1 Samuel 17:32-51
You’ve heard about David and Goliath and could probably tell the story forward and backwards. I don’t want to universalize this story or minimize it into thinking that if we have enough faith we can overcome insurmountable odds. We often improperly identify ourselves as David, in which God calls us to kill large giants when in reality we are the cowering helpless nation of Israel. What we can do is glean some attributes from this narrative that will help us become men that God uses.
Be Compelled by God’s Strength (1 Samuel 17:32-37)
Men, God has called us to be strong in His power, not our own strength! We see this very clearly with Joshua, in how God commands Joshua to have courage in Him when given the task to cross into the Promised Land.
What we know about the Philistines is that they were a group of people that lived in the land God had promised to Israel, Canaan. God had given Israel orders generations before David to conquer these people and dwell in the land. Why did they not do this? Why did they not go into the Promised Land?
- The Philistines were strong. They were some of the first people to build weapons from bronze and iron. They were bigger than the Hebrews. Goliath was said to be six cubits and a span (9 ½ ft.). The Hebrews male as on average 5 ft. 3 inches tall. David was concerned the runt of the family, so in hand to hand combat with swords, size meant everything!
- Because Israel was disobedient. They tried to conquer giants in their own strength instead of God’s.
God often uses the most unlikely candidate to accomplish His mission. David, a teenager who wouldn’t have been able to fight yet, was left to watch the sheep and deliver lunches to his brothers. David obeys Jesse, his father, and takes food to the frontline. He hears a lot and ask a few questions. He finds out that Goliath has insulted God and this causes David to get angry, challenge accepted!
God will often allow us to face giants so that we will trust Him alone. Be compelled by God’s Strength, not your own!
Be Confident in God’s Sovereignty (1 Samuel 17:43-48)
Men, God has sovereignly placed you as the husband of your wife, father of your children, grandfather, or co-worker for God’s glory! Be confident in Christ! As you seek God for strength and wisdom, be confident that He will provide! What is Sovereignty? Sovereignty: “God’s rule and authority over all things.” – Millard Erickson, Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology. You know what worry is? The sin of thinking that God cannot take care of your life! We become practical atheist when we worry! We acknowledge Christ with our mind and month, but our lives live as though there is no God! Two of my favorite New Testament passages show God’s might and sovereignty in all circumstances!
2 Timothy 1:7 “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”
Feel the gravity of verse 45 “Then David said to the Philistine, “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.” May we trust in the sovereignty God in which we say, come what may, I trust in the mighty strength of Christ!
Be Certain of God’s Salvation (1 Samuel 17:49-51)
I want you to picture that you are an Israeli soldier standing in the Valley of Elah E la, what stands before you in this valley is a giant and a Philistine army. Your hope of salvation is in this young man David! This is what you may say, “That doesn’t make sense! He is not able to save us! He cannot save us!” No, but God can! The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is foolish to the rational person! God is not practical! He has seen fit to use His son for salvation! Salvation comes by us placing faith in the work that Jesus Christ did on the cross! Because Jesus took out the real giant in our lives, (forgiving our sin and granting eternal life), we can bravely face lesser giants that come!
Men, when we’re certain of salvation in Christ, we live our lives in such a way that everything revolves around this certainty! Why do we put more emphasis on our children’s academic and athletic endeavors than on leading our families toward the CROSS! Once they come to the cross and die to self, help them grow in Christ! Be certain that Christ is the Savior and that He alone can save us, which matters eternally, not my child’s ACT score! I want to get this! I want to be so certain that Hell awaits all who never place faith in Jesus and that Heaven is filled with the awe of God that I can’t help but endure this life for the next with Christ! May our hearts scream for Jesus! If He (God) can raise a dead man (me) to live for Jesus, everything else is a small miracle!
If we’re not certain of salvation in Christ, we’ll turn back on every giant that comes, especially death!
Be compelled by God’s strength
Be confident in God’s sovereignty
Be certain of God’s salvation