Remember the
story of David and Goliath. David, the rather weedy shepherd boy, who was
recently and subtly anointed to be the future King of Israel, and Goliath a
Giant and a Man of War?
As you will recall, the army of
Israel under the leadership of King Saul was engaged in a deadly war with the
army of the Philistines. One army was poised on one hill, the other on an
opposite hill, with a valley in between. Now, the Philistines had among their
men a great giant of a man named Goliath of Gath. His height was six cubits and
a span. If I have figured correctly, that would put him somewhere in the
neighborhood of nine feet tall. What a basketball center he might have made!
Clad in his armor, he came down to
the valley and called out to the army of Israel:
“Choose you a man for you, and let
him come down to me.
“If he be able to fight with me, and
to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and
kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. …
“I defy the armies of Israel this
day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” (1 Sam. 17:8–10.)
When Saul and the army of Israel
looked at this giant and heard his chilling challenge, they were frightened
because they had no one of their own of such stature.
Now, while all of this was going on,
Jesse, David’s father, asked his young son to take some food to his three
brothers in the army. When he arrived at the battleground, Goliath came out
again, issuing the same challenge, which David heard. There was fear throughout
the army of Israel. David, who was no more than a boy, said to the king, (and I
paraphrase his language): “King, why are you so afraid of this giant? I will go
and fight him.”
Saul replied, “Thou art not able to
go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he
[is] a man of war [trained] from his youth.” (1 Sam. 17:33.)
David then persuaded Saul to let him
try. He told the king of how he had fought with a lion and a bear to save his
father’s sheep and concluded by saying that the Lord would deliver him out of
the hand of the Philistine. Saul, possibly thinking that one more life lost
would not be serious among the great losses they had already sustained, said to
David, “Go, and the Lord be with thee.” (1 Sam. 17:37.)
Saul then placed armor on David until
the boy could scarcely walk. David said unto the king, “I cannot wear this,”
and he took the armor off.
He then “took his staff in his hand,
and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s
bag which he had … and his sling was in his hand.” (1 Sam. 17:40.)
We don't
fight against swords or spears, or with staves and slings, "...we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places." (Ephesians 6:12) The armor and weapons of Saul (or of the
world) will avail us nothing, but the Armor of God and his Five Smooth Stones
will grant us victory over all things.
These are them; these are five smooth stones
that will guaranty you success, as a Missionary, as a Man, as a holder of the
Priesthood of God. Treasure them, keep the sacred keep them safe, polish them
every day and every week, and share them with everyone you meet who may not
have been to the Brook of Living Water and found them for themselves.
Faith
I used to
struggle with faith. I didn't understand why I needed it. Knowledge seemed so
much better than faith and I envied those like Paul and Alma the Younger who as
it seemed to me didn't need to have faith. But I've come to learn on my mission
that faith isn't something God asks us to have for him, it’s something that God
asks us to have for us. It is a blessing and a protection, and the power that
makes miracles possible. Knowledge never moved a mountain or parted a sea,
knowing would be nice but faith is better. Seek learning, "seek knowledge
by study and also by faith", but for those things you don't know yet, or
can’t ever prove have faith and bear testimony, faith grows when it is shared.
Repentance
Alma
60:23-24 "(23) Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that
the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be
cleansed also. (24) And now... repent... and begin to be up and doing."
Repentance
is about changing, about doing, and being, better than we are right now. None
of us are perfect, especially me, but through recognizing our faults and
shortcomings, and by repenting we can get a little bit closer to the perfection
of our Savior and our Father in Heaven each and every day. I know for me
personally it would take a long, long time to get even close, but that is all
the more reason to get started now. Don't procrastinate the day of your
repentance, the longer you wait the harder it gets. So get started now! There
are lots of little things that we can all change to be better, I'm sure you
wouldn't have to look too hard to find something. If you don't know what or how
to change or repent ask for help, I'm sure your parents, leaders, or bishop
will be there for you, and point you in the right direction. Be humble, fear
not, trust in God. Get up, go and do.
Baptism (Covenants)
Baptism is
our first covenant, and we renew that covenant every week when we partake of
the sacrament. Making and keeping covenants gives us a strength, power and
blessings that nothing else can. As you prepare for your mission and go through
life you will have the opportunity to make and keep many more covenants. Honor
them and keep them, they are the way to eternal life, and will protect and
deliver you from the powers of temptation and sin.
Gift of the Holy Ghost
Look at
Ephesians 6 again. Notice that the only offensive weapon is the Sword of the
Spirit. Everything else is for our defense and our protection, but the spirit
is our weapon, and as a Missionary it is impossible to succeed without it.
Strive now to have the spirit as your constant companion, practice listening
for and following the promptings you receive. This will be an invaluable skill
to you in the mission field and throughout your life.
Endure to the End
I can’t say
it any better than the Prophet Nephi in 2 Nephi 31 "(19) And now, my
beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I
would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come
thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying
wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. (20) Wherefore, ye must
press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of
hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward,
feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the
Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (21) And now, behold, my beloved brethren,
this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven
whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the
doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen."
“And the Philistine (Goliath) said
unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?”
And Goliath swore at David, saying,
“Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the
beasts of the field.”
Then David spoke these great words:
“Thou comest to me with a sword, and
with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of
hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. [1 Sam. 17:45]“This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; ...that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” (adapted from 1 Sam. 17:42–46.)
In anger Goliath came at him. Then David, running toward the giant, “put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.” (1 Sam. 17:49.)
These Five Smooth Stones: Faith, Repentance, Baptism (Covenants), the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, are the way, they are the Doctrine of Christ and they are the five things that you need to have in figurative Shepard's bag before you go out to face giants. Your staff is the Scriptures, they are the iron rod, the words of God, if you can’t carry them with you in your hand, treasure them up and keep them in your heart. Your sling is you testimony, practice with it every day, as often as you can.
In closing I leave you with my testimony; That God is very, very real, and that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, that this is His church restored in the latter-days, and that it is lead today by a Prophet of God, even Thomas S. Monson.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alex Thomson
* [Italics taken from
"Overpowering the Goliaths in Our Lives" by Gordon B. Hinckley, April
1983]
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