A Man to Fight

Goliath shouts his challenge across the valley: “Give me a man that we may fight together.’ God’s people fear, but He invariably provides a man. Is today’s challenge any different? 
GIVE ME A MAN, that we may fight together.” Goliath’s challenge was destiny’s invitation. Without realizing it, his call for a man to fight with him contained the implication that one man could successfully do it. 
Through the centuries, in varying guises, the powers of darkness have repeated their haughty challenge against the people of God. Outward details and circumstances have differed. The conflict basically has been the same. Invariably it has been an hour of destiny. The odds have been terrific, and all too often, God’s people have trembled in fearful anticipation. Undeniably, the circumstances have been frightening. Too few, alas, have had their heart and eyes set on God. All others have missed because, not having their eyes on God, they have been disqualified for the challenge of the hour. Again and again, destiny has knocked and found God’s people unprepared. 
The terrifying challenge of Goliath, “Give me a man, that we may fight together,” recurs from age to age. Evil ever assumes gigantic proportions. It is overwhelmingly popular—almost. Multitudes tremble and give assent. The hour is ominous. Even God’s people are cowed. Evil appears to be on the verge of triumph. The fifth column of fearful apprehension does its undermining work. Morale is low. Surrender is actually considered. In Israel long ago, how plausible might have been the suggestion to surrender and thus save colossal bloodshed. For forty days, Goliath’s fearful challenge found no response. Why? Were there no men of valor in the armies of Israel? Was there no hope of victorious offense against the giant champion? And today, has the church of Christ no recourse? We must beware an attitude of defense, for against our subtle foe, defense alone will mean defeat. 
A date with destiny! But a date becomes a date when it is accepted. In the face of Goliath’s challenge, a lad came forward, a shepherd boy, and said, “I will go and fight this Philistine.” In accepting the date, his was not the language of defense. With cool deliberation, David took the offensive. People smiled. How ridiculously unfit the lad appeared to be! He was scorned by his brother Eliab; underrated by king Saul; scoffed at by Goliath. How insignificant he was, how pitiful his sling and stones. when compared with Goliath’s size and equipment! David’s courage was magnificent. There was no bravado. He went in the Name of the Lord of Hosts. While others mocked and feared, he went and triumphed. How did he do it? 
First, his vision was clear. David saw beneath the surface. Superficialities were not overlooked. They were seen in their right perspective. But size, material equipment, and numbers (the Philistine hosts) are all insignificant to one who sees God. With this vision, intellectual giants also lose their power to awe. Goliath dwindles. His armor is no terror. No wonder, then, that in an hour of general dismay and panic, David was calm. He saw clearly, too, that the challenge was not that of a man against another man. That was so only on the surface. He saw that in reality, Goliath’s was a challenge from the forces of darkness against the living God.  
Moreover, David’s faith was steady. He had proved God’s power in life’s daily experiences. Earlier a lion and a bear had been delivered into his hand. Now, again, God was his confidence. In the hour of destiny, there can be no substitute for the knowledge of God and of His available power. Young man, young woman, know God. But David not only knew God, he also knew his weapon. 
His was a practiced skill. David knew his weapon. He had used it frequently and successfully. How straight could he sling a stone to its mark! Often had the hillside solitudes of Bethlehem found him patiently practicing. It had not all been fun. Drudgery had not deterred him. He persisted. Finding the mark on Goliath’s forehead was no accident. It was the result of constant, faithful application. God’s Word is our weapon. Do you know it? Can you use it? Daily neglect of the Bible exacts a dreadful price when destiny knocks. Its constant, deliberate and prayerful reading pays great dividends in an unexpected hour. 
But David’s chief qualification for success, one which is often in danger of being overlooked, was the Spirit’s anointing. He knew by personal experience, the Holy Spirit’s enduement with power. As Samuel anointed him with oil, the Spirit of God had come upon him, and it was in His power that he went forth to triumph. Has the Spirit of God ever come and filled you? Does He fill you now? Destiny dates today. Goliath cries again, “Give me a man, a woman, that we may fight together.” The challenge is not new. Terms differ, and circumstances, but once more the gigantic form terrifies as his arrogant call blazons forth. Again he insolently promises to feed his opponent to the birds and the beasts. Today, in this time of widespread dismay, is there no man of destiny? We who have God’s Word, remember how frequently this conflict in principle is portrayed therein, and we exult in the invariable issue in triumph whenever one man among His people obeyed God and seriously accepted the challenge. 
Ninety years ago, the giant defied the gospel’s entry into inland China. That land seemed impenetrable. Only the coastal fringes were being reached by the gospel. The vast interior was closed. Goliath barred the entrance and disdainfully called for a man to fight with him. Again a youth—of vision, of faith, of skill and of the Spirit—risked all as he accepted the challenge. Many said that inland China could not be opened for the gospel. It was too hazardous. J. Hudson Taylor deliberately took the offensive and with his eyes on God, went in the Name of the Lord. He went and also triumphed. In adventurous conflict, one by one, the doors of those closed inland provinces were opened to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
Fifty-five years ago, a young woman missionary of the China Inland Mission was in China. She passed through the dangers and horrors of the Boxer year. Hundreds of God’s children were killed in 1900. The giant champion had risen again to defy the armies of the living God. Again he hurled his insulting challenge against the Church. This time his effort was to close those already opened doors. Clara Leffingwell went through that fearful ordeal. Furlough presented the opportunity to arouse her church, which at that time had no work in China. Courageously she answered Goliath’s challenge and said, “I will go and fight this Philistine.” She went, and founded a work there literally with her life. Within a few weeks of her return to China, she died in Chengchow, Honan. But her courageous faith in God and that of many other missionaries of her own and other missions prevailed. The giant was slain, and the gospel doors in that great land were opened more widely than before. 
Today, in the form of atheistic communism, Goliath is once again repeating his contemptuous challenge. Listen to his call for a man to fight with him. The odds are tremendous. The risk is terrific. His size, his armor, the number behind him, will frighten you if your eyes do not see God, and if you have not known Him day by day. But if you have, if your vision is clear and you can use your weapon—the Bible—go forth in the power of the Spirit of God. Go forth with the gospel, and conquer in Jesus’ Name. 
JAMES HUDSON TAYLOR II 
James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, had five sons. Herbert Hudson, the oldest and the only one who had children, served as CIM missionary for over 50 years. J. Hudson Taylor II (author of “A Man to Fight”) is one of Herbert Hudson’s five sons. His life also has been spent in China, first with the CIM and later with the Free Methodist Church. Last month, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor sailed for Formosa, leaving three of their four children in the United States to complete their education—possibly later to return to the Orient as fourth generation missionaries.
"HIS" (IVF) Nov. 1953