Book Notes: Confidence in The Living God (David & Goliath Revisited) by Andrew Watson

This little book took me by surprise, a little. I was given it as a gift a while ago, and it had sat in my 'to be read' pile for a long time; never quite making it to the top for a host of reasons. Looking for something that looked like a quick and light read, I grabbed it last week, perhaps thinking 'what more can be said about the battle between David and Goliath?'. 

Andrew Watson, has assembled nine very helpful chapters of analysis and application of this well-known story, which were in practice a delight to read. Although he draws on and references academic works, this is far from being a scholarly tome with which to do mental battle; but a very accessible guide for all.

While Watson follows and explains the story very adequately, what really sparkles are his insights into the non-militaristic struggles of the New Testament Christian and his application of the principles he sees in the text to contemporary life.

I loved his use of 'The Stockdale Paradox' to draw out the differences between pessimism, optimism and actual faith in God. Stockdale was an American survivor of a Vietnam POW camp who described how he got through, while others perished. Pessimists never had hope and gave up. Optimists assumed the best, but were often broken when their cheery 'we'll be home by Christmas' failed to materialise. Stockdale's paradox was combination of a realistic view of every daily threat; coupled with a confidence that the long-term result would be good. The application is obvious, that as we face church decline and secularisation, Christians should neither resign from active duty and declare that all is lost; nor naively assume that everything's fine; but realistically engage in the daily struggle for hearts and minds; but with a confidence that ultimately God has history in His hands. 

Watson's comparison of the lively faith in the Living God, who young David invokes, compared to the jaded, managerial cautiousness of Saul is expertly drawn; as are his observations about the prophet Samuel's vision and perception in his endorsement of this unlikely candidate as a future King. Nice analogies are drawn from things such as David's refusal to wear Saul's heavy armour, to our callings to be ourselves and not seek to copy others, let alone try to exercise gifts and talents we do not own, or to merely copy the work of others.

However, it is the vibrancy of David's faith which seems most relevant to the church today (and me, as part of that). "It's easier to calm down a fanatic, than warm up a corpse" Watson quotes George Verwer as saying. with the sad reflection that the church of which he is a part prefers leaders who are older, duller, safer and routinely rejects those with the passion, inexperience and daring faith of youth. That such a path is folly is obvious, but Watson shows us that it is also not biblical.