February 8, 2026 | Navigating Overwhelming Situations and Pain | 1 Samuel 17

Our brains are three-pound supercomputers, processing up to 60,000 thoughts a day. In a world full of bad news, economic stress, and constant worry, it’s easy for our thoughts to spiral out of control. Had you wished you ever had tools to reel them in? Let's start the year by renewing our minds (Roman's 12:2). Using Max Lucado's book as a guide, we will spend 7-weeks talking about how to tame your thoughts. The good news is our brains can be reshaped through scripture and healthy habits. Anxiety, guilt, shame, and lingering questions don't have to have the final word. Let's learn, grow, and practice new ways of thinking-together. 

This week we talk about how to navigate overwhelming situations and pain. 

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name is Sandi Asker. You can hit the lights. Thank you. I'm one of the pastors here. My husband Brian is at the youth retreat that we just prayed for. He and a few of our students are at Lake Beauty, our denominations camp in Long Prairie, and they've been having a great time. They're actually on their way home now. So, that's why we're praying for safe travels.

Well, I have a confession to make this morning. Uh recently, right before I go to sleep, I get these overwhelming feelings and thoughts. Uh, my stomach tightens. I go from just about ready to fall asleep to being wide awake. Uh, they're different thoughts. And even I said, "And now as I type, I can't ex exactly remember what they are, but they're never the same." Uh, sometimes it's something that had happened earlier that day. Sometimes maybe it's something I'm nervous about in the future. Uh, maybe it's something that I did that I feel guilty about and I just feel terrible and I can't kind of push past it.

Well, I don't know about you, but I've been listening to this sermon, uh, taming our thoughts. And so, I've been trying to practice actually what I and Brian are preaching. Uh, we've been taught that we don't have to accept that these thoughts are going to, uh, live as kings in our head. We can practice picky thinking. Uh, we've talked about joy. We've talked about lust. We've talked about the word neuroplasticity. Anyone? Neuroplasticity. Yeah. which is a scientifically proven theory that God already taught us when he said that we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Uh we've encouraged each other that there's a better way to live and a better way to even think. So I spend some time naming what's happening in the brain and separating truth from reality. And then I've been trying to not overreact by just getting out of bed and watching a show or picking up my book and staying up too late and instead trying to uproot those thought patterns and remind myself about what is true.

Have you tried this? Anyone? Have you been trying the picky thinking uh identifying it? Not just ignoring it, right? Sometimes we just want to ignore it or numb. Uh but instead intentionally say, "Wait, I don't have to think about this this way. I can actually think differently." Uh we at the time of this sermon being written still had books. We no longer have any books, but there are workbooks left in the back. The youth group is still walking through it. And online, uh, you can find the worksheet of sorts that walks through this. If you need that, please let me know. There's also a QR code or a list online of the verses that can remind you of who we are corporately as a community and also who you are individually.

So today, I hope that we have ears to hear. I'm super excited because we are studying David and Goliath and I have been in this passage for a few weeks. Elijah having a chance um to speak about his own facing kind of a giant or facing a battle I thought would be helpful for us as we enter into this. Uh Elijah, you weren't necessarily the underdog of the story, but we can see David and Goliath type stories all the time. And I don't know if you know this, but the Winter Olympics just started. And one of the things that just came out on Netflix apparently is a retelling of the miracle story, which was in the 1980s, the big Russians were destined to win and conquer like Goliath. And a bunch of Minnesota kids and other kids in the United States from college banded together and like duct taped their skates on is kind of what it felt like. uh and they skated their way to a championship.

I was actually sick from uh something that morning. So sick that my mom, who is a pastor's wife, kept me home that Sunday morning at church from church. And I remember lying on my couch in 1980 at four years old watching our team win. So my mom and I have that amazing memory. I also came to understand as I studied David and Goliath that Malcolm Gladwell literally in studying David and Goliath came back to his childhood faith in studying this. Malcolm Gladwell is an amazing author. He's written books that are just mind-blowing. He wrote a book about the underdogs. And in studying this, it actually led him back to Jesus. So perhaps that's you today. Maybe you are facing a battlefield and you need a reminder of maybe what you learned in Sunday school of just some good truths today. And if you're in the room or if you're online, uh just maybe consider giving Jesus another chance.

We're going to be in 1st Samuel chapter 17. The words will be on the screen or if you have a paper Bible, crack it open. First Samuel's in the Old Testament, so it'll be on the left side of your book when you're holding it. It says in chapter 17, starting at verse four, a champion named Goliath, who is from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. The Philistines have been enemies of Israel for quite some time. And actually, after this battle, they no longer appear to be quite the fierce force that they are. But at this time, Goliath was a Philistine. His height was six cubits and a span. I feel like that's like he's great with a bag of chips, right? He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing 5,000 shekels. And on his legs he wore bronze greaves and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod and its iron point weighed 600 shekels. His shieldbearer went ahead ahead of him. His shieldbearer had some weight to carry as well.

Now this Goliath, this champion stood before the army of Israel and said, "Why do you come up and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he's able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects," or, more accurately translated, slaves. "But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our slaves and serve us." Then the Philistine Goliath said, "This day I defy the armies of Israel. Give me a man and let us fight each other." On hearing the Philistines words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

So you can see the scene, right? Maybe you've seen this on a flannel graph or you've seen a picture of this and you've got two armies and there's a valley and there's this giant literal giant yelling at the people of Israel. Now the name Goliath means splendor. any uh doubt of the height of Goliath is because the original documents that are found and then the most recent Dead Sea Scrolls debate a little bit about how tall he was. But there are skeletons that have been found that 7 feet plus skeletons did exist back in this time. It is possible that he could have been 9 feet tall. Either way, it is normal for combat in these times for there to be armies to just send one. Maybe it helped avoid casualties. Uh it was a way for someone to kind of show off. The interesting thing is Saul himself is described early in 1 Samuel as head and shoulders above everyone else. Saul himself should have been the king should have been head and shoulders above everyone else taking Goliath to task and for whatever reason Saul doesn't do it perhaps it is because his relationship with the Lord it was a little rocky at this time if you want to read first Samuel.

Meanwhile Goliath Goliath you all his armor alone weighed probably what an 18year-old weighs about 125 pounds. Just the tip of his spear was 15 pounds. Now, I had a weight. I don't know where it went. I thought I grabbed it. When you pick up a 15lb weight, it's heavy. The tip of his spear. Do you know what happens when something at the end of your line or your stick is heavy like a fish pole? It bends, right? It's hard to wield. The tip of his spear was 15 pounds. Goliath was the obvious winner. He is Russia in 1980. I want to say he's the Seahawks tonight, but I don't know if I can say that. It feels like the Patriots because of their history are probably going to win, but they're maybe the underdog tonight. Those are sports references. There's a Super Bowl football game tonight for those of you who don't know.

The Israelites, on the other hand, are dismayed and terrified. It said dismayed means to feel shattered, just depressed, fatigued, discouraged, and broken. All they can probably think about, I'm imagining, is what Goliath is yelling at them. It's hard not to imagine Monti Python. And the men, you reckon he has a French accent, and he just curses them. and your mother smells like elderberries. They are dismayed. I am sure that they are going towards an overreaction of paralyzing fear. They're not doing anything. The army was dismayed and afraid. It said this word afraid that fear is the same that Adam and Eve felt after they sinned and they knew God was coming in the garden. They did not feel safe.

Now, Pastor Libby is preaching this this morning at Crossview. She reminded me that there are some fears that are good and healthy. Okay? When you get that like hair on the back of your neck, maybe your body is telling you something you should pay attention to. Our bodies are created to have fear, to run away, which is a good idea sometimes. Okay. When you have healthy fear, listen to it. This person doesn't seem to be safe. Run away. Right. Okay. The problem is when those thoughts of fear leap you into an overreaction that becomes unhealthy. When your brain is not stopping and you're starting to plan revenge. When your brain is not stopping and you cannot remember that it is time for lunch. Right? That's what we're talking about.

Meanwhile, we found out we found we find out that David, three of his older brothers are in this battle. David's at home keeping the sheep safe. His dad, who's very old at this point, sends David with takeout, little lunch, little snack for the brothers. And I think the dad, Jesse, wants to make sure that his boys are okay. And he wants David to come home and say, "They're good. They're still alive." So David arrives on the field and he hears what's going on.

And in chapter 17 verse 32 through 37, it says, "David said to Saul the king." Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine, this Goliath, "Your servant," meaning me, "I'll go and fight him." Saul likely looks down at David because Saul is head and shoulders above. This is a little bit like Andrew and me probably. Are you a head and tall? Probably. Right. Okay. David's looking up at Saul. Saul looks down at David. "You're not able to go against this Philistine. You are only a young man. He's been a warrior from his youth." David, when you were a baby, Goliath was in training.

But David says to Saul, whenever there's a butt in the Bible, pay attention. Okay. "But David said to Saul, 'Your servant,' meaning me, 'I've been keeping my father's sheep.'" Oh, okay, David. Good for you. "When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it." What? "I struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it, and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine," which is an kind of a derogatory curse, okay? "this will be like one of them will be like that lion or that bear because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, he'll rescue me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, I don't know how he said it, but he said, "Go, and the Lord be with you." I don't know if Saul was like prayerful and medi "go and may the Lord be with you," right? Or if he sort of like "may the Lord be with you, God love you because nobody else does," you know?

I have a representation from modern day of also what this might have felt like. There's a photo of two famous men who are different sizes. Now, everyone might say, "Is this AI, Sandi?" No, because this photo was taken before people really knew about AI, at least. You know what I'm saying? Um, this is real. This is what Shaquille O'Neal and Justin Bieber look like. Okay. And then go to the next one. This is what Kevin Hart looks like next to Shaquille O'Neal. This is David. David's Kevin Hart, y'all. Okay, now just like forgive the reference because everybody has issues. Justin Bieber, Kevin. Okay, we're not going into all that today. Let's just think about how tall they are. David and Goliath. The disparity in height, strength, and experience. Could you get any more different than an NBA commercial loving God bless Shaquille O'Neal, he cracks me up. And then you've got Kevin Hart, right? This is what the author Samuel is trying to illustrate in this David and Goliath.

1st Samuel 17:38-4. Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put on a coat of armor and a bronze helmet. David fastened Saul's sword over the tunic and tried walking around because he was not used to them. Now imagine your child in the mom's shoes. Okay? The little child who puts on dad's sport jacket before the shoulders have filled out, right? The little girl wearing whatever it is, the apron, the dress, the whatever, right? And it's not even close. You could hem it, you could fix it. It's just not going to work. No amount of duct tape is going to fix this problem. Okay?

So, David says, "I cannot go in these. This is not working. I'm not used to them." So, David took them off. He took instead his staff from shephering, five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag, and with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. So again, Kevin Hart, Shaquille O'Neal. Here I am with my sling. And here's Goliath with 125 pounds of armor. David took five smooth stones and with a sling in his hand approached the Philistine.

David, he knew what worked for him. Not only had he with his bare hands, apparently taken down bears and lions, he knew how to use a slingshot. Now, I could have gone really far into weapons of war back in those days. Apparently, slingers, as they're called, those that used sling slingshots, they could become so um what's the word? Efficient and precise, accurate. Thank you. that they could knock a hair off someone's head. That was that's like the phrase. They were very very good at what they did. And slingshots became very important in battle because hand-tohand combat, right, is a little tricky, but if you can sling things and hit someone from a far distance, right, it's super super helpful back then. So even though Goliath was experienced and had been trained for this, apparently David's like doing his own training on the side. That's all I can imagine.

David had had experience not just with the sling, but with the Lord. Earlier in Samuel, all of his brothers get paraded in front of the prophet. And Samuel, and I have to say, I feel bad for the brothers at this point, okay? Can you imagine being all of David's brothers, buff, great, good-looking, because David's cute, too. All the brothers come in front of this in front of the prophet, and the prophet goes, "No, aren't there anymore?" And then pipsqueak of the family comes out and Samuel's like, "Yes." And anoints him with oil to be the next king of Israel. So, the pipsqueak knew that God was up to something that did not make sense. maybe like a sling in the face of a giant.

We need David's in our lives. People who have been to battle and live to talk about it. People who have walked with the Lord and knows know what works for them and can tell you about it. They can help with even our Goliaths. Like this was not David's problem. David was safe with the sheep and his family. He had cheese and bread. He didn't have to come into this battle. But he went because his father sent him.

David hears for himself this taunting Goliath. This Goliath who is a bully. This Goliath who yells names at people who are maybe not used to it. Do you think anybody could identify with the people of Israel if we put it out on social media today? any law enforcement officials who are tired of people in their faces taunting them and telling them that they aren't human and they don't deserve anything.

Well, David heard this and he took a minute. He got his stones and he approached the giants. the giant. I studied this and this week as I met with my spiritual director, I felt convicted because I can be Goliath. I can think of myself as big and strong and use my big and strong voice or my personality and I can taunt and call names and bully. I can be the Goliath.

Some of us don't have the Goliath within us, but we see a Goliath. Maybe it is an illness that just feels too big. It is a decision that is beyond. Maybe it is your finances that no matter what you do at the end of the month, there are more dates on the calendar. Maybe it's your eating. Last week we talked about lust and pornography. Maybe it's something completely out of your control and you're just watching it unfold and it just feels like there is absolutely nothing I can do. Or maybe it is questions. Questions. How could God possibly exist and allow this evil? Why did this have to happen to the best person that I know? Why do bad things keep happening? God cannot be real and have all of these things be true. And then our thoughts get in those cycles and it is just a death march. We can't read a book. We cannot drive. We cannot have a conversation without thinking or talking about it.

And I think today God wants to remind us that we have tools to face these giants, even if they live inside of us. It may seem like a tiny stupid idea today, ridiculous according to the world, ridiculous according to your family, maybe even ridiculous according to you, but you only came because your family's here. that a giant weighing probably over 30 pounds and just the tip of his spear weighs 15. You might feel like what can I do in the face of it? The evil in the world, that illness, my lack of faith, my marriage, the United States of freaking America. What can we possibly do in the face of this giant?

Well, what does David say? David says to Goliath, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's." Say with me, for the battle is the Lord's. Say with me, for the battle is the Lord's and the Lord will give all of you into our hands.

David says, God's word might seem ridiculous for me to sit on this platform and say that is your tool. God's promises might feel like peeing in the ocean. What difference does it make? Right? What difference does it make if I help this one starfish on the beach? Anyone ever heard that one? Why do we bother picking up that one plastic bag that's blowing through the neighborhood?

I remember I didn't ask my kids permission for this. I remember when our kids were little, my big kids and we were talking about adoption. I wasn't planning on this crap and I told Kalista how many kids were on the planet that didn't have families and it was like four million or something and we sat in our living room and Kista looked at me and said, "Are we going to adopt all of them?" And I said, "No, but we're going to adopt one." It might seem silly in the face of a giant.

Wesley says, "A little shepherd come but this morning from keeping sheep." David was just keeping sheep this morning. David has more courage than all the mighty men of Israel. Thus doth God often do great things for his people by the weak things of this world. Have courage, my friends.

Ephesians 6 says, "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." Jesus told us that we'd have trouble. We're going to have pain, y'all. Jesus, our savior, died on the cross and blood, real blood. And he was really beaten and oppressed. He really did suffer. His friends ditched him. His own brothers and sisters thought he was nuts. He did not have a cozy bedroom to go to at the end of the day. He didn't have a spa that he went to. He didn't take a two week vacation every year.

Our God put on flesh and lived among us in that pain. And the pain and the evil of the world, he took upon himself. He invited it. And it broke Jesus. It broke Jesus. Jesus was really dead. It wasn't fake. It wasn't just like a spiritual image that he wanted to teach us. He really died. The brokenness of the world broke God. But the power of the evil one did not see what happened happen. When Jesus conquered death, that was like the enemy's last thing that the enemy had. And Jesus went, "Uh-huh. Yeah, I'm bigger than that, too."

Paul tells us to pick up the sword of the spirit. David picked up five stones. Maybe for some of you who follow Jesus, you have your slingshot and your stones. You have your Bible app. You have your music. You have your small group. You have things that work. You got a tattoo so that it would always be with you. Okay? You've got your stones. And man, David somehow didn't need those five that day. It only took one. Don't give up on those things that work. Don't try to put on somebody else's armor.

For me, I go outside and I am like with Jesus. In the summer, if I don't have regular vacations outside in the sun, I am not happy at the end of the summer. That's what works for me. Don't go to the Boundary Waters if it doesn't work for you. But find what works for you and do it. Trust it. For David, one stone. Boom. Goliath was destroyed.

Goliath, however, may not fall for you. You might use all five stones. You might keep doing those traditions, your spiritual disciplines. You're doing all the things and you still feel like garbage. That illness still overtakes you. Divorce still happens. The kid never does seem to come to know Jesus. And it feels like Goliath's just going to come out and taunt you and taunt you and taunt you.

Well, guess what? You might not believe it, but I will for you. Your small group can come around you and remind you what is true. Your spiritual friends that you've invited and said, "I am going to be honest with you. I can't really be in a small group because telling eight people the honest things is too hard for me, but I'm going to tell you this," and it's not someone you're related to. It's not your spouse, right? You have community.

Saul says to David, "Go and may the Lord be with you." Goliath even had a shield bearer, y'all. Even the giant had someone that went with him. Don't do this by yourself. If you're not in a small group, join one. If you don't have one, we'll start one. Okay? In the last six months, the times that I have talked to people with their giants, every single time I say, "Okay, small group." And if you're in a small group, are you being honest with them? Yes. Yes, I did just get a little preachy.

Jesus Christ is the only David that we all need. Jesus will be the one that will take on your Goliath. Jesus ultimately has already slayed the giant, right? We know that ultimately when we have Jesus that there is victory, but in the in between it's hard. The days are hard. I was just talking to someone who runs a mental health clinic and she was doing a review of 2025 and she said, "I've been doing this a long time and people who have gone before her in the mental health world. This last year, you guys, was nuts for people. It was similar to how we felt coming out of co. We can't do this by ourselves. You need Jesus. And even with Jesus, it's hard. Even with a good small group and I hope, Lord, a good church, it is hard. But do not underestimate the promises of the Lord. Do not underestimate the name of Jesus.

The Lord sends us out into the world, but glory be to God, Jesus has overcome. If you have kids in Sunday school, uh please bring them back in. If you're on the worship team, please come forward. We are the family of God. God promises to be our perfect parent. God is always here with us, pursuing us, loving us. We are not alone fighting Goliath. Ultimately, we believe that the son of David, a name of Jesus, the son of David, Jesus, he faced the giant, the enemy, and destroyed it by death and resurrection. And until the day when Jesus comes back to earth and makes things as they should be, we can remind each other and through music remind each other what is the truth as we wait for Jesus to come back. Amen.