Facing Down Goliath ... by Steve Carter

As usual, the Philistines and Israelites were looking to fight it out. This time they were giving each other the ‘evil eye’ across the Valley of Elah, apparently waiting for the other side to do something aggressive.

The Philistines soon came up with a plan that, in their mind, could not fail. They had one soldier who they figured to be the toughest man to ever walk the face of the earth. They trotted him out with a challenge for their enemy in what amounted to a ‘winner take all’ fight. There is minor disagreement on exactly how big Goliath turned out to be, but one thing everyone agreed on is that boy was HUGE. We’ll go with over nine feet tall, and plenty wide, to describe this lifelong soldier.

As is common with most people who believe themselves superior to us mere mortals, (think professional athletes or other ‘celebrities’), along with all that size and money comes a lot of swagger. Goliath apparently did not have a humble bone in his body when he came striding out alone to face the Israeli army.

With a taunting voice, he yelled across the valley to the ranks of Israel for them to send a man to fight to the death with him, one on one. Whoever came out of the fight alive would win the right for his army to make slaves of those backing the loser.

Judging by Samuel’s writing, every Israeli soldier there had good eyesight and hearing because Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. I’m sure they were all up for a fight, but not against someone three feet taller and wide as a minivan! I mean, think about it, doing something like that goes well beyond brave. In fact, it zipped on past stupid and leaned toward suicidal!

This taunting could not have set well with King Saul or his army, as they were used to being feared. Whatever effect it had, it did nothing to produce a champion for their cause. All this Philistine ‘trash talking’ had been going on for forty days when David, the youngest son of Jessie, walked into camp.

Now David stayed busy. Besides working for King Saul, he watched over his father’s sheep and delivered food to his three brothers, who were in this army. Like the rest of the Israelis, pretty much all his siblings did after Goliath shouted insults at them, amounted to running away from him in great fear.

David, not being one to retreat, asked about the reward waiting for the man who took out this extra-large Philistine. He intended to remove the ‘disgrace from Israel and saw no need to put it off! Apparently, David took a dim view of the uncircumcised Philistine. Who was he to defy the armies of the living God? Besides having a pretty good case of righteous indignation going on, the rewards offered by King Saul were nothing to sneeze at. The king’s daughter in marriage, ‘great wealth’ and no more taxes to be paid by our hero, soon had David fired up for putting the beat down on the big guy!

King Saul soon heard of David’s plan and quickly told him to forget it. The common opinion being that David had no chance against the giant. David soon made Saul aware of the Bear and Lion he had killed after they tried to poach his daddy’s sheep. In his eyes, this oversized braggart would be like one of them, because he had defied the armies of the living God. After rejecting Saul’s armor, he put his faith in ‘the Lord who delivered me from them’ and started out across the valley.

David stopped long enough to pick up “five smooth stones” to use in his slingshot and stalked toward Goliath with the confidence of God and His delivering power!

Goliath went out to meet Israel’s answer to his bluster and soon pulled up when he saw that the top of David’s head probably came up to his waist! Of course, as is the custom of bullies everywhere, the trash talk started again. He went on about how insulting it was to send a boy to face him and listed all the terrible things waiting for David. All this meant nothing to that ‘boy’. It turned out that David knew how to talk the talk and wasted no time proclaiming, “This day the Lord will hand you over to me and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.”

Time for talking being over, David ran toward Goliath, loaded a rock into his sling, fired away, and hit the big talker on the forehead. The stone sank deep and big and ugly fell face down on the ground. David knew a good opportunity when he saw one. He quickly ran up, grabbed the giant’s sword, and killed him with it, before cutting off his head! After snatching up his trophy by the hair, he held it high and carried it around for all to see.

I imagine nearly everyone has heard this story. There is much to ‘takeaway’ that is often missed. Let’s go over some of it.

It’s not likely we’ll ever face anything the likes of Goliath. However, our giants are as big, just in other forms. Debt, rocky marriages, failing health, and rebellious children. All of these are tough, but when we lean on the same God as David, we will defeat the enemy.

When faced with a problem that could be your undoing, don’t stand there shaking in fear with your knees knocking together. Be like David. After wrapping yourself in an unwavering faith in God, look your tormentor in the eye and tell him what’s about to happen! Then pick up your weapon, run toward and destroy the enemy! And after gaining victory, don’t be shy about telling everyone how God has delivered you.

Then walk away victorious.

Steve Carter

Steve Carter lives in Tupelo, Mississippi. He is a Bible college graduate, military and hospice chaplain, and musician.

Steve may be contacted by email at: Msroadkill@bellsouth.net