Good Morning Friends,
It was war between the Israelites and the Philistines and the battle lines were drawn – one army on each side of the valley of Elah. On the first morning, a champion from among the Philistines marched down into the valley to challenge Israel, his name was Goliath. "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." (1 Samuel 17:8-9) It was a simple challenge. Why should whole armies fight and many die, let the matter be settled with just a man to man fight between the best of each army.
But no one from Israel would go down to face Goliath, not even King Saul who stood a head taller than any of the rest of the Israelites. “Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” (1 Samuel 17:11)
Then a young man came into the camp, not as a soldier, but as a delivery boy. David came bringing food for his three older brothers who were soldiers in Saul’s army. When he arrived at the battle line to greet his brothers, he heard the challenge Goliath gave that morning, the same challenge he offered every morning. When David heard the challenge, and the unwillingness of any Israelite to face Goliath, David offered to be the one to fight. With no one else willing to be sent, Saul agreed to have the boy David represent Israel.
When Goliath saw David coming toward him, he mocked him because he was such a youth. Goliath was convinced that David would be a quick victim to his superior strength. But David’s confidence did not waver, because his confidence was not in his own strength or experience, but in the power of the Lord his God.
“David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands.’" (1 Samuel 17:45-47)
And the battle was the Lord’s. With a sling and a small stone, David killed the giant. Israel triumphed that day because of a boy sent by the king into battle against a giant. Not because the boy was a superhero, a military prodigy, but because the boy trusted the Lord and the Lord delivered him.
The story of David and Goliath is a story of faith. It’s a story of trusting God rather than our own intelligence, experience, and strength, even for our most difficult challenges.
I know that you’ve never faced a giant and neither have I, but we have all faced challenges. Do we face them with faith?
His, by Grace,
Steve
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