “We can’t do it.” On their own they could not push this Goliath rock out of their way. And not one of them thought of praying; not one of them thought of giving the battle over to the Lord. They all thought it was up to their strength alone and they soon learned that their strength alone was not enough.

David was the only one who stepped out in faith and said, “The battle is the Lord’s.” He was the only one who asked the Lord to help him. He was the only one who believed that he did not face Goliath alone. David slew Goliath with a rock—the rock of faith.  

            Our hearts fail within us whenever we compare ourselves to our problems and we seem small and weak in comparison. But when we compare our problems with our God, it is our problems that seem small and weak in comparison. Yes, Goliath stood ten feet tall, and to the Israelites, who compared Goliath only with themselves, it was impossible to win.

But to David, who compared Goliath with God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, who can move mountains and part the seas, who can raise the dead and make the sun stand still, it was impossible to lose! What is a ten-foot Goliath compared to an infinite God?  

Remember the first commandment in the Ten Commandments? It goes, “You shall have no other gods beside me.” We are to have only one God. “Fear the Lord your God” is a commandment given throughout the Bible. Why? Because what we fear is actually what we believe is our God.  

If you believe other people have such power over you that their approval or disapproval will determine your peace, your livelihood, your destiny—then those people are your god.  

If you believe your disease, your financial situation, your current trouble hold the ultimate power of determining whether or not you have life or happiness or security or salvation—then what you fear has become your god because you have given to that person or thing ultimate power over you.

            The story of David and Goliath shows us two ways we can respond in life whenever we are faced with a fearful obstacle. We can compare the obstacle with ourselves, realize that we are not strong enough, big enough, or whatever enough and cower in fear, panic and go into heart failure.

Or, we can remember that we have one God only and that person, disease, situation, obstacle is not our God! That’s when we compare whatever it is we face with the power of our one and only God, realize that, even though we are no match, God is and God will not allow us to be defeated or humiliated or destroyed.

We will face Goliaths all of our lives in one form or another. The world is always trying to bully us and intimate us. The number of people who have heart failure every year of the spiritual kind far exceeds the 250,000 who die of heart failure of the physical kind.  In many ways, it is far better to have a physical heart failure than a spiritual heart failure. As the saying goes, a coward dies a thousand deaths.

            Faith is God’s prevention to spiritual heart failure.

• To remember to ask God for help—that is faith;
• To trust that God is with us to face down the giant—that is faith;
• To compare the giant with God and realize the giant isn’t really so big after all—that is faith;

• To walk into the battle knowing that the battle belongs to the Lord—that is faith.         

Don’t run from your Goliaths. Do let them intimate you and prevent you from doing what you need to do. Don’t become a victim of heart failure, like the Israelites. Nothing is sadder than the chosen people of God suffering from spiritual cardiac arrest.
 

Remember David and his rock of faith. Remember David’s words, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him.” We have the Lord on our side. We are armed with the armor of Christ Jesus.  

Onward Christian soldiers! Go forward into your battle and show Goliath that a person of faith is strong of heart and cannot be defeated.

                                                                                                            AMEN.