Dramatic Moments in Scripture: David and Goliath

Lessons for Life in seven dramatic moments. Today, battling giants for the glory of God. What we're going to do over the next several weeks are look at stories that are probably very familiar stories, stories many of us have known since we could first learn to understand stories when we were children. But you know there's power in these stories, and there are many lessons for life out of these stories that maybe we don't pause to think about. But that's what we're going to do.

Today, a very familiar story, but a story that I pray we will listen to with fresh ears today, as if we are hearing it for the very first time. There was a giant in the land of Judah. That is, in the territory that was awarded to the tribe of Judah after the children of Israel went into the Promised Land. He was a big giant, over nine feet tall. He was prepared for battle.

His armor alone weighed about 125 pounds. and he was armed for battle. He had a sword, he had a javelin, and he had a spear and the point of his spear was an iron point that weighed approximately 15 pounds just to show you the weight of his armament. He was backed by a whole army known as the Philistine army and he was ready to battle the Israelites. challenged the Israelites to send a chosen representative to fight him. It was the practice that was sometimes used in this day instead of the whole army battling each side would choose a champion. It was one man combat and the idea was that the champion from one army would battle the champion from another army and the outcome of that battle between those two men was viewed as God's will or the will of the gods, if you were a pagan, the will of the gods about the outcome.

And it was designed, in a sense, to spare life. And that was the situation here. Goliath was challenging Israel to send out its champion. For 40 days, Goliath, we are told, came out and challenged the army of Israel. And he would taunt them as they failed to send out a champion to battle him.

As 1 Samuel 17, 10 says, This day I defy the ranks of Israel, Goliath said. Give me a man and let us fight each other. But the text of scripture tells us that King Saul and the army of Israel were terrified. would fight the giant in the land of Judah. In God's providence, in God's providence, a young shepherd boy named David arrived on the scene.

And as my Ethiopian friends would say, Exabier Meskel, praise God, that a young shepherd boy named David arrived. He was sent from home with food for three of his brothers who were fighting in the army of Israel. And this is how they fed the army often. And family members would actually supply food for members of their family that were in the army. The three brothers of David were Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah.

And when David arrived with food for his three brothers, here this young shepherd boy saw Goliath challenging and defying the army of Israel. And he actually saw when he arrived the Israelites turn and run in fear when Goliath came out and challenged them. David, just a young man, but a man of great faith, could not accept what was happening. So David asked two questions as he sees the army of Israel running from this giant named Goliath. The first question was this.

It's in verse 26 of 1 Samuel 17. He asked, what will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? This young shepherd boy knew this was disgraceful. That the army of the living God would not send a champion to fight this pagan Philistine named Goliath. It was a disgrace in the land.

was this who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God don't you love that question who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should divide the armies of the living God here's lesson for life number one from this story and the lessons for life are on the back here's lesson for life number one and it's an important lesson for us

God often raises up one person, one person, a person of great faith to lead His people to overcome the challenges that they face.

You know, God has many of us scattered throughout the community. Sometimes you may wonder why you are where you are. I'm going to tell you why you are where you are because that's exactly where God wants you to be and God is looking for one person in that situation who is willing to stand up and do what God needs to have done the question is will we be that person this story helps us understand it's often just one person just one person who makes the difference a second lesson follows from this story though inevitably when this one person stands up there will be critics who seek to tear down and discourage those who take bold stands for god have you ever seen that somebody stands up and takes a position for god what immediately happens out of the woodwork come people who are critical of them we can see it at level can't we someone a leader in the Christian church stands up and says this is wrong this is we're going to take this position and immediately throughout the media lambasted for their position it'll happen on a more local level stand up take a position for God critics are going to come out of the woodwork and it happened to David his first critic was his own brother his oldest brother you know how older brothers can be. The younger brother stands up and takes this bold stand, the baby brother no less, and the oldest brother Eliab immediately criticizes him. Eliab in the story represents a spirit of criticism and negativity.

When somebody stands up for God, you're going to have somebody often with the spirit of Eliab who becomes a critic. The spirit of criticism and negativity. And Eliab belittles David. You're just a mere keeper of a small flock of sheep. What are you doing here?

Why don't you run back home and care for your little flock of sheep? You little twerp.

and then he begins to accuse David of pride and wickedness in his heart because Eliab accuses him of conceit when all David is doing is taking a stand for God. You ever known the Eliabs of the world? Critical spirits, negative spirits when somebody stands up for God. Also, you'll have critics like Saul Saul represents a spirit of doubt and discouragement. A spirit of doubt and discouragement.

Here's David standing up, ready to challenge this giant. But the spirit of doubt and discouragement comes along. Saul tells David, you're only a boy. And Goliath is a trained warrior. You're not able to go out and fight against this Philistine.

There's no way that you can do this. And that voice of doubt and discouragement often causes some of us to not stand boldly for God. But I'm going to tell you that there is a third lesson here that we need to learn. We should not allow the voices of negativity and discouragement to control our responses to challenges that confront us. instead we should trust God because no matter what we face he is with us if there's something our church probably needs to hear it is this do not let the voices of negativity or of discouragement control our response instead let's say despite the criticism we're going to stand for God and confront the challenges before us Despite the critics, that's just what David does.

He went out to face the giant Goliath. It's interesting how he went out. He wore no armor. He carried no sword. He had no spear.

All he had was a sling and five small stones. The contest seemed completely uneven. A small boy versus a tall giant. A shepherd versus a warrior. An untrained fighter versus a trained soldier.

A young man with no armament, no armor versus one wearing 125 pounds of armor with a spear that has an iron point weighing 15 pounds. Goliath was outraged, outraged when David came out to face him. He even cursed David by his gods. He was incensed that they would dare send such a small, meaningless sort of person out to face him. And by all appearances, there was no hope for David against Goliath.

But here's lesson for life number four in the story.

the difficult challenges that we must face in life often appear powerful and insurmountable when we look at our own resources we can easily be intimidated is that not true some of the things we face in life just seem so overwhelming it's easy for us to just give up to turn away because intimidated by the situation. And that easily could have happened to David in this situation. But instead, look what David does. Instead of turning and running from the challenge, he confronts Goliath and speaks to him. After Goliath has cursed David, has scoffed at David, has despised David for his apparent weakness. I love David. And you know, David was probably looking at about Goliath's belt buckle when he went out to talk to him.

But listen to the boldness of his statement. Verse 45, David says this. 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 army of Israel. This day the Lord will deliver me into my hand and I will cut your head off.

That's a pretty bold statement for a little punk kid against Goliath. Here's lesson for life number five.

When we face challenges in life, particularly from those who are enemies of God, to courageously and unflinchingly trust in the Lord God Almighty. God is ready for people who are willing to go into the battle and trust in His power, come what may. And that's exactly what David did. Instead of running and being intimidated, he looks the giant in the eye and tells him, I come in the name of the Lord God Almighty. And then David attacks the giant.

You notice he didn't run. He didn't sidestep. David launches the attack. With one stone, Goliath falls. And then David takes the giant's own sword and cuts off his head.

I was telling this story in Ethiopia. and I had a translator translating for me. There are two things that were interesting about the translation. Number one, in the Amharic language, there's no word for giant.

So every time I used the word giant, she was having to give this long explanation about one person who's a lot bigger than the other person, that's the giant. So it was kind of awkward. But then secondly, my translator was so good, she would translate not only what I said, sound effects just like I did them. And I said, and David took out his sword and whoosh, cut off his head. And my translator went, and whoosh, cut off his head.

And everybody laughed just like you did when she did that. But David attacks the giant. And when he does and when Goliath falls, what happens? It's not just that Goliath falls, but then the whole army of the Philistines Philistines turns and runs. He just had to take down one of the enemy and then the rest of the enemy scattered.

It's powerful. Sometimes it's just that one, facing that one challenge, that one person who opposes. If you can face them in God's power, often the whole challenge just evaporates. Now let me ask this question. Who killed

Was it God or was it David? Was it the power of God or was it the stone of David that killed Goliath?

Well, the answer, I think, is both. Did God need David? Did he have to have David to kill Goliath? not go read the new testament ananias and sapphira tell a lie to the apostles and god whoosh takes them both out god could have taken goliath out without any one stepping up but the reality is and here's lesson for life number six and this is such an important lesson for us God often displays His power when a person of faith a person without a spirit of fear a person with the spirit of David is willing to stand in the gap and risk everything for God. God wants David's.

He wants people who will stand in the gap and put everything on the line for God.

Notice how David's spirit and his response to the situation were so different from the rest of the Israelites. And I think this is really what the author is trying to help us see. Not only that David trusted in God, but we are to respond like David, not like the army of Israel. So we need to see the contrast between how the army of Israel faced this challenge. versus how David did.

And here's some contrast, I think, that we see from the story. The Israelites did not believe that they could win the battle. Could win the battle. You ever faced a challenge and you just gave up before you started? That's the way the Israelites were.

They didn't believe they could win the battle. But what was David like? David knew that the battle was the Lord's. The Israelites, in a sense, were right. They could not win the battle.

But they forgot it wasn't their battle. It was the Lord's battle.

The Israelites trembled with fear in the face of Goliath. David reacted with courage. God wants people of courage. The Israelites wanted no fight because of their fear. How many times have we not even gotten into the fray because it was going to be too much trouble, too difficult?

We knew we would be criticized. The Israelites wanted no fight. David wanted no disgrace. He was much more concerned about the honor of God than his own life. The Israelites expected defeat.

David predicted victory. What a whole different attitude about facing the challenge that was before him. The Israelites ran from the giant. This great challenge before them. David attacked the giant.

The Israelites were concerned about their own safety. David was concerned about God's honor. A whole different perspective. The Israelites saw and feared Goliath. David saw and only feared the living God.

May we have the spirit of David. This approach to the challenges that we face in life. You know we all face giants and challenges in our lives, don't we? they may come in different forms but every one of us has and will continue to face giants

what giants do we face i began to think about our class i began to think about some of you who i know face some difficult circumstances some of us for example face either ourselves or in

of addiction.

And it's one of those giants, it just seems like, you just can't beat it.

And we can run in fear from that kind of giant instead of attacking it head on in the power of God. But some of us face the giant of addiction. Some of us face the giant of killing grief. we love, we are so deep in the depths of despair we don't know how we will dig our way out.

It's time to trust in the living God. That's all we can do in that situation. Some of us face the giant of a failing marriage.

And it would be easy to give up hope. To turn, run,

challenge head on. Some of us face the giant of fear, fear for our children. Some of us are afraid about our job situations. Some of us face the giant of hopelessness. We've been beaten down so many times and we are just to the point that we are just hopeless and we don't know how we will ever get the hope back. At a bigger level, we face other giants, and we could probably name many. In our own culture, we face the giant that I call secularism, a view of life that just excludes God from the beginning. Man is the center of everything. And it seems that that attitude, that view of life is sweeping our culture.

And anyone who dares stand up and say, no, there's a different way, a better way, is someone who is so quickly attacked. Some of us, where the world faces a giant of aggressive Islam. Now let me make a point here. We fight these giants with spiritual weapons and physical weapons that are permitted to us as Christians. physical weapons being like the systems that are available to us government, courts, other things we can use but let me draw a distinction here David was fighting in a war against an enemy who was trying to kill him and it was no sin for him to fight back with a physical weapon and kill him most of the time the giants we face we're going to be using spiritual weapons to fight back so if you're facing the giant of a failing marriage and literally cut your spouse's head off.

Right? We fight with spiritual weapons. And even when we face a giant like Islam, I think we fight primarily with spiritual weapons. But we've got to be willing to step into the fray. You know, we talk about these countries being closed countries and we as Christians don't go into closed countries.

I wonder what the Apostle Paul would have done if you told him that this country called Iran was a closed country or North Korea is a closed country, my guess is he would have packed his bag and be headed right to the capital.

And he would have gone with the attitude, though he slay me, even if in this battle the Lord in his plan wants me to be slain, I'm going to trust in him and I'm going to go fight the battle. I think there's another giant in the land. It's a giant I call abortion. Will we slay this giant?

Will we slay this giant?

me slay it next week. I'm going to talk to you about that a little more next week. I'm ready to do some giant killing. And we as a people need to do some of that.

Do these giants not exist at a personal level and at a bigger level? Aren't they challenges that we face? I think so. And here's the last lesson I want us to hear. As you think about the giants you face in your own life, As you think about the giants that we face as a society, this is what I want us to remember from this story.

The God of David still reigns and He still rules. He is the living God who holds all power in His hand. There is no giant He cannot defeat.

I will echo a truth here.

Sometimes, in David's story, the giant was killed by David. It may be that God in his providence asked us to fight giants and we die in the battle. Like the Apostle Paul was beheaded as he took the gospel to the Gentile world. Peter was crucified upside down. But you know what?

he holds all power in his hand. He's working things according to his will. We go in his power and we fight in his name. But the reality is, folks, wherever we are, God is waiting for the Davids and the Davidas to stand up. Do you hear me?

He's waiting for us to stand up. He's waiting for people who fear nothing but God, who know the battle is the Lord's, people who will confront the giants with courageous faith.

Do you hear me? My question is, are we willing to fight the battle in the spirit of David? I pray that we will. The world is waiting, I think, to see if this stuff is real. And if it's real, we will not turn and run from the challenges.

We will look them straight in the eye. And in the name of the living God, we will attack. We will attack. That's my prayer. Let's pray.

Lord, this day, we come acknowledging that we are often timid, fearful, half-hearted, lukewarm, unpassionate, fearful people. But I pray by your Spirit, may our minds be captured by who you are. Your greatness, your majesty, your power. May our hearts be fully committed to you. And may we have a spirit of courage in the Lord.

Lord, I pray for all who are gathered here. Wherever they are, whatever they face, I pray that all of us will be people who don't live in a spirit of timidity, but who live in a spirit of power because we know the living God.

help us to slay some giants. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.