Who am I: Saul, David, Goliath?

In today’s Scripture,  1 Sam 17: 32-33, 37, 40-51, we meet a man whose trust of God is so rooted that he believes, beyond a doubt, that he will overcome Goliath, the Philistine warrior.  Initially, Saul is cautious, saying to David: “You are merely a boy. Goliath is a warrior since his youth. There is no way you will overpower him.”  It’s kind of like saying: “Who do you think you are, David?”  There is a Saul, a David, and a Goliath in each one of us.  The Saul in us is the doubter, that part of us that discourages ourselves and/or others, that part of us quick to blow out the spark, smother the enthusiasm of another or ourselves with such statements as  “I can’t do that. I’m not strong enough, smart enough, old enough; I’m not qualified or I’m not as qualified as so-and-so,” etc. Or to the other:  “You can’t do that! You don’t have the strength, the qualifications, the background, etc. You’re too young, too old; you’re not this or not that, etc.”  The Goliath in us is the arrogant one, that part within us that believes we can overpower others with our physical, intellectual, material strength; that part of us that belittles, demeans, despises, misjudges others or ourselves, as Goliath did David (cf 1 Sam 17: 42).  Samuel reminds us in 1 Sam 17: 47 that whatever we accomplish, whatever battles we win, are won by our God working through us.  There may be a lot of “Goliaths” in our lives but God is more powerful than any of them. May your faith in God and mine be more than an intellectual assent but be of the heart, as it was for David.