We live in a time where many feel small.
Systems rise around us like giants that never seem to fall.
Surveillance, control, regulation and punishment - a net tightening around Man bit by bit. Many speculate about why it is this way - and whether someone, or something, stands behind it. But we never get answers.
And actually, it doesn't really matter.
Because anyone can observe that this is how it is.
And that is, initially, what matters most.
Standing in the midst of the gathering darkness that marks our time, it's easy to lose hope - especially if you look at the world through the eyes culture has given us over the last five or six decades.
Man has been reduced to a function, a resource in a machinery. Something that has to add up. Fit into a matrix in a spreadsheet where everything must be equal. Trained. Fall in line. Do as you're told. And be happy about it.
And if that is true - absolutely true - then we are helpless.
But.
That is not the truth.
And the story of David and Goliath, which you probably know, carries a secret that can teach us to see this clearly.
We begin in the period we can call the Time of Fear.
It was a time when Israel stood paralyzed. Day after day Goliath stepped forward - a giant, heavy with armor, armed to the teeth. He shouted mockery and challenges.
"Send me one man. Come, and I will show you that you are nothing."
But no one came forward. The army stood still, King Saul was silent. Yes. Even Saul, the people's leader, had lost his connection to God. Saul had title and armor, but he had no Faith. And therefore no courage.
It is the same today. We see leaders who bear the symbols of power, but have no true authority. They sit in fine offices, but no one looks up to them. No one would follow them to war. If they say - "Come, let us march," no one rises. Because they do not show the form of leadership that man instinctively recognizes and aligns with - that which is rooted in faith, meaning and direction. They are like Saul - bound in fear, driven by reason, but without spirit.
And so the people remain - passive, waiting, paralyzed. Today even programmed and trained not to harbor strong feelings for their country, their flag, their values, their culture or their God. Stripped of everything that once gave them something to believe in.
In the midst of the stillness, a shepherd boy steps forward. The youngest. The one no one counts for anything. He has no strength, no experience, no weapons.
But he has something no one else has - a pure heart, and an unshakeable trust in God.
All his brothers mock him - "Who do you think you are? Go home and tend the sheep."
Those voices also exist in ourselves. The inner voices that say we are not good enough, not strong enough, that we should stay in the silence. They also exist here on the platform, where no one is allowed to believe anymore - or believe in anything. Cynicism reigns and the ridicule of anyone who dares to stand out immediately gets slapped down.
But David does not let himself be bound by either fear or mockery. And he refuses to wear Saul's armor when it is offered to him. Because he knows - in a wondrous way - that the armor only weighs him down. Restricts him. Disguises him.
So he goes forward. Only with what he knows - the sling and a stone.
....
And here lies the story's deepest secret and mystery.
Because David and Goliath are not just persons in the past.
They are forces within ourselves - and in the world. And if you want to understand the depth of the story, you must read it with these keys.
David is the Soul. The part of us that is still pure, still believes, still dares to stand naked - without the layers we put on to survive in the world.
The brothers are an image of doubt - the voice in us that mocks and holds us down. All that which tells us we will never succeed. That we should stay in our room and have no chance of living the life we dream of.
Saul is an image of the mind when it is severed from spirit - reason without faith, power without inner force.
Goliath is fear itself - the arrogance of ego, the lie, the dominion of systems. Today he shows himself as the force that presses in everywhere. Through rules, control and surveillance, always disguised as care - "for your own safety's sake." He speaks with the voice of media, repeating incessantly - "You cannot. You are nothing. You understand nothing. Fall in line. Do as you're told. Otherwise it will go badly for you. And beware - stay away from the Adventure, because it is dangerous!"
The armor is the persona we hide behind - the false protection we put on in the world, but which suffocates us. The facades we build to be recognized by others. Cultural hypnoses that teach us to fit in, stay silent, not stand out. All the masks we put on to appear bigger than we are.
The sling is the tool. The small bow in the hand that channels a greater force. Not through violent strength, but through calm, precision, focus. In the language of mystery, the sling is man's inner ability to gather himself - to draw all scattered energy home, direct his gaze, let the spirit guide the movement. The sling is the tool of stillness. It is not about striking hard, but about striking clean. Not about many blows, but about the one that hits true. It is the discipline, the prayer, the clear mind - that which makes the stone light as breath and precise as light when it breaks the darkness.
The stone is truth. The unshakeable, simple, clear truth. That which cannot be bought, manipulated or negotiated. It is the core of all reality - the eternal foundation from which everything springs. In the language of mysteries, the stone has always been the symbol of the imperishable - the hidden rock, cornerstone, bedrock.
That is why the stone is so small - but so heavy. It looks insignificant in the hand, but it carries the force that topples giants. Because lies and fear are always vulnerable when struck by truth... The stone only needs to hit one place, for there falls what seemed invincible.
It is the Word, Logos, the truth that was before time and will be after time.
....
And what happens?
The pure stone, carried by faith, hits precisely.
The giant falls.
Scene shift back to our time
We stand today on the same field. The giants are there - the systems, the fear, the lie. They tower up, surround us, mock us. And many stand like Israel's army - passive, powerless, without faith that anything can change.
But David shows the way. He reminds us that we do not need the armor. That we are not bound to fear. That one man with faith can change the entire course of battle.
Because faith is not wishful thinking.
Faith is not naivety.
Faith is the greatest force a human being can carry.
It is the connection between man and God.
It is the force that makes the small greater than the great, the pure stronger than the corrupted.
Harry Potter. Luke Skywalker. Frodo Baggins. Neo. Katniss Everdeen, William Wallace.
That is why the story is not past. It happens again and again, in every time, in every person. When we stand before fear, we can choose to become like Saul - passive, bound by reason. Spirit-less and therefore courage-less.
Or we can choose to be David - the Soul that steps forward with unshakeable trust.
And when we do that - when we take the stone in the sling and let Faith guide it - then the giants fall.
They fell then.
And they still fall.
So to you, who feel small, surrounded and without hope.
Remember David.
Remember that giants are not invincible.
And remember that God still guides the stone when the heart is pure, and faith trusting and unshakeable.
Faith is not weakness.
Faith is the only force that can topple the giants of our time.
And the only thing that can drive the faith in Darkness's Narrative out the door.
❤️🔥🪽
(...did you catch it? 🤓)
