Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Goliath in Fresh Perspective (1 Sam. 17) | David in 22 Stories | 1 Samuel – 2 Samuel Devotions

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10 minute Bible talks where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now we're working through the story of David's life in First and Second Samuel. First Samuel 17 contains not just one of the best known stories in David's life, but one of the better known stories in all the Bible. Whether you go to church much or read your Bible much, whether you even consider yourself a Christian or not, you've probably heard the story of David and Goliath. Unfortunately, I think we've drawn the wrong conclusions or learned the wrong lessons from this story.

Starting point is 00:00:42 You know the main characters, David and Goliath, and the first one we meet is Goliath. The Bible never calls him a giant, although a lot of scholars think he was about six feet, nine inches tall, which would have made him appear like a giant in that culture. The Philistine Army has gathered against the Israelites, and Goliathes, is one of the Philistine warriors, and he comes out to face the Israelites, and he has this proposition he wants to make. He says, here's the deal. Instead of our two armies fighting against each other, how about one representative from each army fight it out? I'll be the army, I'll be the representative from the Philistine Army, and you guys pick a representative from your army,

Starting point is 00:01:22 and we'll fight one-on-one, and however that one-on-one battle goes, that's how the whole battle between our armies will go. And you think this is a job for Saul. I mean, when you hear the size of Goliath, you can't help but remember that Saul was a head taller than everybody else in all of Israel. So where is King Saul to face this enemy? Well, verse 11 tells us that Saul and all of Israel along with him is afraid of Goliath. They are in hiding. Enter David. He's the shepherd boy, the one that his own family doesn't really pay much attention to and often overlooks. And David is given an assignment by his dad. Really, he's told to go run an errand. And the errand is to take some food up to his brothers who are at the front.

Starting point is 00:02:14 And when David gets up there, he hears Goliath come out day after day and kind of taunt the Israelite armies. He continues to make this proposition, but no one from the Israelite army will go out and face him. And David says this to Goliath's taunts. He says, who is this who taunts the armies of the living God. Now, there's so much interesting there first. These are the first words that David has spoken in this storyline. So the first time we hear him talk, what does he do? He brings God into what up to this point had been a godless picture. Because Saul in the Israelite armies, they hadn't called on God. They hadn't thought about how God fit into this story. But David, in the first words he spoke in this storyline, he brings God. He brings God.

Starting point is 00:03:00 into the picture and says, guys, don't forget who is on our side. Well, his oldest brother Eliab, hears about what David is saying around camp, and Eliab questions his motives, as if David is just trying to make a name for himself. Saul questions his size and strength. See, like Eliab, he too has heard that David is talking around the camp, and he calls him into his court, and he just says, look, dude, you are way too small and weak to fight Goliath. It's interesting how David responds, because he doesn't tell Saul, you know, I'm tougher than you think, I'm a better fighter than you think. Instead, he tells Saul a story about how God had delivered him when he fought a lion and a bear. So when David had defeated those two large, ferocious animals, he didn't accredit that to his skill or to his bravery or even to good luck.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Instead, he said, that was God delivering me. And because I've seen God deliver me in the past, I can have confidence that he will deliver me when I faced Goliath. Well, to be honest, Saul doesn't have any choices, and so he sends David out like, well, good luck, let's see how it happens. What do we have to lose at this point? But before David leaves, he puts all of his kingly armor, you know, have his warrior gear on to David, but David refuses it. He says, I can't go out and face Goliath in this. Now, where Eliab had questioned David's motives and Saul had questioned his size and strength, Goliath just laughs at David. When David approaches him, he just kind of starts. laughing like, who is this punk that they've sent out? And now listen to how David responds to Goliath. In 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've

Starting point is 00:04:48 defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day, I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals. And the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it 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. It's interesting because the actual battle, the fight between David and Goliath doesn't get as many words, doesn't get as much attention. as this little speech that David gives. And we know how this ends, right? David takes one of the stones, and he puts it in a slingshot, and he hits Goliath in the head, and Goliath falls, and David takes Goliath's

Starting point is 00:05:37 own sword and cuts his head off. But that's not the most important thing. That's not what the author wants to draw our attention to. What he wants us to focus on is that this was not just a battle between David and Goliath or the two armies. Now, this was a battle between God and the gods of the Philistines. This was a battle between God, the God of Israel, the true God, and the false gods of the Philistines. See, to David, this has always been a battle in which God's reputation was on the line. So he wasn't going to put his trust in spear or sword or javelin or Saul's kind of warrior

Starting point is 00:06:19 gear. He wasn't going to put his trust in any of that. He was going to put his trust in God because he had thought that just like God had delivered from the lion and the bear, so he would deliver him from Goliath. And that when God delivered him from Goliath, the credit would not go to David. The credit would go to God. And all the world would know that the God in Israel is the true God and the only God, which is why David says, this battle, it's God's battle, not my battle. Now, I think we draw some wrong conclusions from this story. I think we walk away with the wrong lesson, the wrong point. See, I think many of us walk away from this and think, well, I need to be more courageous. I need to be more like David when I fight the Goliath in my life.

Starting point is 00:07:09 But what's wrong with that is that it puts the focus on us and our power and our ability and our determination to do the right thing. The lesson that God wants us to learn here is not to be more like David. No, I think that the hero of this story is not David, but it's God. And the lesson that we were to draw from it is that God uses weak people who trust in him. God uses ordinary people who put their hope in God. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, When I am weak, then I am strong.

Starting point is 00:07:45 And I think David, if he heard that phrase, he would say, yeah, that's exactly how I played it. I knew I was weak. I knew I had no chance. But I put my hope in God, and he worked in my weakness, he worked through my weakness, so that he would get the credit, and he would get the glory. I was very weak, I think David would tell us. But that didn't matter. What mattered was God's strength. I was foolish. God was wise. I think this applies to you and I, because my guess is that you're a little bit nervous about, have you ever been asked to do something by God and you didn't feel like you're up to the task?

Starting point is 00:08:24 Maybe it's to lead a small group or to lead a team in crossing kids or to talk to your neighbor about Christ or to mentor a high school or a college student. Whatever it is, you have things that God's calling you to do, be more generous than you feel comfortable with, serve in a way that you're not sure if you have the time. And God's calling you.

Starting point is 00:08:45 to stretch your faith. But you're looking at yourself going, well, I don't think I'm capable. I don't have confidence in myself. I'm not sure I'm up to the task. Is there something easier that I could do? But the story of David and Goliath is supposed to teach you and me that God uses weak people and ordinary people who put their trust in him so that he gets the credit. So in that small group or that team you're leading or that person you're mentoring,

Starting point is 00:09:12 when things go well, they don't look at you and I. think we're impressive, but they look at God and say he's impressive because a God who can use ordinary people like them, that's a God that has a lot of power. That's a God who's gracious to use us in so many ways. So the first lesson is God uses weak people who trust in him. The second thing I think we can walk away from this passage with is that God always prepares us for our Goliath moments. God didn't call David from to go from nothing to trusting him to fight Goliath. Now, along the way, he had delivered him from the lion and the bear. And that's why that David had the faith to trust God for Goliath. He had prepared

Starting point is 00:09:57 him for that moment. God's past faithfulness had fueled David's future faith in God. How have you seen God work in your life? How have you seen him provide for you? Have you seen him answer prayer? Have you seen him give you wisdom or direction or strength or love for someone that you couldn't have loved on your own. See, as God is preparing you for the future things he's called you to do, and as you remember how God was faithful in the past, I encourage you to trust God in the future, to take on that challenge that you're a little bit intimidated by because God uses weak people who put their trust in him. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe.

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Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Goliath in Fresh Perspective (1 Sam. 17) | David in 22 Stories | 1 Samuel – 2 Samuel Devotions

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