1 Samuel 17:1, 4-11, 16-17, 20-24, 32-50
When I was a little girl, I believed that my Daddy could do anything. I saw him do almost everything! He could untangle shoelaces and Christmas lights and bicycle chains. He could build things with wood and operate table saws. He protected us and made us feel safe. Our neighbors behind the woods had stables with horses, and sometimes when they cleaned out, big barn rats would come around. He would shoot those rats, and also the snakes that came up out of the creek. He chased the monsters out from under my bed and held me on his lap when I had bad dreams. He taught me how to drive a nail and use a handsaw and when I got bigger he taught me how to mow the lawn. He showed me how to change a tire and check the oil in the car. I guess there’s a part of me that still believes he can fix just about anything. My Dad’s always seemed kind of brave to me, and never more so than when he walked with my Mom through her illness and death. I know that his faith in God made him a man of courage.
Another man of courage I have always admired is David, the shepherd king, a man after God’s own heart. This morning we are looking at what may the most famous story about David, the story of David and Goliath.
The armies of Israel and the armies of the Philistines had been fighting for quite some time. The Philistines had been driven out of the hill country, and now had attacked from the southwest near the city of Bethlehem. The Philistines camped out on one hill and the Israelites camped out on another hill across the valley. And a giant named Goliath who fought with the Philistines came out and challenged the Israelites. He was over nine feet tall and was large enough that he could wear armor that weighed about 125 pounds. He carried a spear that had an iron head that weighed fifteen pounds; can you imagine carrying that thing? Goliath threw down a challenge to the Israelites: Send out your best man to fight me, one on one. Whoever wins, that will be the victorious army. I dare you to pick someone to fight me!
Now, I’m the kind of person, at least when I was younger, that if someone dared me to do something, that just pushed my button, and I was bound to do it, or at least try. But not the armies of Saul. When they heard Goliath’s challenge, they were all scared to death and no one answered him. Not one of the soldiers of Saul was willing to fight the giant. Every day for forty days, Goliath swaggered out in front of the Israelites and repeated his dare, and every day the Israelites met his challenge with silence.
In the meantime, David’s father, Jesse, sent David from home with a care package for his three brothers who were serving in Saul’s army. He set off with some food and got to the camp just as Goliath was doing his thing. David heard Goliath out there yelling, and he was appalled when he saw Saul’s soldiers running away, terrified. He went to Saul and said that no one should be afraid of Goliath, and that he would volunteer to go and fight him. He said that he had killed lions and bears to protect his father’s sheep, and he would do the same to this heathen Philistine, who had defied the army of the living God. “The Lord has saved me from lions and bears; he will save me from this Philistine.”
David was the first one to really get what was going on with Goliath’s challenge. This wasn’t just about the Philistines and the Israelites. This was about the Israelites and God. This was about the lack of faith among the soldiers – and King Saul – that God would give them victory over Goliath. David knew that Goliath wasn’t just defying Saul, he was defying God; and in his arrogance he was taunting God, and God would punish Goliath for that. This knowledge gave David confidence to face off with the giant.
Saul tried to get David to wear his armor as protection against the enemy. David tried it on, but he found that he couldn’t walk around in it because he wasn’t used to it. Having greater mobility would also be to his advantage over Goliath, who was wearing over 125 pounds of armor, and carrying heavy weapons. All David carried was his shepherd’s stick, his sling and five stones.
When Goliath got a good look at David, he couldn’t believe his eyes. This small, young shepherd boy was coming out to face him! What was with the Israelites? Was that the best they could do? And what about the shepherd’s stick that David was carrying? Did he really think that would do any good? So Goliath taunted David. “Come and get me.” But David wasn’t deterred. In fact, he answered Goliath with strong words of his own: “You come against me with all your weapons, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Israelite armies, which you have defied. Today the Lord will put you in my power; I will defeat you and cut off your head. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a God. He is victorious in battle.”
When the fight started, it was over very quickly. David reached into his bag, took out a stone, put it into his sling, and sent it flying toward Goliath. It hit the giant on the forehead and broke his skull. Goliath fell face down on the ground. David stood over him and took Goliath’s sword and cut off his head and killed him. And that was that. When the Philistines saw what had happened, they ran away. The battle was over.
There would be many more occasions in David’s life when his courage would be challenged. And he would meet that challenge because his courage came from his faith and confidence in God. He knew that the battle was the Lord’s. He fought his enemies, not with his own power, but with the power of God. And there was no one who could defeat him if the Lord was on his side.
We will face enemies in our lives, too. They may not be giants like Goliath, or monsters under the bed like I needed my Dad to chase away. But they are just as real. Enemies like cancer or COVID-19. Enemies like fear or depression. Enemies like addiction or mental health issues. We don’t fight these enemies in the same way. But we can fight them with the same ally: God. We may not have a clue about what strategy to use, but God can help us figure it out. We may not believe we have the strength to do it, and we may be right, but God has enough strength for both of us. We may see other people face these same enemies and try to run away, but we know that won’t work in the long run; and so, with God’s help, we are able to face them head on. Our courage, our strength, our victory, come from our faith in God.
What do you need courage for today? Can you find enough courage to ask God to help you face it? Because I know that God will not let you down. God will give you the strength you need to face whatever that enemy may be. Just trust in God’s promises to be with you always. And remember the faith and courage of David. It’s amazing what a boy with a slingshot can do against a 10-foot tall giant when God is on his side.
