There is a film called, “In the Valley of Elah.” Tommy Lee
Jones is a retired army sergeant, Hank, who is looking for his son, Mike. Mike has
recently returned home from his tour in Iraq, and then disappeared. The film is
about Hank’s search for Mike and the things he finds along the way. I had to
watch it a couple of times before I understood the title.
I know it was in the valley of Elah that the army of
Israel faced off against a monster, their worst nightmare. In the valley of
Elah, the people of God faced Goliath and found they had nothing, no one to
match, and they were paralyzed by fear. At the valley of Elah, Israel looked at
their weapons, their armor, themselves, and saw that they came up short in a
particular, fatal way. Both armies had bows and arrows. Both armies had spears
and swords. Both armies had armor. But only one army had a giant, and the giant
was challenging Israel to a duel.
They had no match for Goliath and, therefore, they could
not defeat the army of the Philistines. These were the terms that had been set.
They had all the conventional weapons, but without a giant of their own, Israel
knew the battle was lost before it even began.
Because the challenge had been made. The terms had been
set.
It wasn’t in the realm of the expected for the boy David to step forward
and volunteer to fight Goliath. It wasn’t in the realm of possibility that
David could win this battle against Goliath. When he presented himself as the
one who would go out to meet this “uncircumcised Philistine,” King Saul
dismissed him. He said, “You can’t. It’s
not possible.” But David persisted, and invoked his experience fighting off
lions and bears; Goliath was just another predator like the lions and bears.
With God’s help, David could strike him down too.
It still didn’t seem possible. But David was the only volunteer they
had.
So they tried to prepare David for battle. Saul put his own bronze
helmet and coat of mail on him. But David was just a boy, and the armor of a
grown man weighed him down.
What could they do?
I think the problem the army of Israel had is the same problem we often
have: we have trouble seeing anything other than the terms that have been set
before us. The Philistines declared war on Israel and they saw no other option
than to go to war against them. The Philistines put up a giant with a sword,
and the Israelites saw no other option that to put up their own giant with a
sword. What else can you do but follow suit?
In the film called “In the Valley of Elah,” while Hank is searching for
Mike, he finds photos and videos Mike took while he was in Iraq. He is a
seasoned soldier, himself, but what he sees in these videos is hard to watch. He
sees good boys growing cruel and hard hearts in the face of the monster of war.
Our old Book of Common Worship has a prayer for our military in which we
ask God to “keep our sons and daughters from hate that hardens.” We know this
is a danger of war, and we pray that when they return they will not have grown
into monsters, themselves.
This is a risk not only in war, though. It is a risk of living in this
world. When faced with atrocities we are at risk of becoming an atrocity
ourselves. Being overwhelmed by it, we may respond in kind.
The army of Israel took that little boy David and tried to outfit him in
the armor of war. But David took off the armor. He walked down into the valley
to meet Goliath with nothing but his sling and a pouch full of smooth stones.
David stood before the giant, the monster who wanted to destroy them, in
the belief that God would protect him. An unconventional weapon, indeed.
David shrugged off Saul’s armor that day because he had the presence of
mind to know that it just didn’t fit him. He had the clarity to see that the
armor was not his, that to armor up was not him. He knew in his heart that he
would not find his strength and security in chain mail and swords, but in the
God who had always been with him. David trusted that God would be with him in
the darkest places, even in the valley of Elah.
David knew that he did not need to accept the terms that had been set.
There was a better way.
In the valley of Elah, when there appears to be no other way, this is
where we have the chance to see God’s way.
There is a scene in the film where Hank tells this story about David and
Goliath to a little boy. Then he tells him what he believes is the moral of the
story: that you fight monsters by conquering your own fear and standing up
against them. This is what he has always done – shove down your fear and go toe
to toe with the monsters – and what he has always believed in. But by the end
of the film, he knows different. He knows that there are times when we have to
admit the inadequacies of our conventional weapons. We have to confess that we
are unable to defeat evil on our own power. We need to call on the living God.
Paul writes, in his letter to the Corinthians, that by the power of God
we have weapons of righteousness, and these weapons look nothing like the
conventional weapons. They are revealed in purity, knowledge, patience,
kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech. This is the power
of God.
This is the power of God. This is the armor that is available to us
always.
David walked into the valley of Elah with the weapons of righteousness.
And the battle was won before it had begun.
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