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.