Hallowed Be Your Name

One of the most famous stories in the Bible is David v Goliath. The message of the story, however, is often misconstrued as being about a weak party triumphing over a powerful one as when, for example, a small software company takes on Microsoft for something like copyright infringement. In such a scenario, Microsoft has overwhelming resources and can easily crush the attempt by the small market share “David.” Yet, should the small company win despite the imbalance, we would say it was a David v Goliath confrontation.

This typical application of the biblical account misses the point. Yes, shepherd boy David beats towering brute Goliath, but what is at the heart of the story is David’s zeal to maintain God’s honor. He is provoked to action by the “uncircumcised” Philistine’s defiance of the army of Israel and, by extension, Israel’s God. This affront needed to be addressed and David was willing to do it.

We have our own Goliath’s that have marched out on to the field of battle defying the “living God.” For instance, loud voices treat with contempt the biblical understanding of marriage as they seek to bring political power to bear upon the church. If possible, they would “give [our] flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field” (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Now, I’m not an alarmist (and, no, I don’t think it’s the “end times”) but I do think that great and grave challenges face the church in the not too distant future. We must determine now that we will stand, as did David, with the “living God.”  I’ve included a link below to a document that I hope you will take time to read. It places a challenge before us regarding several important issues. The intent of the framers of the declaration was to encourage Christians to determine beforehand how they will respond should they need to make a choice between honoring God and yielding to the threats of Goliath. Manhattan Declaration