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The clock just passed 6 PM on a balmy Memphis, Tennessee evening when a shot rang out and the “apostle of nonviolence” fell down onto the second balcony of the Lorraine Motel gripping his bleeding neck. He was rushed to the hospital but nothing could be done because the 39-year-old, Baptist preacher who had become a vocal, yet nonviolent, activist for social and racial change had died.
He was somewhat of a prodigy. Attended and finished college early, mastered the skills necessary for public speaking, and then went on to get a doctorate in theology, he had a promising career laid out before, yet the need to take a stand for civil rights and live like the model that Jesus gives all followers of his began to sidetrack this up and coming preacher who would leave behind a legacy for the world to behold.
Weeks after Rosa Parks took a stand by remaining seated, this young and talented preacher cut his teeth on organizing and influencing culture by leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Death threats came, pressures from others to stop the boycott and long days filled with meetings all bore down on this young promising preacher who was wearing thin and wanting to quit. However, it was on a cold winter night that this young upstart encountered Jesus and a new purpose for his life. Kneeling at his kitchen table, he said that:
“Something said to me: ‘You can’t call on Daddy now, you can’t call on Momma. You’ve got to call on that something in that person that your daddy used to tell you about, that power that can make a way out of no way.’”
In the dark of night, Jesus came calling and gave this man a new purpose that he would live from and eventually gave his life for. Lying on that hotel balcony that day in Memphis bleeding out from an assassin's bullet was none other than Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He left a mark on his generation and this world that we still celebrate to this day. Remembering his life and the lives of other great men and women of history cause all of us to want to leave our own mark on this world. Whether that be through starting a business that disrupts and improves an entire industry, launching a killer Insta profile that brings fame and turns you into a social media influencer, or through developing an innovative product that will enhance the lives of millions, or simply being a father or mother who builds into their children so that they can live and lead a better life because of their parents influence.
We all want to be remembered for something. In fact, recent research shows us that we “are hard-wired to care about what [we] leave behind when [we’re] gone.”
But how do we actually make that happen? How do we leave our mark on this world that last longer than just our lifetime?
To help us answer this, I believe that there are several stories within the Bible that offer us pivotal principles that we can all apply to our lives so that we can leave our mark on this world and live a life of purpose on purpose.
The first story that we should look at is none other than the story of David and Goliath.
Battle lines had been drawn. Plans crafted. Soldiers mobilized and strategically stationed to stop the ongoing invasion of a foreign super power trying its best to conquer fertile land to its east. Eventually the Israelite army met the Philistine army at the Valley of Elah. Both armies stationed on opposing hillsides, neither one making a move because it would mean surrendering the high ground, which normally led to defeat. Stalemate. But the Philistine army had something the Israelite's did not, a 9-foot tall giant, who was anything but gentle.
For 40 days and night, Goliath, the champion fighter of the Philistines had come out, taunted, and defied the entire army of the Israelite's. Everyone was focused on this behemoth of a man and because of their focus, fear seized and immobilized them from protecting their land and defending the reputation of their One, True God.
Everything changed though when a young shepherd boy, sent on a mission by his father to bring food and supplies to his three older brothers, who were ‘fighting’ in the war. Upon arriving, young David heard the familiar taunts and challenge from the giant Goliath. For 40 days and nights nothing had happened, other than this giant running his mouth. This time things were going to be different because a young shepherd boy was about to shut Goliath’s mouth and then cut off his head.
The reason why David was able to do this was because his focus was completely different than everyone else there that day.
FIND YOUR FOCUS
The army and the King were focused on the physical. They were focused on the foolishness of surrendering the high ground by charging at the enemy across the valley. They were focused on the size of the giant Goliath and how one man would never be able to kill such a mountainous man. They were focused on their strategies and their limitations and it immobilized them.
How often do you find yourself immobilized by fear? By failed strategies? By your own limitations and inability to successfully change your situation? Could it be that you, like the entire Israelite army, are simply focusing on the wrong thing?
When David showed up to the front lines and heard the normal mocking and challenge coming from Goliath, he never focused on the mountainous man or his awesome ability to kill other men in combat. David’s sole focused was on God.
David asked what will happen to the man that kills and removes Goliath, who is a disgrace because he is defying “the armies of the living God.” (26, 36) Because of David’s focus on God, he was confident and courageous even though the entire Israelite army was cowering under their fear of one man. Instead, David’s focus assured him that God “who rescued [him] from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear [would] rescue [him] from the hand of this Philistine.” (37)
Prior to this encounter though, we first meet David has he was being anointed to be the future king of the Israelite's and would inevitably take the place of King Saul, who was failing to lead the Israelite army against Goliath and the other Philistines (1 Samuel 16:1, 11-13). Yet, we see David, the future king, obeying his father (17:17-20), still being looked down upon by his older brothers (28-29), and still viewed as insignificant by others in leadership positions over (31-33).
Even though David was going to the next king, we don’t see him playing it safe at all but rather he is going balls to the wall for God’s glory and fame. Even though David was going to succeed King Saul, who was too scared to stand up for his God’s reputation, this little boy named David is so focused on God’s glory that he was willing to die for God. He was willing to forfeit a future career in politics and royalty because his focus was so narrow that only his God’s reputation mattered.
The entire Israelite army had allowed Goliath to mock them for 40 days straight. For 40 days, this giant would come out, taunt the Israelite army, and then challenge them to 1:1 combat where the army of the loser would become the slave to the winning army. This challenge is a pretty steep challenge but that is not what makes the Israelite soldiers terrified. They are terrified of the physical nature of Goliath, that he was a giant, and that he was a champion fighter. Their focus was on the giant in front of them instead of the God around them.
The Israelite army was being insane. For 40 days, they had been bullied into a pattern that left them immobile, terrorized, and faithless. For 40 days, this giant would come out and say the exact same thing, challenge them in the exact same way, and produce the exact same fear and level of fear within them. Instead of snapping out their insanity, the Israelite army had become consumed by their fear, their doubt, their unbelief, and had probably started becoming complacent and comfortable with the situation that they were facing.
What are some of our unspoken giants?
That is what giants do. They cause us to fear, become immobilized, and doubt that we will ever conquer them. But whatever your giant is, it does not define you. It no longer needs to immobilize you. It no longer needs to continually conquer you or force you into submission. If you redirect your your focus, you can kill your giant. This was true of David. Everything changed when a young shepherd boy, focusing on God and not giants, showed up in the middle of the situation that day in the Valley of Elah.
David had a completely different perspective on the situation. He had a completely different focus than the entire Israelite army. When he showed up to the front lines to meet with his brothers, he finally saw first hand what the real situation was that Israel was facing. However, instead of focusing on the formidability of the situation and Goliath's grandeur, David focused on the inferiority of this giant. David, never once, was afraid of this giant. He never once questioned whether or not this giant is too fierce for him to fell in battle. He never once stopped to play it safe because he had been anointed to be the future king. Rather, David was solely focused on the ability of God to work through him to remove this giant who was disgracing Israel and her God.
Like David, MLK refused to surrender his focus. He refused to play it safe. He refused to surrender his dream of making a better life for others and that one day his children would "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the context of their character. ... [and that] little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."
In order to leave your mark on this world, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and the young boy who would become King David before him, you have to find your focus and firmly establish it on God.
This is actually easier than you think because what you focus on will always surface when you face difficulties. When you run into difficult situations, like a death of a close friend or family member, losing your job, or being forced to work without pay … the first thing that surfaces in your mind is what your life is really focused on.
When the entire Israelite army ran into a difficult situation called Goliath the giant, their initial reaction was fear, intimidation, and immobilization. This was because they were focused solely on the physical. However, when David shows up 40 days later and runs into the same difficult situation, his initial reaction is not to fear, be intimidated, or become immobile. Rather, his initial reaction was to figure out why this guy was still able to run his mouth off in the presence of the army of the living God. David’s initial reaction was drastically different because the focus of his life was not on the physical but on the spiritual, namely on the ability and awesomeness of the One, True God of Israel. Because David’s focus was right, God was able to use him.
Anyone on that ridge that day could have been used by God to defeat Goliath. Saul, David’s older brothers, a nameless soldier that we don’t know about from this story, anyone at all could have killed Goliath with God's help. Yet, God had to wait 40 days and allow this giant to continue to impede, intimidate, and immobilize His children because no one was focused on him. Yet, everything changed the moment David walked onto the scene because his focus was right.
What is your focus? Is it on the physical things of this world that will always be relative and unreliable? Is your focus on your ability to make things happen in your own life? If so, you will always run the risk of being forced into fear, self-doubt, and being completely immobilized because this life will break you. The giants in your life will defeat you. And like the Israelite army, you will be immobilized by fear and never realize your full potential and true purpose.
However, if your focus is like David’s and squarely rooted on God and things above, then you will be able to conquer any giant, any situation, any difficulty, and any challenge. With your focus on God, you will become courageous, uncontainable by giants, and undefeated by Satan, because “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
Find your focus. Kill your giants.
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