Don’t talk Fear.
Talk Faith!
“David himself never acknowledged how big
Goliath was,
he only ever
acknowledged how big his God was”.
Did you
ever notice that when David faced Goliath, he didn’t talk about how dangerous or
how large or how impressive, threatening or scary Goliath was? He only talked
about how great his God was.
Now, I know
that for some of you who have grown up in the church, this story may be all too
familiar and you may find yourself zoning out when you hear a sermon on it or read
an article on it, but how about you take a fresh look at it with me?
Let’s look
at the story as we find it in 1 Samuel.
1 Samuel
17:4, 7 KJV - And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,
named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. ... And
the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed
six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.
First up,
we see that this dude was MASSIVE! Unlike anyone we’ve ever seen or even want
to see. I don’t have to tell you how intimidating he must have been to the Israelite
soldiers.
Interestingly
enough, even King Saul, who was head and shoulders above everyone else (I
Samuel 9:2), didn’t even want to go up against Goliath.
As we read
a bit further down, we see Goliath issued his challenge.
1 Samuel
17:8 KJV - And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto
them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine,
and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
1 Samuel
17:9 KJV - If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your
servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our
servants, and serve us.
And, not
surprisingly, no one accepted.
And then
along came David. Just a simple shepherd boy. A servant and messenger of his Father.
He was given an errand to run and off he went. An important but lowly job. The
job of a servant. Not a soldier.
1 Samuel
17:17-18 KJV - And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an
ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy
brethren; And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and
look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.
David’s
brothers, the three oldest sons of Jesse had gone with the army of Saul to
fight against the Philistines.
Well, we
know the story of how he found his brothers and the army and as he talked with them,
Goliath the formidable foe came out again to issue his daring challenge.
1 Samuel
17:23 KJV - And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the
Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and
spake according to the same words: and David heard them.
And we read
that David heard it. He heard the challenge and then he was left scratching his
head as to why no one was accepting the challenge.
1 Samuel
17:26 KJV - And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be
done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from
Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the
armies of the living God?
I find it
interesting that David doesn’t seem to bat an eyelid at the challenge or the size
of the giant. Instead, much to his brothers’ chagrin, he, a simple shepherd and
errand boy, not a warrior, accepted the challenge.
1 Samuel
17:32 KJV - And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy
servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
Instead of
talking fear, instead
of voicing the fears that every man in that camp were voicing or at least
thinking, he simply talked faith.
1 Samuel
17:37 KJV - David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the
paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out
of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be
with thee.
David did
something that we all need to take note of. He remembered his past
victories. He didn’t look at his present circumstances, he simply looked
back at what God had done in the past and decided that if God could do it then,
he could do it now!
I’m sure that
deep down inside there was some element of fear. There had to have been a natural
almost reverential type of fear that stood in awe of the giant’s immense size
and strength. But I don’t think that lasted long if it was even there at all.
David had seen God come through many times before and that is where he drew his
resolve and determination from.
And so, we
skip on down, past the scorn of his brothers, past the trying on of ill-fitting
armour, past the gathering of the five smooth stones, and on to the giant.
As he drew
near to Goliath, we see the enemy pull out an over-used tool called
intimidation. An often very effective tool. The kind of tool whose purpose is
to ignite fear in the recipient and cause them to give up. But Goliath hadn’t
counted on big faith.
1 Samuel
17:42 KJV - And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he
disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair
countenance.
Goliath
looked down on David and decided to try to intimidate and mock him, in hopes
that it would take the spring out of his step. But to no avail.
Boldly, and
with all the power his voice could muster, David made sure Goliath knew exactly
where his strength and resolve came from.
He gave a
speech, and what a speech it was!
1 Samuel
17:45-47 KJV - Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a
sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name
of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
This day
will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take
thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the
Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the
earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
And
all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for
the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.
David was
not moved by Goliath’s bad jokes or threats. He stood his ground. He had
nothing to lose and nothing to prove when it came to himself. He wasn’t after the
reward offered by King Saul, he was only intent on bringing glory to the name
of God. The only thing he wanted to prove was God’s awesome power!
David had
to choose to drown out the other voices. The voices of the Israelite soldiers
as their knees knocked together, the voices of his brothers despising him for
what they saw as pride, the voice of King Saul telling him he was only a youth
and more importantly, he chose to drown out the voice of defiance on the lips
of Goliath.
So, what did
he listen to? He listened to the VOICE OF TRUTH!
Time and
time again, God had proved himself faithful and all-powerful and the voice of
God’s Spirit that dwelt in David spoke louder than all the other voices and it
was this voice that he listened to.
That inner
voice that told him he was not alone. That inner voice that told him that God
would go with him and guide that small, smooth stone right to the head of the
giant. That inner voice that shouted, “the battle is the LORD’S”.
But we can’t
stop here. We have to read the end of the story.
1 Samuel
17:48, 49, 51 KJV -And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and
drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to
meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a
stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone
sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. ... Therefore
David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it
out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And
when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
I just want
to point out an interesting fact here that you may have missed. Did you notice
that David ‘ran’ to meet the giant? No sneaking up from behind. No timidity.
No fear. He RAN!
We need to
learn to run to meet our giants. (If you’d like to read more on that subject,
see a previous post I wrote on running to the giant - RUN TO THE GIANT.
So, let me
wrap this up by circling back to my statement, “Don’t talk fear. Talk faith”
We never
once see David mentioning Goliath’s size or status. We only see David boasting
of God’s greatness.
Are you
guilty of letting circumstances overwhelm you with their size and power? Do you
find yourself talking fear? Our thoughts are a powerful thing. They translate
into actions.
David’s
faith translated into an action. And that action freed the Israelite army and
saw them win a great victory against the Philistines on that day.
It also
proved to all who the true victor was. It revealed the awesome power of Almighty
God. All the earth was aware of the God of Israel.
So how do
we even begin to acquire the faith that David had?
I would have
to write another few pages to even scratch the surface of answering that
question, but here are a couple of thoughts to leave you with.
*We
develop our faith in our alone times with God. David spent years alone in
the wilderness caring for his sheep, and these alone times gave him opportunities
to commune with God, worshipping him, praying to him and remembering and meditating
on God’s Words. He spent time with God.
*We
develop our faith by being faithful in the little things. David was ready
for the enormity of the test with Goliath because he had been faithful in the
small things. Even after he was asked to take food to his brothers, he made
sure to leave the sheep in the care of another. He obeyed his Father and because
he had proved himself faithful, God was able to entrust him with a huge test of
faith.
*We
develop our faith by looking back to God’s faithfulness in the past. As I
mentioned before, the same God who had come through for David in his yesterdays,
would come through in his todays and tomorrows. He remembered past victories.
David grew
in faith and knew that God would remain faithful to him as he continued to obey
and trust, love and serve him.
Prioritize
your relationship with God above everything else. Meditate on God’s Word. Feed
your faith through the pages of Scripture, obeying and applying it.
Don’t
fall in the face of fear. Let faith overcome.
Talk
faith. Not fear.
