Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You a Christian Atheist? | Historical Books | 1 Samuel 17:1-30

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

Are you too confident about your knowledge of the Bible? Are you a Christian atheist? Who killed Goliath? In today's episode, Keith shares how 1 Samuel 17:1-30 encourages us to trust that God is more than able to provide for us. If you're listening on Spotify, comment below one takeaway from today's episode! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Samuel 17:1-30

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I think most of us read stories in our Bible and assume we got out of it, what God intended for us to get out of it. And then we just move on to the next story. We kind of read quickly. I wouldn't even say we read carefully as much as we skim a passage and think that's probably good enough. And if somebody goes back over the same passage or if we hear,

hear a passage preached in a sermon that we read recently or that we're familiar with, it's easy for us to check out and get bored. Tim Keller tells a story about how he was at a conference listening to a speaker, and the speaker gave everybody 10 minutes to read a passage and jot down anything that they observed inside the story. And so they all did it. They quietly at their tables, read the passage and wrote things down, and then we're ready for the speaker then to talk about that passage. Instead, the speaker said, okay, now I want you to take another 10 minutes, and I want you to write down more things that you observed out of the same passage. And he was a little bit frustrated like, well, didn't I just do this? I'm going to spend 10 minutes on it. What else is

there to get out of this passage? But he went along with what the speaker asked. After the second 10 minutes, He had made an additional list and then the speaker asked for them to do it again. Now to spend another 10 minutes and write down the things they observed. At this point, the room was frustrated, but they did as the speaker asked. When that final 10 minutes was over, the speaker said, I want you to now look at your lists of observations you made. Compare what you observed in the first 10 minutes, the second 10 minutes, and the third 10 minutes. where did you find the best observations?

And as people looked at their list, they came to the conclusion that much of their surprise, they found a lot more in that last 10 minutes than they had in the previous two. Tim Keller said he realized something then. And that is that we should never be confident that we've gotten everything out of the Bible that we can. That when we come across a story that is familiar, we shouldn't check out because God always has something more in there that we just haven't quite seen yet. Now, I bring that up today because I think we're going to talk about maybe the most well-known story in the whole Bible. I mean, if you just want to ask people on the street, what's a Bible story you're familiar with? I think most of them would say

that they are familiar with the story of David and Goliath. I mean, everybody knows it. So it's possible to come to a story like this and to check out, to think, oh, I know that story. David kills Goliath with a stone and a slingshot. But the truth is that the more we read and meditate and think and dwell on this story, the more we will get out of it. I'm not saying that we'll just learn more information. I'm saying that those truths will get deeper and deeper in our heart. So let's set the scene by remembering that in the previous chapter of 1st Samuel, we saw

that God had withdrawn his blessing from Saul. Saul's most significant sin is that he refused to accept Yahweh's authority and rule in his life. Like us, Saul thought he was king of his own life. So at this point, Saul is still formally the king of Israel, but we know that that isn't going to last long. Nothing is quite working out the way the Israelites had hoped when they chose Saul as their king. Remember, they wanted a king like the other nations had, one that would go out and fight for them in battle. But ironically, Saul won't go out and fight the battles he's supposed to. 1 Samuel 17 begins with the description of Goliath. He's never referred to as a giant in the story, but we are told that he's very tall. In fact,

he's over nine feet tall. And that's interesting because when Saul was chosen as King of Israel, we were told back earlier in 1st Samuel that he was a head taller than everyone else. So I think that's the first hint that we have that Saul should be out there fighting Goliath. But as the story unfolds, we find that Saul in his army, well, they're afraid of Goliath. In the face of Goliath's defiance, Saul seems paralyzed. Here's chapter 17, starting in verse 8. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel. Why do you come out and line up for battle?

Am I not a Philistine or are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects. But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us. Then the Philistine said, this day I defy the armies of Israel. Give me a man and let us fight each other. On hearing the Philistines' words,

Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. This is where David enters the story. He's the shepherd boy who is bringing food to his brothers who are serving in Saul's army. And David overhears Goliaths taunts. And he responds by asking in verse 26, who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God. Now, this is incredibly significant because it's the first time that David speaks in the

Book of Samuel. And when David speaks, what he does is he injects God into this story. And David brings God into the story of his life. A lot of times Christians live like practical atheists. We believe in God, but we don't consider him in the day-to-day challenges of our life. How would your struggle with infertility be different if you knew that God was present? How would your struggle at work with some of your coworkers be different if you brought God into that story? How could God come into the story of your marriage or your family?

So David comes up to the front lines. He hears Goliath taunting the Israeli army. But then David brings God into the picture. And when he brings God into the story, it changes everything. Yes, Goliath is intimidating, but David is not afraid because he knows he serves the living God. David doesn't see less than others, but he does see more. He sees God at work. Remember what God told Samuel when the prophet thought that David's older brother, Eliab, would be the next king? Back in 1 Samuel 16, the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.

the Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. So Saul and his soldiers, they are looking at Goliath's appearance. They are looking at that which is outward. They are intimidated by his height. But you know what? They're not seeing. They're not seeing God.

So David asked, doesn't the fact that we serve the living God make a difference? Israel thought that the Philistines were invulnerable, but David said, no, he's only uncircumcised. A living God gives a whole new view of things. And David has learned to see the way. David has learned to see things the way God sees them. He's learned to see the world, to see his own life, to see his challenges through the eyes of faith. And so David ends up telling King Saul that he will fight Goliath. Saul replied to him in verse 33, you are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him. You were only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth. David says to Saul, your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or bear came and carried off a sheep

from the flock, I went after it, struck it, rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defecunded. He is defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine. David's response reveals his profound faith in God. This uncircumcised Philistine is no more frightening than a lion or bear trying to eat one of the sheep from his father's flock. Just as David has rescued the sheep, so now he will rescue the armies of the living God. Just as God had delivered from the hand of the lion and bear, so he will deliver from the

hand of Goliath. All the enemies of God are nothing but dumb animals. Regardless of size, regardless of strength, the Lord will provide victory over all of them. Verse 37, Saul says to David, go and the Lord be with you. Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. Notice that Saul has his own armor. He should be putting it on. He should be going out to fight Goliath. Instead, he's hiding. Instead, he's giving his armor, his gear to David. But David refuses to wear it and instead chooses five smooth stones for a slingshot. Verse 45, David said to the Philistine, you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel,

whom you have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand. hands and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and to the wild animals and the whole world will know there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give all of you into our hands. See, David keeps God at the center of this challenge. He fights in the name and the power and the strength and the wisdom of the Lord. It might look like this is David versus Goliath, but really, it's the Lord versus Goliath. It's the Lord's battle. He's the one who gives the victory. He's the one who

gets the glory. That's why David said the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel, because they will know that this shepherd boy with a stone and a slingshot did not kill this giant warrior. No, they will know. That was God's work, God's power that did that. Verse 50, David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, without a sword in his hand, he struck down the Philistine and killed him. I just want you to think of a challenge that you're facing right now. What's a Goliath in your life? Maybe it's a relational conflict.

Maybe it's the prospect of raising money for a mission trip you're going to go on. Maybe the Goliath is starting a small group at your workplace. Or maybe it's a health issue. I'm sure whatever your Goliath is, I'm sure it's intimidating. I'm sure it feels much bigger than you are. But what is 1 Samuel 17 teaches us? Well, first it teaches us to bring God into the picture. Remember that you serve the living God.

So don't handle this challenge like a practical atheist. God is more than able to come to your aid. God is able to give you wisdom and strength. Second, I think we have to ask ourselves, what's our version of David's Lion and Bear? Like David had killed a lion and bear, and therefore he was able to trust God to deliver Goliath into his hands. Have you seen God at work in your life? Has God ever proven faithful in your past?

Well, God's faithfulness in the past encourages us to trust him in the present. Third, don't wear Saul's armor. Don't trust in yourself. Don't trust in your resources. Don't trust in your smarts. don't trust in your power to manipulate the situation. Instead, trust in God. And then last, give God the glory.

David did not boast in his victory. David was quick to point to God, to say, God is the one who rescued me. This is the Lord's battle, and it's the Lord's victory. May God give you grace to fight every Goliath in your life. Amen.