The story of David and Goliath mentions battles which happened before David’s ultimate victory over the Philistine could be seen. These other battles are highly significant and must be faced by all those who would seek to defeat every giant which sets itself up against God.

Family Battles

David, the youngest of 8 sons, is clearly not highly regarded by his 3 brothers at war. Eliab, the oldest, who might have been expected to be his protector and mentor is dismissive and positively unkind to him (1 Sam 17:28). Whatever our position in our family (oldest, middle child, youngest, only child), families have enormous influence over us and shape our thinking and behaviour in ways we may not even recognise. The family is the place where God wants to teach us how to live in security and love with other people, but because we are all sinful, selfish people with very different personalities, this will not be an easy learning curve, and even the best families will have habits and ways of doing things which are contrary to God’s Word. We need to learn to dig deep into our family way of doing things and allow our thinking to be transformed by God. Only as we are prepared to deal with the emotional baggage of our families and be re-shaped by God can we find freedom from ‘the sins of the fathers’ and learn new ways of relating which include acceptance, forgiveness, love and challenge. It’s clear from David’s treatment of his own sons that he did not fully do this.

The Unseen Battles

Many of the battles we face are not Hollywood spectacles. They are, like David’s battle with the lion and the bear (1 Sam 17:34-37), unseen by others. David was a shepherd who knew how to protect the sheep from predators. This was not a glamorous task; it was dangerous and yet absolutely necessary for the well-being of the sheep. It was also something which had to be done regularly, because there was always the lurking danger of attack; David needed to be vigilant and alert.

We too need to be vigilant and alert, for anything which sets itself up against God is hazardous to our spiritual health and must be dealt with decisively by us. ‘The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.’ (Gal 5:17)

In this chapter, Paul lists the sins of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21) and we all have particular weaknesses and temptations. Life is an ongoing battle against these, and to the extent that we learn to crucify the old nature with its passions and desires (Gal 5:24), to that extent will we be able to move on to greater battles in God. Without this daily dying to self, there can be no ultimate spiritual victory. Unless we learn to kill the lion and bear, in whatever form they manifest themselves in our lives – pride, lust, anger, desire for control, covetousness and so on – we will not be able to defeat the other giants.

The Battle For Authenticity

Saul expected David to win the battle in the traditional way, wearing armour and using the usual weapons of war (1 Sam 17:38). David couldn’t even walk around in these things, let alone defeat a giant, and so he took them off. (1 Sam 17:39) His victory came with a sling and a stone (1 Sam 17:50).

Many of us spend a lifetime trying to live up to other people’s expectations or trying to be like other people. Only as we learn to be the unique individual God has created us to be can we find victory, for we are not made to be someone else! No one else can do the works God has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10). We are not meant to be clones of other people, replicating who they are and what they do. We are meant to explore our identity in Christ and learn to be the person He longs for us to be, with our particular personality, gifts, talents and skills.

Victory comes when we embrace who we are in God and learn to be the people He made us to be. This is not easy. It may mean disappointing other people, not living according to their expectations or demands. It may mean disappointing ourselves, letting go of our desire to be something else. It may mean a long period of self-discovery until we find out our strengths and come to terms with our weaknesses. But authenticity is one of the greatest pathways to victory we can find.

This morning’s sermon continued our series ‘Battles and Blessings’ by looking at possibly the most famous battle in the Old Testament: David defeating the giant Goliath (1 Sam 17). Even people who have never picked up a Bible tend to have heard this story, but there is a danger that we treat this as a story for children only and fail to realise God can still speak powerfully through the known and familiar. The Bible is not really a book of legends, but a manual for living, and if we want to defeat the metaphorical giants in our lives – things like addiction and fear, rejection and adversaries – then we have to learn from David’s victory in order to make it ours.

Whilst the chapter focuses on David’s victory over the Philistines in the form of Goliath, he also mentions 3 other battles which must be overcome before that final victory can be realised. He had to battle against his family’s preconceptions and attitudes (1 Sam 17:12-14, 28); he had had to learn to win the unseen battles as a shepherd against the lion and the bear (1 Sam 17:34-37) and he had to learn to fight Goliath in his own way, not Saul’s (1 Sam 17:38-39). Once these other battles had been overcome, David could defeat Goliath, not in his own strength, but in God’s: ‘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.’ (1 Sam 17:45) Ultimately, this is the secret of all spiritual victory. When we are confident in God’s ability to deliver from all evil, we can take on any enemy, for we know that the battle is the Lord’s! (1 Sam 17:47)