The story of David and Goliath confronts us with the question of our own faith. As we contemplate this encounter, where do you stand in the story?
Saul
Perhaps you are like Saul, a member of God’s people but conscious that you have little or no trust in God. The truth is your life is devoted to building your own kingdom your own way. or maybe, you are like Eliab and the other Israelites, too faithless and cynical to believe that God actually helps his people. The story of David and Goliath shows God’s mercy to people like Saul and the Israelites.
Did the Israelites deserve to be rescued by David? Did Saul deserve to be rescued did David? For forty days Goliath came, and no one had the courage to resist him. And yet in sending David, God was merciful to his people. The encouragement for us in this is that God’s love and mercy for us don’t depend on us doing good works to earn His favour. God is merciful to people who don’t deserve mercy.
David points to another king, a son of David, who came to fight on our behalf. Jesus our saviour fought for us. Like faithless Saul, we did not deserve it, but he offered himself for us.
Goliath
Are you, like Goliath, an enemy of God? Perhaps you are keenly aware of the fact that you don’t fit in to the Christian crowd. The Bible gives you both a warning and hope. The warning is this – the enemies of God have no chance of victory while they fight against him. Like Goliath, if you oppose God you will inevitably be defeated. But there is hope as well.
Maybe as you’ve listened to this story you’ve wondered, if God is so strong and so God, why doesn’t he defeat all the Goliaths out there.
The Bible tells us that God is fighting a war against his enemies, but for now his weapons are not sword and spear. His weapons are his Word and His spirit and his church and the good news of Jesus Christ – a message of hope and the possibility of peace to the very enemies that are lined up against him.
2 Peter 3 tells us that the day is coming when the LORD will finally and completely judge his enemies, but for now he is merciful offering sinners and enemies like Goliath the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation to him.
9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
While we were enemies of God, Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of God died for us that we might be reconciled to God. There are still people living today in the ancient Philistine lands – probably at least in part they are descended from Goliath’s people. How wonderful it is to know that a significant number of those Palestinians are Christians, experiencing life as a child of God. If there is hope for Goliath’s people, there is hope for you.
David
Maybe you want to be like David. Willing to act for God, trusting that it is He that works in you and through you.
Because of God’s mercy and patience, he has delayed the judgment of his enemies. So sometimes we do face serious opposition. Wicked men seem to prosper. Sometimes, it feels like he is not responding to the needs of his people. We do face opposition, disappointment and defeat.
How do you face opposition? Perhaps you try to avoid it. Perhaps you try to improve yourself so you can beat it. A better job, a better degree, a better physique, more money, a bigger house, new clothes, new friends, a new location. What do you trust in to deliver you from your enemies?
Our only hope is God. Like David, we can be encouraged in the face of opposition knowing that ultimately our battles are the LORD’s. The living God fights for us, and in Jesus he has already fought the decisive battle. Let us trust that God really is using us, in all our flawed and feeble efforts, to build his kingdom.
David was not a perfect man, but he was a man who knew the very great value of the God in whom he trusted. May God grant that we would know that same trust in God and so be used by Him.
