When Everyone Else Runs
By Dayle K. Barrett
Sunday, July 26, 2026
Reading: Samuel 17:1-11, 25-27, 40-54
Don't you sometimes wish that this is how we solved our geopolitical conflicts? Just one against one, save the soldiers, no bombing, none of that stuff. I was watching the World Cup final and I turned to a friend and said, “Maybe this is how we should deal with our global adversaries, you know?” Who can set up the best sports squad? And then you write out all the terms of the agreement that will happen depending on who wins. And the winner takes all… saves a lot of lives, right? And a lot of money on defence spending too.
Unfortunately, this isn't how things are worked out today, is it? Negotiations fall through, and then there's bombing and more diplomacy and then more bombing and many lives are lost as more and more fear seeps in. Fear is something I really want to talk about today, about what we do when fear seems to be the dominant energy in a room. There's kind of a contagious element to fear, isn't there? How it seems to pervade everything once it becomes entrenched. The people of Israel were up against something formidable. On two opposing mountains were two opposing armies. Probably quite evenly matched. But down in the valley between them was a real problem. Because the challenge was the giant against your champion, me against you, one against one, and whoever wins this takes everything.
Fear has a way of being contagious. And even though we had an array of battle-tested soldiers on the side of Israel, they were standing on the mountain shaking in their boots. Maybe you should go down, you’ve got nice biceps. Maybe you should go down, you're very smart. Maybe you should go down, you're really quick. No, him, I saw him bench press last week. He's the one that needs to face the giants.
They're all standing there on the mountain, paralyzed by fear, waiting for somebody else to take the challenge, for somebody else to step up. They've been trained and tested for battle, and yet it seems like fear was leading the army. If you look at the foe they were facing, it makes sense, doesn't it? Verse four tells us that this Philistine named Goliath from Gath was six cubits and a span. And we all know what that means, right? It's about nine and a half feet tall. Think of your favourite basketball player, a bit taller, but muscly, right? This guy is a real giant. He's a problem. It's not like today where people are running in shooting projectiles at each other. If you're going to go down to battle with Goliath, this is a battle of strength, and if someone's nine feet tall, he can swing his sword way further than you can, you might not even get close.
He's wearing bronze armor, heavy stuff. He has a shield bearer with him, and for 40 days and 40 nights, he's been approaching the camp of Israel and defying them, says verse 16. Forty days and forty nights. That's how the Bible tells us it's a period of testing. Forty days and forty nights was Noah and his family in the ark until they reached land. Forty days and forty nights was Moses up on the mountain talking to God when he received the law. Forty days and forty nights was Jesus in the wilderness fasting before he began his ministry. For forty years the people of Israel wandered in the desert, waiting to enter the promised land.
When we see that number 40 in the Bible, it means there's a test here. Somebody's being put through a trial, but at the end of that trial, if they're faithful, they're about to enter their promise. God is about to do something new at the end of that period of forty. And Goliath came and defied the armies of Israel, and fear set in, and the entire army was terrified. What they saw was an insurmountable foe. What they saw was something greater than they had strength to deal with. They quaked in their boots, but it's easy to do.
Psychologists tell us that fear literally alters your vision. Did you know that? When you look at something you're scared of, something happens in your brain, and it narrows your field of vision so that you focus on the threat. It's the way we survive. If you're aware of what's coming at you, if you're aware of what might be a threat to you, then you have a greater chance of fending it off. So, all of Israel was standing on the mountain focused on this giant, focused on this foe that was the greatest risk to their nation. And none of them were willing to do anything about it. I wonder, friends, if we look at our own lives, if we faced similar fears. Things that have come in and threatened what we care most deeply about, and we've been paralyzed by them.
How many of you here today say things all the time that you don't believe are true because you believe that's what you're supposed to say? That's the acceptable thing to believe. How many of us go along with things we know we shouldn't because everyone else is? The army there is paralyzed by fear, and if one person doesn't go and deal with it, nothing is going to be done. They're frozen on a mountain, staring at one another and then comes along a cheeky little shepherd boy with a lunch bag named David. I absolutely love David in this passage. It's one of my favourites in the entire Bible. He walks up and he says, “What's going to be done for this man who slays the Philistine? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of Israel?”
Now I know when we read it from the Bible, it sounds all nice and civilized, but in my head, if David was alive today, he'd be like a battle rapper or something. This guy comes up with a whole bunch of swagger, he's a young bull, he doesn't care what's going on. He walks up and he's like, “He, who?” He said, “Nah, cuz ain't even been had the *snips fingers*… like he ain't even snipped, no nothing!.. Like, who is this uncircumcised Philistine who thinks he's about to deal with… does he know who he's talking to?” That's the attitude David's coming with. He's got that big boy energy. He does not care about anything. He's walking into this thing, and he is offended that this man would say anything against the living God. And it's David's love for God. It's David's love for God's people that compels him into this battle.
For a moment here, it looks like David's an opportunist, because he walks up and says, What's the guy gonna get who defeats him? You might think David's going into this battle because he wants the money, or because he wants the tax breaks, or because he wants Saul's daughter. Yeah, get into that royal bloodline! But David’s thinking is motivated by something way deeper than that. David is offended that this threat would even challenge the people of God. So even though he was too small, even though he wasn't battle-trained, even though he didn't have armor, he walks in with a lunch bag, five smooth stones, and his faith in God to slay that giant.
When fear had the whole entire army paralyzed, faith had David stand up.
What are you focused on in your life? What has your attention right now? What is holding your field of vision? Because if, like the army, you're standing on the mountain staring at a threat that you don't think you can overcome, maybe it's about time you realize how the measurements really work out. You see, the army thought this was a one-on-one battle. They thought it was going to be Goliath against whoever from Israel was brave enough to fight him. But David looked down in that valley and saw an uncircumcised Philistine against the Creator of the universe. He saw a blasphemer against the God who split the Red Sea. He saw somebody who had no regard for creation against the one who created all. And David knew that even though the people looked like they were way smaller than the threat, that threat was a grasshopper compared to the living God.
Faith changes your perspective. And so often in our lives we're scared to take things on because we look at what's in front of us. We focus on the task at hand. We think that we don't have it in us, that we don't have what we need to stand up for what's right, to proclaim what is true, and to move forward in God's name. So, we allow the threat to change the atmosphere. We allow fear to dominate the culture. We stand on the mountain, we quake in our boots, and we wonder what's happening.
Do you know that we're closing a church pretty much every week across the country in the United Church of Canada? That's a threat, isn't it? That's a giant standing in the valley. A looming threat that maybe by 2035 we won't have a denomination anymore and people are wondering why. How did we get here? How do we get to the point where we built this great institution, spread it all over the country, and now our children and our grandchildren aren't even interested in attending church anymore.
I came to the United Church of Canada in 2019, and I noticed something that made it obvious to me. Because by the time I got there, we had ministers that didn't believe in God. We had moderators that didn't even believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ running a national church. And then as we stand here, we're trying to figure out why the decline? Why aren't people interested in what we're trying to tell them anymore?
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that generations of people who were battle tested and trained to protect this gospel stood on a mountain and allowed it to be exchanged for a lie. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that instead of getting into the valley and challenging falsehood, we allowed the conversation to be changed and the focus to be taken off the gospel and placed on whatever was popular to do at that time.
So now instead of proclaiming Christ and spreading the gospel, we're fighting culture wars and making political statements. I wonder why people aren't interested in that. I wonder why people aren't finding meaning in that. I wonder why that doesn't want to make them get up on a Sunday morning. Because when a giant walked in spewing threats against the people of God, many were scared. Many stood on the mountain and said: Well, I don't want to be called a fundamentalist. I don't want to be called closed off to the new scholarship and to the new things that are being told. They accepted whatever was coming through the door.
But I want to tell you, friends, that God is raising up a people who are willing to go into the valley and proclaim that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. And that no one comes to the Father but through Him, who are willing to go in and proclaim, like we did in our Basis of Union, that in the words of the Old and the New Testament is the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and life. But it takes someone to believe enough to go into the valley.
The mountain is a place of advantage. If you want to fight a good war and make sure you win, having a high place is a really good advantage. That's why when you travel through Europe, you'll see lots of the fortresses are up on a hill somewhere. That's why even the temple in Israel was built up on a hill somewhere. Because this is where you can get the best shot. This is where you can see where everything is going on.
The difficult part is going into the valley where you can't see everything, where you're most vulnerable, where you might be attacked. And yet David, without battle-training, with no armor, walks in there with a slingshot and five smooth stones.
But it was only gonna take him one to take the giant down. Why five stones? Well, in the Bible, we notice numbers have patterns. And five is a number often associated with God's covenant. God's covenant is written in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. When the people of Israel were given the law and given a way to approach God, they were given five sacrifices to bring to God: A burnt offering, a sin offering, a trespass offering, a grain offering, and a peace offering. In other words, five was the number they understood as the number of God's grace and God's promise to them.
That's why David had the bravado that he did. Because even though the giant was taller than him, more trained than him, stronger than him, had better weapons than him, he walked down there with God's promise in his pocket and God's covenant on his very body. He knew what God had said to him, he knew what God had proclaimed to the faithful, and so he wasn't scared to take down a giant that looked way bigger and way stronger and way more able than he was, so he steps down into battle.
The giant advances, cursing and telling David, he's gonna feed him to the birds. And what does David say? He says, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” How many of you know that if you just remember what God has done for you in your past, you're going to have no problem taking on the battles in your future?
If you just have a memory of every single time God has delivered you, every time God has set you free, every time God has healed your body, every time God has resurrected a relationship, every time God has provided for you in your financial world, when everything looks impossible, you can stare that giant in the face and say, “You come to me with sword and shield, you come to me with ideas and philosophies, you come to me with ideology and education, you come to me with new theories that test the gospel, but I come to you in the name of the living God. This battle is not mine, it is the Lord's, and the Lord is going to deliver you into my hands.”
So, what happens? David goes down aware of God's promises. The giant starts to spew threats against him. He darts away. He pulls out the one that he needed. He pulls out the right promise. He pulls out his covenant with God. He pulls out his marker of faith. He places it in a sling and he begins to swing, and when he lets it go, he puts it right in between the eyes of that foe.
But look what happens afterwards. That terrified army that was on the hill, scared to do anything and scared to say anything. That group of people that, even though they were trained, were unwilling to let one person go down and fight the battle, suddenly, when somebody stepped into the valley and stood up for what was right, that whole army of Israel went down and overtook the Philistines.
How many people know it only takes one? It only takes one word from God to turn around a whole situation. It only takes one person to stand on God's promise and believe in God's word, and people will remember what it was they used to believe. People remember the gospel that they were told. People remember the faith that they used to stand on, and they will rise up and overthrow that which threatens God's people.
Here's my question for you: What's your giant today? What's holding you in fear? What's stopping you from opening your mouth when you hear untruth? What's stopping you from standing up for Jesus in the world around you today? When you look around, what has everybody paralysed and unable to do what's right? And will you step into the valley and stand on God's promises?
Because if you do, I want you to know that you have greater help than anyone ever did. You see, David's five represented the Torah and represented the sacrifices that the people of Israel went to God. But when you step into the valley, you step down as a bearer of a greater covenant. Because 2,000 years ago, God stepped into our valley of sin and death. And just like David went against the giant and took five stones, our Saviour hung on an old rugged cross, and he took five wounds. They nailed him in his left hand, and he was wounded for our transgressions. They nailed him in his right hand, and he was bruised for our iniquities. They nailed him in his left foot, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. They nailed him in his right foot, and by his stripes we were healed. And then they pierced his side, and mercy and grace flowed out. So that the same power he had over death, the same authority he had over sin and over evil in this world would be given to his disciples. He poured out his spirit upon all flesh and called us from every nation to be his church, his body, his people in this earth.
He asks us now, who will step into the valley? Who will stand on God's promises? Who will pick up those five stones and slay a giant for Jesus? Because the battle is not yours, the battle is the Lord's. Thanks be to God.