Scripture reading: 1 Samuel 17:1-11.

Sermon text: 1 Samuel 17:32-52.

Most likely, none of us can say that we’ve awakened on any day of our lives and thought: “I think I’ll slay a 9 foot 9 inch giant today with a rock and a sling.”

Today’s sermon continues the story of the subject of last week’s sermon, the boy David. Following his anointing as king by Samuel, David came into Saul’s service, as did his 3 oldest brothers. Saul continued his conflict with the Philistines, but the departure of the Holy Spirit from his life drove Saul to madness.

You’ve probably experienced a time when you thought to yourself, “Things can’t get worse.” Then, they do. Saul and the Philistines had fought for years, and now the Philistines threw their champion into the fight: A giant from Gath named Goliath. In English measurements, Goliath was 9 feet 9 inches tall, and his armor weighed roughly 125 pounds. Given that few Hebrews of the time ever topped 6 feet tall, Goliath looked positively huge.

Goliath offered a common challenge of the day. Ancient literature contains many examples of armies using personal combat between champions to settle issues. One-on-one combat spared lives if both armies agreed to live with the outcome. However, in this case, the Hebrews thought the Philistines held a massively unequal advantage, because no one in the Hebrew army could come close to matching Goliath in physical strength or stature.

David didn’t see the battle in those terms.

David had taken some supplies to his older brothers in the army and heard Goliath’s daily challenge to the Hebrews: “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” Goliath’s challenged incensed David because David saw the true battle as a spiritual one. God had promised to fight for His covenant people, and the army’s reluctance to fight Goliath demonstrated a lack of faith in God’s covenant promise.

The Hebrew lack of faith shouldn’t surprise us. Their king, Saul, lacked faith in God as well, as evidenced by events in 1 Samuel 13 and 1 Samuel 15. The Hebrews demanded a king, but they failed to understand the spiritual impact of a faithless king on God’s covenant people.

David reacted in anger to Goliath’s challenge: “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (v. 26). While David exhibited a real understanding of the issue, his older brother Eliab reacted to David’s statement with a vehemence that revealed really deep issues. “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” It seems Eliab hadn’t yet overcome the resentment he felt that God and Samuel passed him over as the next king of Israel; David’s response to Goliath brought his anger to the surface.

Others also heard David’s response, and word quickly spread to Saul. Saul called David to him, and David told him: “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” When Saul tried to dissuade him, David told Saul, “Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

To his credit, at least Saul tried to help David survive the battle once he realized he could not talk David out of accepting Goliath’s challenge. Saul tried to outfit David in his personal armor, but David faced a big problem — literally. Saul towered over the average Hebrew warrior as Goliath towered over everyone, and a young teenager like David could never have worn Saul’s armor with any hope of actually fighting in it.

David instead relied on the skills God had given him and on God’s protection. “He took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.” Can you imagine going against a man wearing 125 pounds of metal armor and carrying a spear with a 15-pound iron head? David relied solely on God, realizing that Goliath’s size and weaponry meant nothing to an omnipotent God.

Goliath seemed surprised on many levels. First, I doubt he expected anyone to take up his challenge. I also suspect that the sight of a young teenage boy, armed only with a staff and a sling, probably offended the mighty champion, who most likely expected Saul himself to fight. “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?”

David’s reply to Goliath demonstrated his true grasp of the conflict. “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.” David demonstrated his experience with a living God, the covenant LORD of Israel, who had promised to fight his people’s battles for them when they lived in covenant relationship with their God.

We know the ending of the story. One lumbering giant meets one well-aimed, high-speed stone. Goliath probably didn’t even have time to feel surprise before the stone killed him. David then insulted Goliath in death by using the giant’s own sword to behead the dead Philistine.

The results shocked everyone, but the Philistines realized the ramifications first. “When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.” Goliath had promised that the loser would serve the winner, but the Philistines proposed this challenge when they confidently expected their humongous champion to carry the day.  Once they saw the Philistine rout, “the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.”

What does this passage say to us today, especially since so few of us will ever face a giant while carrying a sling?

We may not face Goliath-sized warriors, but we often face Goliath-sized issues in life. For all of us, our biggest battles lie in the areas of sin and death. If you think Goliath ranks as a big problem for Israel, I assure you that sin and death outrank Goliath by an infinite fashion. Fortunately for us, David’s Descendant, Jesus, conquered sin and death not far from the area where His ancestor fought Goliath. While David killed Goliath, Jesus gave His own life to conquer our mightiest enemies. Unlike Goliath, Jesus rose again, leading captivity captive and robbing sin and death of their power over humanity.

If you’ve never confessed Jesus as Lord, believing in His resurrection, you still face a fight you cannot win with sin and death. Jesus has defeated them, but you must believe in His victory and accept His lordship in life to receive the victory He has promised to all who believe.

Those of us who have already confessed Jesus as Lord and received the assurance of His victory will face other giants. For one thing, I’ve come to believe that, like David, we receive the anointing of God and expect Him to fight our battles. I wonder if we really trust God enough. Remember that Goliath did not surprise God. God worked to put David in a position where he would face Goliath. God then received the glory when David defeated the pagan warrior.

I strongly believe that God needs us in positions where He can use us to achieve victory. Our friends and relatives who have never received salvation through Jesus need to see God’s people facing massive challenges to our faith and then see us overcome those challenges through God’s power and not our own. It seems that too many believers today expect God to remove the challenges rather than give us the strength and grace to overcome them. I believe God leads us to challenges both as individual believers and also as congregations so He can demonstrate His power in His kingdom.

What do you face in your life that drives you to faith in God so you can overcome in His name? What does our congregation face today that will strengthen our witness in our community and lead unbelievers to faith in Jesus, the divine and only-begotten Son of God? The battle belongs to God. Go boldly out in faith, and expect God to deliver victory to the glory of His name.