(1 Samuel 17) [CHAPS] Problem Solving God’s Way

Life is full of problem solving

Everyday we are tackling a host of challenges.

I think of our own schedules.

A typical Sailor - regardless of rank has to fit in -

Watch.

Maintenance.

Training.

Qualifications

PT

The ships schedule -whether we are doing Unrep, or a strait transits, or entering a high traffic shipping lane, or conducting escort missions.

Nevermind finding time sleep and a few minutes of personal, mental space.

And then you add to that complexity - Everything back home.

We have family we must care for.

A vehicle that needs to be registrared.

A house that has to be maintenaned.

A sailors life is all about problem-solving.

Life is full of problem solving, but sometimes the problems are big problems

>>>> Every now and then - we are faced with a situation we just don’t know how to problem solve. <<<<

God has placed in your life a problem - that we can’t see around.

ILLUSTRATION:

It is like a big mountain.

I love mountains,

and sometimes you come across a mountain so big …

You can’t see how to go over it.

You can’t see how to around it .

You certainly can’t go under it.

Our problems can seem like that.

It’s just so huge - there seems no way to go around it.

And you feel stuck.

And This problem

- weighs on you.

- It stresses you out.

- It keeps you up at night.

…. wondering what you are going to do.

How do you problem solve that problem?

As we jump into 1 Samuel 17 - that is what we are dealing with.

We are presented with a text that introduces us to Israel’s giant problem.… No pun intended.

In fact, our author will go out of his way to clarify – how big of a problem Israel finds itself in.

********************************PRAYER******************************************

Look down in your Bibles and read with me -

1 Samuel 17:1–7 ESV

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him.

The author is saying – look how big and enormous Goliath is.

His height is six cubits, which is over 9 ft.

His coat of mail weighed 5000 shekels or 125 lbs.

The tip of his spear is around 15 lbs.

Goliath was a formidable dude.

The Irony is that he stood head and shoulders above, Saul, who when Israel picked him was said to be taller than all the other people. (1 Sam 10:23-24)

CLARIFICATION:

>>> Some of you are wondering - could there really be a 9ft tall person … and let me challenge you.

- The Egyptians also reported fierce warriors 9 ft tall in the land.

And Guiness World Record holds the tallest known man in modern history as 8 ft, 11 inches.

So I say yes.

And so for 40 days Goliath would Call out for one of the Israelites to come and fight him.

Look back down at your Bibles and read -

1 Samuel 17:8–11 ESV

He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “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 down 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.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

> The word dismayed there carries the idea of being broken. They are broken in fear.

> They are greatly afraid.

Israel has found themselves with a giant size problem-

The Problem: The Philistines are attacking Israel and they have a 9 foot tall champion called Goliath.

They are faced with a problem they don't know how to get around.

- They can't go over it.

- They can't go under it.

- They can't go around it and they simply don't know what to do.

I challenges us this morning, these are the types of problems that reveal what kind of Person we are.

It is the kind of problem that reveals what were made off.

EXHORTATION:

Most of the time we live in a reality where we are never really tested.

Our lives are quite comfortable, and We are content.

And nothing is in our life – that forces us to live any different.

And I am thankful for that.

I enjoy times of relative peace, and rest.

Yet, I know, living in a fallen, lost, and often godless world – at some point I will be tested.

The challenges of life,

or the godless opposition to Christ,

will at some point bring me a giant size problem.

And one of the great burdens of my heart, is that I will know how to respond in that day.

As I stand before you,

I recognize that you as sailors deployed into combat zone,

You are on this ship for 6 to 9 months - with no privacy and hard tuy,

there will be times where you're going to wonder if you found a giant size problem called deployment.

And my burden for you this morning, is that you will know how to problem solve this giant size problem called deployment.

This morning, we are going to consider three questions -

(1) How did Saul responded to this problem?

(2) How did David responded to this problem?

(3) and How should the Christian respond to problems?

So first,

(1) How did Saul respond to this problem?

They coward in fear.

1 Samuel 17:11 ESV

When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

1 Samuel 17:24 ESV

All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.

Saul’s Reaction: Dismay and Great Fear. (1 Samuel 17:11, 24)

Dismay is literally the word - To be broken.

But here is the thing about giant size problems – then don't go away.

Like my mountain earlier, these kinds of problems don't just disappear.

You don't just wake up one day and the mountain is gone.

Eventually, fear and dismay leads to desperation… Desperation leads to problem solving.

What kind of solution does Saul come up with?

And essentially -

Saul’s Solution: Bribe a mighty warrior brave enough to fight and kill Goliath.

As the king, who is notably taller than everyone else, it probably should have been the one who fought Goliath.

But he is too afraid and so he comes up with a solution to bribe someone else to do his job.

This is probably the part of the story where most of us are familiar with.

Young David is sent by his father to find out how the battle goes.

1 Samuel 17:17 ESV

And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.

And so David does that - in v. 25 David is told of Saul’s solution.

1 Samuel 17:25 ESV

And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.”

When Saul was faced with his giant size problem,

He coward in fear, and tried to pay someone else to fight his fight.

And if I had to consider why Saul coward with Fear -

The Reason - He believed only a bigger champion could defeat Goliath, and he didn’t have a bigger champion.

Yet the author intentionally brings in David, almost like a comparison between Saul and David.

Saul was broken with fear, but how did David respond?

(2) How did David respond to this problem?

Saul was broken in fear, but

David’s Reaction: Confident Faith. (1 Samuel 17:23-26)

1 Samuel 17:23 ESV

As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.

And then David says -

1 Samuel 17:26 ESV

And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Wow - talk about a confident young man.

And how does David problem solve?

David’s Solution: Fight in the LORD’s Name. (1 Sam 17:31-37)

1 Samuel 17:31–37 ESV

When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

Saul, David’s brother, and Israel all hid in fear,

But David’s response - Was to fight?

That is a pretty bold.

What made David so bold?

The Reason - David’s Belief: The Lord, the Living God, will deliver his people.

David recalled how the Lord helped David in the past -

The Lord helped deliver him when he protected his sheep from lions and bears.

Further, David’s confidence was not in trusting in size of weapons.

Consider what David said just before he fought the Philistines -

1 Samuel 17:45–47 ESV

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, 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 to 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 sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

Although David entered the field with only a sling shot, and one day he will wield a sword mightly,

His heart belief was that neither sword, strength, or sling shot were not sufficient to deliver him from this problem.

Only the Lord can deliver him from this giant size problem.

And there lies David’s confidence. David spoke boldly because he was supremely confident the Lord would deliver him.

And as we know from this story - that is exactly what happened.

1 Samuel 17:48–51 ESV

When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

So consider -

Saul tried to problem solve by finding a bigger champion to fight Goliath.

David, as a young boy, problem solved by trusting the Lord for Deliverance.

And the historical record shows - David was a better problem solver.

But now, let’s consider how how we can learn from 1 Samuel.

Based on 1 Samuel 17,

(3) How should the Christian respond to problems?

Our life is not that diffirent from the Israelites day.

We as Sailors may not have to fight a 9 ft tall champion.

But we might have to face that main space fire.

Or respond to that missile being launched at us.

Our problem might not be a giant who is cursing God,

But we might face a division who curses God,

Or a chief who hates God

Or one day- may be asked to do something we not God says no to, and we have to decide what to do.

And even if those two examples don’t fit -

I am confident that life will will give you a giant size problem that you won’t know how to get around.

And in that day - HOW WILL YOU PROBLEM SOLVE?

My hope,

My Prayer

… is that I will respond in confidence.

The Christian Reaction: Confident Faith.

Many Christians will probably be dismayed and greatly afraid

- and humanly we can understand why.

- It’s a giant size problem and we don’t know to get around it.

And many will look for a solution, outside God, to find a way to get around it.

But my resolve,

and I believe good Christian problem solving, will teach us

- to live for God, no matter the consequence.

Just like David,

The Christian’s Solution: Live for God, no matter the obstacle.

And why?

Because

The Reason: The Christians Belief: Jesus is our Savior (Deliverer) in Life and Death.

Jesus promised that he will lead and guide us in this life,

which means I can trust God to deliver me

…. just like David trusted God to deliver him from danger in his own life.

And even if I am like Daniel’s three friends,

and I am actually put into the fiery furnace,

then I know in death … Jesus is my deliver.

He is the one who delivers me from danger, in life and death.

We all know that we live in a fallen world,

which often opposes God and the things of God.

I challenge us to - We ought to approach problems in life by living for him because we know Jesus will deliver you from whatever we may face.

EVEN DEATH

I challenge us to - to approach problems in life this way -

We ought to live for him because we know he will deliver from whatever we may face.

EVEN DEATH

I don’t know what giant size problem you might be facing today.

Maybe it is deployment.

Maybe it is something on this ship.

Maybe something back home.

But whatever giant size problem you face today -

I encourage you,

I plead with you,

Problem Solve well.

Trust God to deliver you from your giant size problem.

Reflection and Response:

(1) What difficult struggles have you faced in the past? What made them difficult?

(2) How did you struggle spiritually during those times? What sins and unbelief did you struggle with?

(3) How can you live for Christ when faced with difficult struggles?

(4) How can the promise of deliverance help you better life for Christ during difficult struggles?