We are all familiar with the story of how little David slew the giant, Goliath. As David approached Goliath, Goliath said, “Come to me and I will feed you to the birds and the beasts.”
But are we aware that this story is merely a metaphor. David represents faith, intelligence and mastery over the doubts and giants we face. Goliath represents fears and doubts, and for us it represents cancer.
Goliath was covered with armor with only a small opening at the forehead where the armor was pushed back. If David had gotten close enough, Goliath would have fed him to the beasts. The curious thing about giants: they are usually tough and destructive and consuming and overbearing, but not stupid. They are clever, beguiling, tricky and subtle. David had the courage and now he needed the wisdom. If Goliath had the slightest suspicion that David had a sling in his hand, he would have covered his face with the shield on the helmet. But David concealed the sling in his hand and Goliath thought David’s only weapon was the staff he was carrying. As Goliath began taunting David and getting closer, David reached in his bag, took out one of 5 stones and slew the giant.
What about your giants and my giants? What about the fears and doubts that would consume us were it not for our faith and intellect. Our faith and intelligence working together master our doubts. Mastering our doubts is the key because having doubts is perfectly human. Wishing our giants away is not realistic; subduing our giants is what must be done.
Whatever else a strong faith does, it gathers up our life, pulls it together and gives it direction. We humans look in 3 directions. We look back and recall our past. We look in at the present and assess our condition and attitudes. We look ahead and make plans and promises for tomorrow. To lack this sense of tomorrow, to be without purpose or direction would be tantamount to surrendering to a giant. Caring about the future and believing in your ability to reach new heights is the necessity of faith to intelligence. Faith blazes the trail, intelligence builds the avenue.
Cancer is an insidious disease, approaching ever so quietly, growing relentlessly and incessantly, sneaking away from home base to other parts of our body, building a resistance to drugs that would slay it and possibly returning after we thought we had rid ourselves of it forever. To slay it like David slew Goliath, we need to make the commitment to do everything in our power to fight the disease. We are full of doubts and fears. That is only natural. Gather up your strength and intelligence, make that commitment, and you, too, have a chance to win the battle.