The Battle Belongs to the LORD

In this post, we continue the story of David vs Goliath. For part one check out Lions, Bears, and Giants.

I know what you need!

Saul finally agrees to let David fight Goliath. After all, it is not like he had many options to choose from or any options for that matter. However, Saul is decided to provide David with every advantage he could.

So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off.
- 1 Samuel 17:38-39 NKJV

Saul was trying to help David. Saul figured David would need an armor, a bronze helmet, and a coat of mail, and of course a sword! After all, Goliath was dressed in that manner and that is how everyone fought battles. Saul was like everyone else (see Like Everyone Else). The problem is that Goliath is counting on someone facing him like that, with armor and helmet and sword. Goliath had trained for that, he was prepared to face and defeat someone coming at him in the traditional way.

Everyone expected David to face Goliath as a soldier, trusting his skill with a sword, and his armor. Everyone also expected David to lose.

David tries the traditional way of doing things, but he has no experience or training in that way of doing things. David is not a soldier, he has no army training or experience. David is a shepherd. David is honest and self-aware. He knows that now is not the time to play soldier. He has been a shepherd over the years, and even though there are benefits to having a helmet and sword and armor, David has no experience with them. In essence, David was not going to win by trying to fight like Saul or Goliath. David was going to do this as himself, and he was a shepherd.

A Shepherd, not a Soldier

David teaches us a great lesson in authenticity, in refusing to play by the rules, on thinking outside the box, and on maximizing his advantages. David knew the gifts God had given him, he was aware of his strengths, he knew who he was and he had a plan to face Goliath. David had no intention of facing Goliath as a soldier. David was coming to Goliath as a shepherd. David would use the skills he developed as a shepherd facing lions and bears (read Lions, Bears, Giants).

Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. 
1 Samuel 17:40 NKJV

David was not careless, he was preparing for a fight to the death, he was just not prepared as a soldier, but as a shepherd. David took his staff and 5 smooth stones from a brook and placed them in his shepherd’s bag and he also had his sling in his hand. Goliath was intimidating. The sight of him in his full battle gear was enough to make a grown man shake with fear. Meanwhile, David looked like a young man looking for lost sheep.

Psychological Warfare

 So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking.
1 Samuel 17:41-42 NKJV

Goliath is coming, he has so much armor that he needs help getting around, he needed a young man just to carry his shield. Goliath finally takes a good look at the Israelite champion, and he is young, reddish, and good looking. Goliath is unable to take this opponent seriously. They send a shepherd boy to fight an elite soldier? Goliath is furious, he is offended, is this a joke? David does not look like a threat. He does not look intimidating, he does not look dangerous, so Goliath lets down his guard, he loses his composure. Goliath is not taking this fight seriously.

So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- 1 Samuel 17:43-44 NKJV

Goliath seems to have been a big trash talker. He loved talking big, cursing, threatening, mocking. Maybe this was part of his strategy, to throw his opponents off their balance, demoralize them, intimidate them. But Goliath just got himself in trouble. He had cursed David, a descendant of Abraham, who had been anointed by God. Goliath was not aware of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants.

I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
- Genesis 12:3 NKJV (bold mine)

The blessings of Abraham, the covenant, carried on to the descendants of Abraham. Especially those who were faithful to the covenant and did not turn after other gods. Goliath had just brought God’s curse upon himself by cursing David. Goliath taunted, dared, invited David to come closer, and get what was coming to him. Goliath threatens to not only kill David but to desecrate his body by denying him a burial.

Goliath looked at David much like Saul, as a simple, young, shepherd boy. What everyone was missing is the fact that divine enablement is of much greater value than human devices.

divine enablement > human devices

Sure, David was just a shepherd, but so had been Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. David was not like everyone else, he was like the great shepherd leaders of God’s people. Like the great shepherd-leaders of the Torah, David lived by faith in the promises of God (Hebrews 11). Trusting in God may look weak and foolish, especially to those who are not familiar with what He has done for His people throughout time. But there is nothing more powerful than someone who trusts completely in God.

Bold Faith

David reframes reality according to his faith and his personal experience with God. David not only knew the history of what God had done in the past, but he also knew first hand what God could do (for more, read Lions Bears Giants).

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, 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 and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
- 1 Samuel 17:45-47 NKJV

David puts things into perspective for Goliath. David explains that it is not about the weapons but all about God. That is the perspective we need to have, that is what the world needs to understand. It is not about the gadgets and big budget, it is about God. Faithfulness to God should be the main goal of our lives because God will provide everything else. David was faithful. He lived a humble life as a shepherd. David was not looking for a fight. But he was not one to run away from one. David would not allow someone to defy his God. David was the kind of person who did not look for trouble, but he also did not run away from it. He was faithful to God and he knew that God was faithful. He had experienced it in his life ( for more read Lions Bears Giants).

Goliath had threatened David, David returned the threat to Goliath and extended it to the entire Philistine army. However, a significant distinction between the threats is that David was not claiming he would do this on his own, nor would this be for his glory. David claims that God will deliver Goliath to his hands and defeat the entire army and this would be a testimony to the world that Israel had a powerful God, a God like no other. It was true that David did not have a sword or spear, but God does not need either to give the victory to his children.

The Fight

 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.
- 1 Samuel 17:48-49 NKJV

When it came time for action David did not hesitate. Goliath was weighed down with weapons and armor, David was quick and nimble. Goliath was accustomed to rivals having to draw closer and engage with a sword or spear, but since David had none Goliath was not worried. David on the other hand had no intention to come within range of Goliath’s sword or spear. Goliath had noticed David’s staff and figured that presented no threat. Apparently, he had never witnessed the slingshot used in military combat. Goliath had no experience facing a marksman. He might have noticed David taking out a stone and perhaps he was over-confident, perhaps David was too agile, but nobody expected David to be able to strike the exposed portion of Goliath’s forehead.

Analysis

After David’s speech, there is no doubt that the hand of God was at work here. God delivered Goliath into David’s hand. However, there are also lessons to be learned here on top of trusting God. First and foremost, faithfulness to God is key and if not for that David would have in all likelihood have lost. However, on top of his faith, we also see here the first signs of David’s military genius.

David did not fight Goliath on Goliath’s terms. David fought on his terms. Goliath walked slowly with a shield-bearer, he had heavy armor and heavy weapons. This made it impossible for Goliath to move quickly. David on the other hand could run and jump and dodge. Goliath was walking towards David, David ran towards Goliath. David threw off Goliath’s expectations, he changed the unwritten rules of combat. He rejected armor and sword. You don’t face a bear or lion with armor and sword, those animals would destroy you. You had to be quick, stealthy, and often you had one shot. These were the battles that David had trained for and grown accustomed to. David never had a chance of winning by brute force or weapons forged by men, so he used was he had, a sling, a staff, and stones, things you could easily find or make in nature.

David could have spent time feeling sorry for himself for not having a sword, or helmet, or spear, or military training. He could have complained that Goliath was much bigger and had better weapons and how it was not fair. The playing field was not level, it was not a fair fight. But David was able to find and exploit weaknesses that came form being underestimated, and from doing the unexpected. David was not Goliath, but he did not have to be. David had his own set of skills that he had developed over the years due to his life experiences and circumstances. Being the youngest he got stuck doing what no one else wanted to do, taking care of sheep, but he did it well and developed a skill set that God could use to grant him this victory.

Most importantly David had developed a bold faith and a mindset that allowed him to boldly face giants in the name of God.

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.
- 1 Samuel 17:50-51 NKJV

The text is clear. David defeated the giant with a sling ad a stone. David did not have a sword. But this does not mean that David was against swords, or that it is wrong to have swords. As a matter of fact, Goliath had a very nice sword that David borrowed to cut off his head. David did not face Goliath with a sword, to fight Goliath on Goliath’s terms would have been suicide! But David was a man of his word, and he had told Goliath that he would remove his head (1 Samuel 17:46), so I believe David was planning this from the very beginning.

According to the terms of the battle explained by Goliath himself, the Philistines should have become the servants of the Israelites (1 Samuel 17:9), except they all fled. Imagine the fear the Philistines must have felt after watching a young man without a sword or spear or helmet or armor defeat their great champion. Imagine them thinking “if their shepherds are this good imagine their soldiers!”

On a more serious note, all those soldiers must have witnessed this victory for what it was, a sign that God was with Israel and that there was no way to defeat them.

Practical Application

What skills have you developed in your life as you faced multiple challenges? How have your trials shaped you? What can you bring to the battle?

Here is a question I often ask myself.

What are my gifts? What am I good at? What do I enjoy doing? What can I do that would benefit someone else?

God calls all of us to ministry, to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), but there is no specific description of how we are to do this. We each approach and accomplish our mission in different ways. The one constant is our need of God. God enables us to make disciples, but God uses what we have. God is not limited by what you lack, but He is able to multiply what you do have. So even if you have just a few stones, a sling, and a stick, God can use you to win great victories for His kingdom.

Prayerfully consider, what is God calling you to do? How will you make disciples for Jesus? Then move forward using the skills you have developed in life up to now.

David would eventually learn to fight with sword and armor. But just because he had not yet been trained did not mean that he was unable to do something for God. God wants to take you as you are and use you, and as you continue on this journey He will cause you to develop other skills. On this journey, we are always learning and picking up new talents and skills. So the key is starting. Starting now. Whit what you have. Leave the final outcome to God. Just focus on showing up, make yourself available to God, and watch Him work in and through you fo the honor and glory of His kingdom.