Feminine 101

How many warriors first heard the challenge?

How many fighters of myriad talents

Were there the day the giant appeared?

One and all he stood for what we feared.

At ten feet tall–six cubits and a span–

He more than dwarfed our every man.

His greaves alone stood to the shoulder,

And his helmet was the size of a boulder.

There was never a question of who would go.

Not a man among us could best such a foe.

Technically he gave us an out from the war.

But to fight was to fall which no one cared for.

Daily we drew up in lines to shout our battle cry,

Daily we pretended we weren’t afraid to die.

I lost count of how many times he came forward,

Lost count of how often he painted me a coward.

Each time he loomed larger, roaring his decree.

Each time we, smaller, to the tents would flee.

.

I remember when that boy first arrived.

Under guise of bringing food, I sure he’d contrived

A way to watch the battle, a way to shirk,

His duties to the sheep and escape his work.

But he was only obeying his father,

And hadn’t planned to be a bother.

Countless times I’d heard the titan’s dare.

But only once heard him, that youngest heir.

Embarrassed, I scoffed that he should boast,

And contest, when we would not, the enemy host.

By his ardent words, he labeled us the fraud,

“Who is this that defies the Living God?”

In my weakness, I mocked his youth.

I shamed his shepherd’s role though, in truth,

I knew him braver than most grown men.

I knew he’d rescued the sheep from the lion.

What I did not know was that this time,

We were the sheep and the lion, the Philistine.

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The boy was brought before our King Saul,

Who led us only in fear for one so tall.

The armor with which he sought to saddle

Couldn’t hide that he’d let a boy fight his battle.

But, in the end, the anointed of God,

Was garbed as a shepherd with only staff and rod.

Is this what it looks like when God fights for us?

Is this how the desperate are meant to trust?

My pride made me long to stand in his shoes.

But it was fear and not pride that made me choose,

To cower in the tents while Jesse’s last scion

Became that day a most famous champion.

When I heard Goliath’s mocking quips,

“Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?”

I felt such shame that he should sound like me–

That my words should sound like the enemy!

His valor brought me down more than a notch.

When they stood toe to toe, I couldn’t even watch.

.

But I couldn’t help hearing the conviction in his voice.

Far from blade or spear was his weapon of choice.

Five smooth stones and a an expert’s aim,

Meant nothing apart from His Great Name.

Indeed the LORD of armies would win the day,

Not by might, but by promise the giant slay.

And why save us, one might be tempted to wonder?

So we in the tents wouldn’t fear, wouldn’t blunder.

Far from relying on weapons and swords,

He made sure we knew the battle is the LORD’s.

And through the lens of history and time,

I can see David’s stand was given as a sign.

Another impossible challenge would sound,

And the true Champion stand on hallowed ground.

Certain defeat would loom impossibly large.

His chosen servants would ignore His charge.

Told to watch and pray, their failure is well known.

Sleeping, hiding, lying–He would stand alone.

.

And when that great mocking lion, Death,

Came to collect His final, precious breath,

From his teeth, these sheep He pried,

Even as the Shepherd bled and died.

The Father that obedient Son forsook.

And the foundations He laid roared, then shook.

The blackened sky mourned and wept.

All while an ancient promise was kept.

The great sin of that most infamous of days,

And the deep breath following as creation waits,

Might tempt one to think that God’s head was turned.

One might not hope despite all we’ve learned.

When David rose up, severed head in hand,

Is nothing to the realms at Christ’s command.

And so, with the sheep, the Hebrews, the traitor,

I find myself in great need of a Savior.

Cowering in the tents, manning my station,

Is where He found me, my only hope of salvation.

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