You Don't Scare Me

 "But David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a saber, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. Then I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will hand you over to us!.'"

1 Samuel 17:45-47

 

I would dare say that most everyone is familiar with the story of David and Goliath. It does not matter what faith you profess or if you profess any faith at all. It is a typical example of the little guy winning over the big guy. And, of course, we all what to be David, and no one wants to be Goliath. The thing is, there are more characters in this story than our two main ones. We have King Saul, David's brothers, and the whole of the Israeli army.

            Israel and the Philistines were at war. Remember, this is at a time before big guns and bombs; they fought with spears, swords, and hand-to-hand combat. The Philistines decided to bring out their big gun. He was a man, a big man, who towered above everyone else and was as mean a fellow as you would ever want to meet. His name was Goliath, and he made a simple challenge. He would fight in a one-on-one match with whoever Israel thought was their best man. The winner would take all, and the losing side would surrender. Sounds easy enough. The problem was that no one on the Israeli side would fight him.

            Enter David. He is just a kid. Not a warrior. Not a skilled fighter by any means. He hears Goliath's challenge and asks why no one is going out to fight this guy? They all say, "Have you seen this dude? He is massive. He will crush us like a bug." But David said, "I can take this worthless uncircumcised Philistine."

            What is the difference here? I recently came across a quote that I thought was perfect. I do not know where it came from, but it said, "When David faced Goliath, he didn't talk about how dangerous Goliath was – he talked about how great God is." Read the Scripture at the opening here. David did not even notice Goliath's size or reputation; all David knew was God would (not might. Not hopefully. Not if he believed enough. But WOULD) give him to David, and David would cut off his head and feed him to the birds. That is faith!

            How many trials and struggles do we face in life where we spend all our time looking at how big and nasty they are. We see our Goliath, and just like Israel, we tremble with fear. I have done my fair share of hiding in my tent. But when we follow David's example and look at the power and strength of God rather than our challenges, we too can go into battle sure to win. Let's face our challenges and cut off its head and feed it to the birds.

 

You can learn more about Personal Development from the author and speaker, John Patrick Hickey. To get his books, training material, or book him to speak to your church, business, or group, visit our website: www.growthcenter.net.    © 2022 John Patrick Hickey. No part of this material may be reprinted or published without the author's written permission.