Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:22-54
Sermon Series: 1 Samuel: God of Reversals – Sermon 18
“I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” Some of you may recognize those lines from “The Little Engine That Could” (picture). When I was a child, that book made quite an impression on me. Just in case you had a deprived childhood, let me give you the Reader’s Digest version.
The story begins with a toy-filled train pulled by a small red engine on its way to a town on the other side of a high mountain, but the engine shortly breaks down upon reaching the mountain. A toy clown flags down other engines to help them: a shiny yellow passenger engine, a big black freight engine, and a rusty old engine. The shiny passenger engine and big freight engine both refuse to help and the rusty old engine is too tired. Finally, a little blue engine arrives. Although she’s just a switcher engine and has never been over the mountain, she agrees to try to help pull the train over the mountain. “I think I can, I think I can,” says the Little Blue Engine as she starts up the mountain, a seemingly impossible task. Only the little engine is willing to try and, while repeating the mantra “I think I can, I think I can,” overcomes the seemingly impossible task. In the end she’s able to pull the broken down train over the mountain to the town.
This morning we’re returning to our study of 1 Samuel with one of the most famous stories in the Bible: David and Goliath. This account is often used to inspire courage to take on your giants. Veggie Tales (picture) uses it to teach that little guys can do big things too. Bestselling author, Malcom Gladwell (pictures) in his book, David and Goliath says it’s really about competitive advantage. Even Goliath had weaknesses.
The Bible does teach us a lot about courage, but are these the main lessons God wants us to learn from 1 Samuel 17? Actually, Gladwell, in his book admits that the story fascinated him. He was convinced that he knew what it was about until he went back and reread it. Ultimately, he admitted, “I didn’t know what it was about at all…I didn’t understand it at all.”
Biblical history can be easily misinterpreted. If we don’t read carefully we’ll miss God’s message and the reason why He gave us this account.
David and Goliath have been made a metaphor for conquering insurmountable odds. We Americans love an underdog, but that’s not why God gave us this story. Many allegorize the narrative into how to defeat your giants – whether it’s a school bully or an antagonist at work. While we do read of human courage in this account, it’s not really the point.
This passage tells us very plainly what our takeaway should be in verses 46-47. After David tells Goliath that he’s going to take him down, he says that the reason is “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.”
This morning listen to this story as if it’s the first time. It’s not about giant killing. It’s about God being glorified. It’s about bold faith. It’s about trusting a great God. It’s not “I think I can” Theology. It’s about the God who will intervene for His people. If you’re taking notes…
1.Fear shops at big and tall. The stage is set in verses 1-11. Israel and the Philistines are squared off in the valley of Elah, the Israeli army on one side and the Philistine army on the other (picture). And then this giant steps out of the Philistine camp and offers a challenge. He’s massive, over 9 feet tall. The tallest man in the world today is a Turkish farmer, Sultan Kosen (picture) but he’s only 8’ 3”. Goliath has another foot on him.
It reminds me of a scene from The Avengers. Iron Man and Loki (pictures) are trying to one-up each other. Loki says he’s got aliens coming to fight for him and Iron Man responds, “But we’ve got a Hulk.”
Goliath is the Philistine Hulk. But it’s not only his size that’s menacing. He’s decked out in the latest armor. He’s got an Iron Man suit too! A bronze helmet, a coat of mail, armor on his legs, a sword over his shoulder, a spear in his hand, and a shield in front of him. It all weighed something like 200 pounds. But Israeli soldiers didn’t wear armor and there were only two swords in the whole camp. They’re terribly outmatched.
After we see Goliath, we hear him. He throws down a challenge. “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, ‘I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.’” He’s mocking Israel. It’s what he means when he says, “I defy the ranks of Israel.”
His speech is meant to make Israel angry enough to take him up on his challenge. That wasn’t their response. Verse 11.
“When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”
So, the stage is set. The Philistines are a clear and present danger. They’re stronger with better weapons. It wasn’t uncommon for one warrior to represent an army as its champion so both armies wouldn’t have to engage in battle. But if Israel faces Goliath on his terms, it will mean certain death.
Besides that Israel has a champion, King Saul. It’s why they wanted a king, to have someone to fight their battles. Saul is seven feet tall but he too is shaking in his armor. Why? Saul had gotten away from God.
The Bible repeats the phrase “fear not” some 365 times. True courage is dependent on a powerful God but Saul is out of sync with God.
Goliath was huge! We’re intimidated by the big and powerful. We moan about government but few will take it on. It’s too big and powerful. If you have a serious problem with a mega-company like Microsoft, you just take it.
Notice that careful attention is paid to seemingly small details in this story, from how many loaves and cheeses, David the Delivery guy brings to his brothers to the number of days for this threat. Verse 16, “For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.”
The last time Israel was terrified of giants was when they were about to enter the Promised Land. Instead of trusting the God who rescued them from Egypt, the most powerful empire of the day, they’re scared of a few giants. They doubted God. It cost them 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
Goliath is a new giant. When he came on the battlefield, the Israelites scamper to their tents to change their loincloths. They’re “dismayed and greatly afraid.” The original language is literally, “it caused their limbs to shake and it caused their bowels to turn to water.”
Do you remember a time when you’ve been really scared? That’s them. Why? They can only see the problem. They don’t have a God-view. They’re “servants of Saul.” When David arrives though he’s a servant of God.
This situation comes on the heels of chapter 16 where God told Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature” (1 Samuel 16:7). They weren’t to focus on outward appearances, but all that they can see is how huge Goliath is.
Ours is a terrified world. It’s estimated that there are more than 400 phobias. There’s a phobia for nearly anything. Fear always cost us. Primarily, it costs us in our relationship with God because God wants us to trust Him and live by faith. And God has already conquered all of our giants.
The biggest giant you’ll ever face is death. But Jesus conquered death when He came out of the grave. Compared to death, everything else is puny.
But giants don’t go away. They must be faced and conquered. Yet, if you’re a child of God, you never do it alone. What’s your giant this morning? A sinful habit? Fear? Anxiety? Our God is the giant killer!
2. Trusting God attracts jeers, not cheers…often from our “friends.” Here comes David at just the right time. God is never early and He is never late. Most of us would have an easier time trusting God if only He moved according to our timetable. I’m not good at waiting on God. Often I want Him to hurry up, don’t you? In God’s sovereign timing, David is sent the last day of Goliath’s taunting. This time David hears him and is incensed.
It may have been the first time David has heard anyone blaspheme God. This insolent, defiant man isn’t just mocking Saul’s army, he’s mocking the God of Israel. No one talks that way about the God of Israel. Often we’re so desensitized that someone blaspheming God’s name has ceased to bother us.
It’s also the first time that we hear David speak in Scripture. The first time he speaks he’s adamant that God’s honor must be defended.
Saul tried to buy a champion. But David’s motive isn’t – riches, fame, tax-free living or even being the king’s son-in- law. It’s God’s glory!
One of the keys to unlocking biblical narratives is looking for the repetition of words sometimes hidden by our English translation. Different forms of the same Hebrew root are found – defy, disdain – all appearing 6 times.
This isn’t about David and Goliath. It’s about a holy God who is jealous of His name. David’s motive is God’s glory. While the giant’s physical features are highlighted, it’s David’s covenant lineage as part of God’s chosen people that’s highlighted. “Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse…” (vs. 12).
He calls Goliath an uncircumcised Philistine. It’s a terrible insult. In David’s world it’s a term of great derision indicating that Goliath is outside God’s covenant. He doesn’t bear the mark of Abraham.
Goliath is defying the living God as opposed to dead idols. The two primary gods of the Philistines were Dagon – a fish-man and Baal-zebub, lord of the flies. Fish and flies. That God is a living God gives a whole new perspective. Yet if someone knew our thoughts or overheard our words last week would they know that we believe in the living God? Does He make a difference?
David’s experience reminds us that we don’t know what challenges await us on any given day. Phillip Keller (pictures), author of A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, wisely writes, “In the Christian life it is of more than passing
significance to observe that those who are often the most serene, most confident and able to cope with life’s complexities are those who rise early each day to feed on God’s Word. It is in the quiet, early hours of the morning that they are led beside the quiet, still waters where they imbibe the very life of Christ for the day.” Do you want to be ready for whatever comes? My friend, start the day with Jesus.
Yet not only does David witness Goliath blaspheme God David is “attacked” by the ones who should have encouraged him.
His motives are questioned. Just as David is ready to answer Goliath’s challenge, he’s reprimanded by his older brother, Eliab. “Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, ‘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.’ And David said, ‘What have I done now? Was it not but a word?’ And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before” (vss. 28-30). As you hear Eliab talk, you want to ask “What battle? There is no battle.”
Invariably when you seek to obey God, a fellow Christian will become your biggest opposition. Sometimes those of our own family are our biggest detractors. It happened to Jesus. Why would we think it won’t happen to us?
The same opposition is at work in many churches. Churches are full of Eliabs who scoff at passion and vision to reach their community and world.
Eliab questions David’s motives. David does something more Christians should do, particularly on social media, he ignores him. David just moves on with the mission.
His mission is questioned. Saul discourages him. He points out that David is a kid and Goliath a seasoned warrior. King Saul is the guy who doesn’t want to fight, but doesn’t want to admit it.
Saul and Israel don’t formally deny God. They just lived as if God wasn’t real or involved in their lives. All they could see was Goliath’s size and their smallness and helplessness. They’re oblivious to the size of God. John Ortberg (picture) writes, “When human beings shrink God, they offer prayer without faith, work without passion, service without joy, suffering without hope. It results in fear, retreat, loss of vision, and failure to persevere.”
It’s almost like David has to fight three Goliaths. In Eliab he faces the contempt of Goliath. In Saul, he meets Goliath’s worldview, victory is only for the experienced and equipped. All that before he faces Goliath himself.
3. Every battle is a spiritual one. The most famous battle in the Old Testament isn’t fought between two armies but between two people. This fearsome duel was first spiritual. The New Testament tells us that we also are in a spiritual battle. How do we win? The same way David did.
Past victories prepare us for future ones. Whichever team wins the Super Bowl this year, they won’t win because they’re lucky. They’ll win because they prepared. The same is true spiritually. As we prepare, learning to trust God in the smaller battles, it prepares us for bigger ones.
As a shepherd, David had killed a lion and bear who attacked the sheep. He knows that God gave him those victories and will give him the victory over Goliath. “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” (vs. 37).
David is acting as a shepherd for his people, just as God is the Good Shepherd. Goliath is just another beast attacking God’s flock. David will be delivered not because he has true grit but because he knows the true God.
God’s faithfulness in our past fuels present faith. Do you keep a journal where you write down God’s past blessings? Can I challenge you to do that? In the heat of the battle we forget how God has taken care of us in the past.
Spiritual battles are won with spiritual weapons. Since Saul can’t dissuade David, he clothes him in his armor. The offer of Saul’s armor may be one of the greatest trials of David’s faith. He’s trusting God but why not hedge your bets? It appears well intentioned, but it’s trusting human hands, not God’s. Like Goliath, Saul believed battles were won because of superior equipment.
Add to that, it made Saul look good. He was the one who should be facing Goliath. If David happened to win and was wearing Saul’s armor, Saul would get some of the credit.
We in the Church face the same temptation. We think slick advertising is the key to reaching people or a hot band. A lost world has armies of lawyers, maybe we need armies of Christian ones. A lost world says you need a platform, so we copy that. While there’s nothing wrong with some sanctified common sense, our battles are first spiritual. They demand spiritual weapons. We must be people of the Word and prayer. David was dependent on God. He won because he trusted God. If we want true wins, we must be dependent on God. Only supernatural weapons will win a spiritual war.
Spiritual enemies are hostile. Satan is compared to a snake, a wolf, a roaring lion and a dragon. It’s why Paul urges believers to “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand firm” (Ephesians 6:13). David was able to stand up to a vicious enemy because he knew his Bible and knew his God.
Scholars note that Goliath was dressed like a snake with his scale armor. He’s presented as a snake and will die like a snake with a head wound.
He’s insulted that Israel would send out a boy to fight him. What a blow to his ego! Winning a contest against an underage challenger without any weapons wasn’t very prestigious. Goliath singles out David’s staff – his stick as a weapon to hit a dog. He launches into a verbal tirade. Imagine hearing this! Denying the body a proper burial would dishonor the corpse.
But David launches a counter attack. He’s aware of Goliath’s arsenal – sword, spear, javelin – but he’s also aware of his greatest military resource, the name of Yahweh of hosts. From David’s perspective Goliath is outnumbered. David’s speech is theologically packed. The headlines in tomorrow’s paper will say there is a God in Israel.
Up until now the narrator has deliberately allowed Goliath to dominate the text, but the contest is over before it begins. The knock-out punch comes quickly. The shepherd boy introduces Goliath to the glory of God – and all we hear is a thud. Slingshotters were a common part of a military force in the ancient world. They were more dangerous than archers. The Roman army had slingshotters. They used rocks the size of tennis balls, later they were made of iron. Such stones by an accomplished marksman could reach speeds of 100-150 miles per hour!
Yahweh delivers Goliath without a sword so David borrows Goliath’s and decapitates him. But the Philistines don’t keep their part of the bargain of being slaves to Israel if their champion is defeated. Instead they flee and are pursued near their border.
Once again God delivers through weakness not strength. All the important people in the chapter see David as weak – Eliab, You’re a pain! Saul, You’ve got no experience! Goliath, You’re puny! But David is the one God chooses to deliver Israel. He doesn’t use a sword or a spear but a rock. He doesn’t have the right weapons! What matters isn’t whether we have the right weapons, but do we have the living God? When we’re weak, God is strong.
Goliath mocks David for coming to him with sticks. David returns the favor by mocking him for coming with sword and spear. It’s all relative. From a human perspective, David looks silly coming with shepherd’s gear. But when you bring God into the equation, Goliath’s height and weapons look silly.
Goliath says he’ll give David’s flesh to the birds and beasts. David says he’ll do the same with Goliath and all the Philistines. What’s the difference? Goliath curses David by his gods like Dagon, who we last saw lying face down in his temple. David comes in the name of the Lord of hosts and the battle belongs to the Lord.
Those who defy the Lord will always be defeated. This whole passage has been organized around Goliath defying Israel and Israel’s God. David says the Lord won’t stand for it. Those who defy the Lord will be defeated. All of David’s speeches have implied that. Now he makes it explicit. When Goliath falls, it should remind the Philistines and all the nations of the earth that there’s a God in Israel and He’ll protect His people. “The nations rage and plot in vain against the Lord and against His anointed. The Lord sits in the heavens and laughs. The Lord holds them in derision” (Psalm 2).
What David said would happen happened, “And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled” (vss. 49-51).
Rarely are our giants wiped out as quickly as this one. It’s unusual for a spiritual battle to be won in a single day with a single stone. David would himself experience this. His conflict with Goliath would be the only one that God settled quickly for him. Most of his battles would drag on for years.
God’s warriors look forward to the future. It’s easy to overlook the significance of verse 54: “And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.” But Jerusalem at this time was under enemy control, under the Jebusites. When David became king, Jerusalem was the first city that he conquered. Decades later it would become his capital city. David wouldn’t get to Jerusalem for a long time.
Apparently, the head or maybe the skull of Goliath, as grisly as it was, would remind David that the Lord could be trusted to give the victory if we only seek to glorify Him, It was a trophy that he took with him of one of his first victories. Maybe he hung it on his wall next to the bear and lion paws.
The writer connects Goliath’s defeat and David’s going to Jerusalem. It’s as though he’s saying, This is where David’s journey to the throne and to Jerusalem began. God’s warriors must always be looking forward, preparing for the next battle. Our war isn’t over until we arrive in the New Jerusalem.
Conclusion: What causes fear? A lack of faith in God and His promises. When we trust God and believe He fights for His people, we don’t have to be afraid. And we’ve seen that those who defy the Lord will always be defeated.
How should we apply this passage? Be like David, right? That’s the way it’s often applied and there’s some truth to that. We should emulate David’s faith in God. But if that’s all we get, we’ve missed it. The point is that I think I can theology will never defeat your biggest Goliath of sin and guilt.
First, we face an enemy, a giant much greater than Goliath. In our own strength we can never defeat our universal giants of death and judgment because of our sin. But the battle belongs to the Lord. Those giants were conquered by Jesus’ cross and resurrection. To all who place their faith in Christ, they don’t have to fear. The giants are defeated. God fights for us. “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect. It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:31-37). So how should you respond to this passage? We must look to God’s anointed King to save us. Place your faith in Him as your Lord and Savior and then live in confident faith that the Lord has won the victory.
Second, because Jesus took out the real giant in our lives, we can bravely face all the lesser giants. The real menacing giant in our lives is not our present situation, however terrible it may be. The real giant is the one that’s already been defeated at Golgotha – the giant of sin, death and separation from God. Because Jesus absorbed the wrath of God in our place, we can have confidence like David facing Goliath in the face of every other challenge.
In Christ we have no need to be afraid of death. So when cancer or Covid threatens to destroy me, there’s nothing ultimately to fear. Even if cancer kills my body, Jesus has taken away the sting of death. As the Apostle Paul said, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better” (Philippians 1:21). Christ defeated death so there is no fear.
In Christ we have no need to be afraid of the future. If I lose my job, I have something more secure, than a job. Jesus has promised to meet all my needs.
In Christ we have no need to be afraid of pain in a relationships. So when a spouse dies or worse, walks out, we can feel the weight of grief without the drifting into despair.
In Christ we have no need to be afraid of the disapproval of others because we have the absolute approval of the only One whose opinion matters.
Real courage doesn’t come from the assurance that we will never encounter trouble. It comes from knowing that whatever happens, whatever comes – I have a priceless, eternal treasure. That treasure is Jesus Christ Himself.
The message of the battle of David and Goliath, the message of the Bible is not that we are called to save the world. Its message is that we have a Savior. The message is not that we are called to be like David. It’s not “I think I can, “It’s He can and always does.” Its good news is that we too have a David and His name is Jesus. The gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s eternal solution to our eternal need. It’s our giant and it’s already defeated. Any and all other giants that we face are piddly.
How’s your giant situation this morning? Have you trusted Christ’s victory over your biggest giant of sin? Are there other giants in your life that you need to trust Him and His power to defeat?
The message of David and Goliath isn’t “I think I can.” It’s “I can trust Him.” Have you trusted Him? If not, why not trust Him today?