The story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) is one of the most well-known stories in the whole Bible; even people who have never read the Bible have heard of this epic tale. It’s a great hero story, the underdog David triumphing against the giant Goliath, and it reminds us that God is able to bring victory out of seeming defeat. All he needs is a person soaked in God-truths and unintimidated by the relentless taunts and hostility of the enemy – the battle belongs to Him, after all!
The story has much to teach us about human relationships (and how easily we are crushed by intimidation, ridicule, taunts and criticism), about the relentless battering of words (for forty days Goliath kept on putting the Israelites down) and about the impossibility of trying to do things in our own strength or according to other people’s ideas (David in Saul’s armour clearly didn’t work!) Mostly, we see in David a shepherd who had fought off the lion and the bear because he trusted in God; his knowledge of God and his conviction that God ruled (not an uncircumcised Philistine!) were the keys to his confidence. ‘God was the reality with which David had to deal: giants didn’t feature largely in David’s understanding of the world.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Leap Over A Wall’, P 40)
David shows us that trust in God is the key to victory. Whatever the giants we may face – unemployment, recession, illness, bereavement, anxiety, fear (the list is endless) – we can have confidence that God is bigger and more powerful, and therefore we have hope.
