Lead up to David vs. Goliath.
“There are Goliaths all around you, hulking giants with evil intent to destroy you. These are not nine-foot-tall men, but they are men and institutions that control attractive but evil things that may challenge and weaken and destroy you…. The giants who are behind these efforts are formidable and skillful. They have gained vast experience in the war they are carrying on. They would like to ensnare you.” – Gordon B. Hinckley (Overpowering the goliaths in our lives)
What are the Goliaths in our lives?
For some, it could be drugs, alcohol, pornography, or other vices the prophets have warned us about.
Your Goliath could be mental illness. It could be video games or movies or entertainment. It could be social media and phone addiction.
But for others, it could be something more subtle. It could be taking something good and turning it bad. Maybe you love working out and taking care of your body, but what happens when you become so obsessed and infatuated with staying fit? It becomes a Goliath. What happens when that becomes more important than your relationship with your spouse or your children? What happens when that becomes more important than your relationship with your Heavenly Father?
My older brother is a great example of confronting and overcoming this type of Goliath. My brother was married in the temple to a woman that he loved dearly. They were married for five years. Over the course of their marriage, his wife did some pretty messed up things, but none worse than turning her back on God. At first she was just entertaining her doubts and talking to the wrong people. Then she decided that she didn’t want to go to the temple anymore, then it was sacrament meeting, then finally leaving the church all together. During this time, my brother remained strong. He knew that he made very serious covenants with his wife and God in the temple and he intended to honor them. He read books about being in a part-member family. He and his wife saw a marriage counselor that specialized in multi-religion marriages. He did everything he could to make his marriage work, until one day his wife gave him an ultimatum: he leaves the church or she leaves him. Thankfully, he chose the Lord. It wasn’t easy, but he refused to put anything before his relationship with our Father in Heaven. He refused to let his Goliath destroy him.
My brother is an amazing example to me. I don’t know if I would’ve come out on top like he did. I’m so grateful I’m married to a woman who puts her relationship with our Father in Heaven first and would never put me in that position because I’m not sure I’m as strong as she or my brother are.
There’s a radio clip that I found on Youtube one day when I was preparing for a media and society class. It was from legendary ABC radio host Paul Harvey. In April 1965, almost 25 years before I was even born, he did a segment called “If I were the Devil.”
“If I were the devil… If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of its real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee!
So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you: Do as you please.
To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’ And the old, I would teach to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington D.C…
And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa.
I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.
If I were the devil I’d soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames.
If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions — just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.
Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography — soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money.
I would caution against extremes and hard work in Patriotism and moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus, I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure.
In other words, if I were the devil I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing.”
It blows my mind that this segment was originally aired almost 60 years ago and how spot-on it is today.
Satan’s presence is real. The Goliaths he sends our ways are real. The grave consequences for falling to our Goliaths are very real. But luckily for us, so is the Lord. His presence is real. The Holy Ghost’s companionship is real. And the strength our Father in Heaven endowed us each with is very real.
Because we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, know where our true strength lies, we can face of our Goliaths and be like the young David and look them in the eyes and say, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and a spear, and a shield (or a phone, or social media, or a temptation): but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”
Hayden Coombs 