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By now, I hope you have caught on that David was an absolute boss. This accurately described “little boy” had the nerve to fight a 9-foot-tall giant with just a sling, staff, and the clothes his back. Can you imagine that!? David, who was the baby of the family and most likely in his early teenage years, was the only one willing to stand up to Goliath and defend the honor and reputation of his and Israel’s God.
The story of David and Goliath is so much more than just a story of an underdog winning against unfathomable odds. It is so much more than just a young upstart ceasing his moment and launching himself to fame, fortune, and royalty. At its center, this story is about God working through those who make themselves available to God.
Long before meeting Goliath, David was building up an impressive track record for himself by protecting his father’s sheep as their shepherd. Whenever a lion or a bear would come and take one of the sheep, David would hunt it down, rescue the sheep, and, if necessary, wrestle the predator to the ground and kill it. (Please close your mouth. David was just awesome.)
You see, being a shepherd allowed David the time to find his focus and place it entirely on God while he was watching his father’s sheep. It also gave David the opportunity to find his fit while he defended his father’s sheep by allowing God to work through him to help him overpower and defeat wild animals that wanted to steal and eat his father’s sheep and his family’s livelihood.
However, David was not meant to just be a simple shepherd. He was made to be a shepherd of people by leading them, providing for them, and fighting for them. He may not have known it then, but when he was defending the sheep from predators, God was working through him so that he would be prepared to fight giants and defend God’s name and fame. Shepherding was David’s season for preparation which resulted in a 9-foot giants head being separated from its body.
During this season of preparation, David willingly allowed God to work on him and turn him into the man who slayed a 9-foot-tall giant when he was a teenager. Read through the book of Psalms to see this David’s preparation first hand.
Are you willing to let God work through you?
Are you willing to allow God to work through your difficulties and deficiencies so that when the time is right you can conquer your giant?
Are you willing to allow God to mold you and shape you into the man or woman that He specifically and uniquely designed you to be?
David was willing. He made himself available and God was able to work through him and in him so that he could become the man “after God’s own heart.” (Acts 13:22 NIV)
David allowed God to work through his difficulties and deficiencies and because he did, he was able to conquer Goliath and eventually become Israel’s greatest king who left his mark on the world that is still evident today.
When David showed up to the front lines that day and heard Goliath running his mouth, David found his fight and was prepared to defend God’s name and fame. He could not standby and allow Goliath to mock God. Even though David was little, the youngest of his family’s sons, the baby of the family, and a ‘little wienie boy’; he would not allow God to be demeaned.
Make no mistake, David was fighting for God. Not for fame, notoriety, or a tax-exemption. David heard Goliath’s taunting and challenging and it made him angry. That may be difficult to swallow because we like to downplay emotion and anger in our society, yet, as one legendary preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once put it, “A man who is never angry is not worth [anything]. He cannot be a good man, for he will often see things so bad that he must be angry at them.” David ran across a giant who made him fighting mad and therefore, found the fight that he alone could fight because he God had been preparing him for this fight.
Find Your Fight
As David approached Goliath, the giant started the trash talking immediately. However, David’s focus remained squarely on God, because he responded back to the big dude:
“‘You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel - you have defiled him. Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. He will hand you over to us.’” -1 Samuel 17:45-47
Enough talk. The giant and the boy started running at each other. David reached into his shepherd bag, pulled out a smooth stone, cocked and fired it off. Being 9-foot-tall must have made Goliath’s head an easy target for a sharpshooting slinger like David.
David. He hit his mark.
Goliath. He hit the floor. Dead.
Once David reached him, he pulled Goliath’s own sword out and cut off the giant’s head. As quickly as the standoff started, it was over. David had won, but in reality, all the world saw that the God of Israel was protecting his people and works through seemingly inadequate people.
David found his fight that day because he could not allow Goliath to continue running his mouth off making God look like a chump.
What is that for you?
What is it that you cannot allow to continue to be a reality within your life and within our culture? What is it that gets you fighting mad? Start searching for your fight. Start seeking out the thing that you cannot stand within your own life and within our culture.
It could be extreme poverty, unfiltered and too easily accessed pornography, childhood hunger, food and shelter insecurity, rape, the spread of aids, or of racism. Whatever it is, you need to find your fight if you want to leave your mark on this world. Once you have found that fight, it probably won’t require you to kill a 9-foot-tall man in combat. But it will probably require you to kill your own personal and internal giants.
The fact that this article is on the internet and on your screen is a hint that I want to leave my mark on this world. I want to help people live their best lives today by helping them discover a relationship with Jesus, develop that relationship, and continually deepen that relationship. I do not want my headstone to be the only mark that I leave on this world. I want my life to be a life of purpose because I was made on purpose and for a purpose.
The same is true of you.
You were made on purpose for a purpose.
The purpose of your life, my life, David’s life, and every other life that you come into contact with is to worship God and have a relationship with Him. Everything else is secondary.
The reason why David was passionate that day when he heard Goliath mocking and taunting the Israelite army was not that he was some crazy nationalist that could not handle other countries dissing his. No. Living a life where your sole purpose is nationalistic pride is far too small of a fight to give your life too.
David understood that Goliath’s taunts were not aimed at the Israelite army, rather his taunts were aimed at the God of the Israelites and David could not stand back and allow this to continue, even if that particular person was a 9-foot tall hired mercenary. While David could not reach Goliath’s mouth, he eventually shut him up and it was all for God’s glory. David found his fight and was willing to die for it.
What are you willing to give your life for?
Whatever your answer may be, there you will find your fight and you will leave your mark on this world.
Let me know in the comments below.
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