Learning from David--unwavering faith in God
One day, not too long after Saul had anointed him king of Israel, David brought some supplies to his brothers who were fighting the Philistines. While David was talking to them, a giant of a man appeared from the midst of the Philistine army and started taunting the army of Israel as he did every day. This huge man was far bigger than any man and his mere appearance sent waves of fear and dread into the hearts of every single warrior” in the army.
Every day Goliath came out and demanded that someone come fight him. Every day, the entire army of Israel wet their pants out of fear. This one man totally intimidated every man, including the great king Saul. One look at him caused them to quake in their boots and when his voice bellowed forth, the men ran away in utter fear. This had gone on twice a day for 40 days.
Saul had laid out a nice array of rewards for whoever was willing to fight Goliath and kill him. The lucky man who killed Goliath would become instantly rich, receive Saul’s daughter in marriage and get for his family an exemption from all taxes. Even with these enticements, not one man would even try to fight Goliath. They would rather spend every day being intimidated and defeated by an enemy who never physically hurt them than to risk being killed instantly by him.
Fear does this to people. Fear causes people to freeze in their tracks and quit moving forward. Fear causes people to retreat, whether what they are so terrified of is real or not. That within the ranks of the entire army of Israel there was not one single man willing to confront Goliath speaks loudly to the spiritual state this army was in under the leadership of Saul.
The people had demanded a king like all the other nations had. God didn’t want them to have one, but relented and gave them Saul. Saul was head and shoulders above all the other men in the country. He was tall, strong and on the outside, the perfect king. Initially he did an excellent job in leading the armies of Israel to victories over their enemies. But then he got greedy and sloppy and disobeyed Samuel’s commands. The result was that although he was still king in title, Samuel was told by God to anoint HIS” king who ended up being the youngster David.
David was everything a king should not be. He was young, skinny, had a skin issue and a big mouth. His older brothers wanted him to be content taking care of the sheep, and not try and be mighty men of valor as they thought themselves to be. There are many interesting comparisons between Jacob’s sons and Joseph and Jesse’s sons and David.
At any rate, David had something none of the mighty men of valor had and that was a deeply rooted love for and trust in God. Due to this, when he heard Goliath’s trash talking” he was instantly aroused spiritually and without hesitation was ready to take the giant on. His motivation was not at all to receive the rewards Saul had offered but rather to prove to everyone that God was bigger than Goliath.
From the time we first went to Sunday School we heard the story of David and Goliath. Perhaps next to Noah and the ark, this record is the most recognizable in all the Old Testament. Yet, there are very few people who really have any clue as to what the real significance in this account really is.
1 Samuel 17 provides the full record of David and Goliath. Briefly, here are the main things to remember about what took place that fateful day.
1. The response of David’s brother to his desire to fight Goliath in verse 28 was one of scorn and jealousy vs. support—keep in mind they witnessed his anointing by Samuel.
2. Saul initially would not let David go to battle against Saul due to his age. His argument was that David was a youth in verse 33.
3. David convinced Saul by relating his experiences fighting wild animals while protecting the sheep and his firm conviction that if God would deliver him from the lion and bear He would deliver him from the uncircumcised Philistine in verses34-37.
4. David refused the normal armor a soldier would wear into battle in verses 38 and 39.
5. David chose as his weapon one that he was skilled in using which was sling. Verse 40 says simply that all he had was 5 smooth stones and his faith in God.
6. In verses 41-44 the Philistine expressed both his anger at having a cute kid be the one chosen to fight him as well as his intimidating language trying to arouse fear in David’s heart.
7. In verses 45 and 46 David stated plainly that unlike Goliath who needed a sword, a spear and a javelin; all he needed was the NAME OF THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF ISRAEL to defeat him.
1 Samuel 17:47 is the most important verse in this whole record:
Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S, and He will give you into our hands.”
This is the very essence of faith. This is the key to victory in every confrontation with the enemy. The battle is the Lord’s and He will provide the victory not US. Our ability to prevail in any situation is NOT through our own ability or strength.
Saul should have taken on Goliath for he was the king and he was the strongest man in Israel. He didn’t because he was afraid. Thus, just because a person looks good on the outside is no guarantee he is strong in faith.
What we can learn from David’s conquest of Goliath could fill many pages, but the main point was and always will be that victory does not come from physical strength or having material armor. Our victory over the spiritual forces we wrestle against in Ephesians 6 comes from putting on the spiritual armor God provides and then walking with great confidence in God’s ability to protect and deliver us from the Goliath’s intent on intimidating us through fear.
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Author: blessings2you
Location: Warrenton Missouri USA
Gender: Male
Age: 57
Blog Entries: 824 (archive)
Blog Comments: 1356
god called me to serve him when i was 16 years old while on a church work trip in new mexico in 1969. in the 40 years since; i attended bible school/leadership training, been ordained to the christian ministry and worked full time for a non-denominational ministry for nearly ten...
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in 1969 god stepped in and transformed my life as a sixteen year old teenager. after a couple of years of intense emotional ups and downs, i decided i needed a firm foundation in my life that went beyond emotional experiences. it was the decision to become involved with a...
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