So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew
near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the
Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he
slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into
his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the
Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.
But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over
the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him,
and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion
was dead, they fled. –
1 Samuel 17.48-51
Everyone has heard the story if David and Goliath. It is used in politics and sports and advertising and discussions and debate. When I first visited Ireland in 1992 there was a new beer company coming into the Irish market and they were running an advertising campaign based on them being David and entered the market against the giants already here. It is always the story or the little guy taking on the big guy and we also tend to pull for the Davids over the Goliaths.
This is also a favourite children’s Bible lesson and the theme of a great kiddie song called ‘Only a Boy Named David.’
All of this familiarly is great, but there is also a little danger of, maybe not ‘familiarly breeds contempt,’ but ‘familiarity breeds missing the point.’
This isn’t just a fanciful exciting story. It doesn’t just tell of the victory of the underdog. It tells of the mighty power of God to deliver His people from impossible situations.
Goliath came out with his usual challenge and after a brief exchange David came running out to meet the challenge. Oh how different from me. I tend to cower in the face of a challenge. I tend to put it off, but David ran out, popped a stone in his sling, twirled it about (interesting in itself, go to YouTube and search for ‘ancient sling methods’) and threw the rock at Goliath. God guided the stone and it struck Goliath and knocked him dead.
I really desire the courage it takes to fight my battles that way. There is a battle I struggle with every day. If I had David-like faith it wouldn’t even be a battle because I could just say ‘the Lord has delivered me over and over again for decades and He can take care of this too!’
Lord, give me faith like David to move forward and not be cowed into inaction by fear.
Everyone has heard the story if David and Goliath. It is used in politics and sports and advertising and discussions and debate. When I first visited Ireland in 1992 there was a new beer company coming into the Irish market and they were running an advertising campaign based on them being David and entered the market against the giants already here. It is always the story or the little guy taking on the big guy and we also tend to pull for the Davids over the Goliaths.
This is also a favourite children’s Bible lesson and the theme of a great kiddie song called ‘Only a Boy Named David.’
All of this familiarly is great, but there is also a little danger of, maybe not ‘familiarly breeds contempt,’ but ‘familiarity breeds missing the point.’
This isn’t just a fanciful exciting story. It doesn’t just tell of the victory of the underdog. It tells of the mighty power of God to deliver His people from impossible situations.
Goliath came out with his usual challenge and after a brief exchange David came running out to meet the challenge. Oh how different from me. I tend to cower in the face of a challenge. I tend to put it off, but David ran out, popped a stone in his sling, twirled it about (interesting in itself, go to YouTube and search for ‘ancient sling methods’) and threw the rock at Goliath. God guided the stone and it struck Goliath and knocked him dead.
I really desire the courage it takes to fight my battles that way. There is a battle I struggle with every day. If I had David-like faith it wouldn’t even be a battle because I could just say ‘the Lord has delivered me over and over again for decades and He can take care of this too!’
Lord, give me faith like David to move forward and not be cowed into inaction by fear.
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