Good Thursday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Can you remember a time when you felt you were simply ‘in way over your head’? It may have been a commitment you made before you completely understood
Two armies are encamped on two hillsides separated from each other by a large valley with a small stream running through it. This is the Valley of Elah and on that hillside over there is the encampment of the Philistine army, and over there, the encampment of the Israelites. King Saul is there with these men who have gathered to defend their towns and families against the aggression of the attacking Philistines.
But for the past 40 days a 9-foot giant named Goliath has been taunting the Israelites each day with this challenge: “Choose a man and have him come out to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, then we, the Philistines, will become your subjects. But if I overcome him and kill him then you Israelites will become our subjects and serve us. I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” (1 Samuel 17:8-10) Forty days had passed and no Israelite was willing to face this great warrior.
But on this particular day, when young David had arrived, bringing food to his three older brothers who were there as part of Saul’s army, David was stunned that nothing was being done about this vulgar, violent, blasphemous, giant Goliath. When David heard his slanderous words, David asked: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26)
David’s eldest brother Eliab evidently was within earshot and heard David’s question and Eliab got both jealous and angry at the same time! Eliab had watched the prophet Samuel pour oil on David’s head that day when Samuel came to Jesse’s home looking to anoint the man God had selected, and Eliab evidently harbored bitterness and resentment toward his younger brother and perhaps toward God. Eliab was the eldest, the biggest, the strongest and David was just a young boy out in the fields watching sheep graze.
Oh my, have you ever found yourself in that type of situation my friends? Have you discovered how deadly jealousy, resentment, bitterness, anger and even hatred can be and how it can destroy you?
Evidently Eliab wasn’t the only one who heard David’s questions and while Eliab lashed out in his anger at his younger brother, someone else went and reported to King Saul what David was asking and that resulted in David being brought before King Saul. Have you ever been hauled before an authority because of something you said? A parent, a teacher or principal, a police officer, a judge?
The record says: “David said to Saul, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine, I, your servant, will go and fight him.’ But King Saul replied, ‘You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man since his youth.” (1 Samuel 17:32,33) They were both right, weren’t they?
Saul was practical, logical, and afraid of a giant, vicious warrior even though, you may recall, Saul was the biggest Israelite, a head taller than most anyone else. David was a boy, now perhaps 14 or 15 years old, and a shepherd boy at that. But my friends, can you see the difference between Saul’s ‘soul’ and David’s? Saul’s heart was afraid, his mind filled with worry and doubt, his will paralyzed with fear. David’s heart was calm and confident that with God nothing was impossible.
Can you see Saul’s warriors standing around smirking at young David, almost mocking this boy for his innocent, ignorant bravery?
The Holy Spirit stirred up David’s courage and he spoke to the skeptics standing all around him: “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. I have killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paws of the lion and the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine!” (1 Samuel 17:34-37)
I think it safe to assume everyone who heard David was simply stunned, flabbergasted, speechless. Did Saul recognize David as the young man who had played music in his dark hours? Had David soothed Saul’s soul in his torment times with words like the Psalms he wrote? Was it God who moved in Saul’s heart to give David a chance? Was it only because this boy David was both willing and confident that Saul agreed to give him that chance?
Remember, if David lost the fight to Goliath, then Saul and the army would bow in surrender to Goliath and the Philistines and they would conquer cities and towns throughout this region of Israel without a fight, including Bethlehem. Saul offered his armor, but it was too cumbersome for David.
David requested and received permission to fight the giant with his own weapons, the weapons he had mastered as a shepherd… a sling and stones. Now the truth is young shepherd boys of that region of the world, who spent weeks, months and even years out in the fields with their sheep, practiced endlessly at their precision with a sling for it was the only weapon of the day which could actually kill a wolf or any other attacking animal from a distance! David had evidently achieved remarkable precision and accuracy with his sling.
But David had far more than a developed skill, David had the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God and David was going against Goliath not simply as a giant warrior but as an opponent of the God of Israel and the people of Israel.
You’ve read the story many times, and perhaps even seen renditions of this famous battle in movies. A shepherd boy, a sling, five stones gathered up from the streambed, and a God given courage. Can you place yourself in the scene as the Israelite men and Philistine warriors, their battle lines are drawn, all watching a huge giant of a warrior, his shield bearer out in front of him, and a young boy with only a sling.
David’s words are epic: “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… and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those warriors 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 you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)
I urge you to listen to the entire 17th chapter with the audio, dramatized Bible at the conclusion of today’s “Walking with Jesus”, for it will help to bring this famous story to life! You’ll recall it took David only one shot with one stone which sank deep into Goliath’s forehead, finding the only small opening in the helmet protecting Goliath’s head.
David did cut off Goliath’s head, and the Israelite army surged forward and pursued the Philistines all the way to Gath, the hometown of Goliath, and Ekron, two of the five, great Philistine cities. It remains to this day one of the greatest battlefield victories of all time. But I urge you my friends to focus on the words David spoke which challenged Goliath and everyone else who heard him, to consider the significance of the God of Israel.
Almighty God was standing by His Covenant promise to protect His people, even though they had departed from God and called for a human king so they could be like other people. That human king had failed the people, but God had raised up a boy with a heart focused on God, and because of the victory God brought that day to the Elah Valley visitors to Israel, coming from all around the world, make sure their itinerary includes spending some time in that valley, looking at streambed from which David took those stones.
I’ve stood there and as we pause today; I ask us to consider if we have the faith and courage of young David in the face of the evil, we see all around us? Here’s a great song to help us celebrate David’s victory!
Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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