Have you ever been in a situation where you felt so little? It is like you are up against something gigantic that winning is impossible. “Mismatched,” you would cry out! You are facing your giant! So you’re in a hopeless situation and the only feasible option is to either quit or surrender.
It always breaks my heart when I see a sick person, that even with the help of the most sophisticated medical equipment still unable to recover from a certain debilitating disease. Cancer, AIDS, deadly viruses, etc and many other diseases that scientists and doctors still could not cure. Or that marriage that is about to breakdown, or that youth whose life is going down the drain because of drugs and other vices, or that man who seems to have lost all hope. No one to turn to, nothing left to work on, trapped, lost, defeated.
No one else can identify more to this than the Israelites of the Old Testament. They were still at war with the Philistines, and from all angles one can clearly say that they are no match. The Philistines had iron weapons, the Israelites fought with slings and arrows. The Philistines had chariots; the Israelites relied on pitchfork and knives. To compound their problems, the Philistines had a hulking giant of a champion called Goliath, the Israelites had no one to challenge him, at least no one had the courage to come against him. I Samuel 17:5-7 described Goliath this way, “5He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. For forty days, morning and evening, Goliath would mock and defy King Saul and the Israelites, and they were all afraid and fled from him.
Max Lucado in his book “Facing Your Giants” described Goliath’s actions so perfectly. He said, "You know well the roar of Goliath… First thought of the morning, last worry of the night – your Goliath infiltrates your day and infiltrates your joy. So no one dared to stand up against Goliath, until one day.
One day, David shows up. David the young, inexperienced, skinny boy - who is just a shepherd, and knows nothing about war but has a great passion for God in his heart. He couldn’t believe that up to that day no one would stand up against Goliath – that uncircumcised Philistine, so he said that he would go against him. He sees Goliath just like what the Israelite army sees, but he’s never intimated by his hulking biceps and tough armor. He hears his mocking words just like what the Israelite army hears but he’s never afraid of him; remember how he described Goliath – just an uncircumcised Philistine. David saw the giant Goliath but he also saw someone far gigantic than he is – David saw his big God. We all know how the story unfolded, in the end, David defeated the giant and brought a big victory to all Israel but it all started when he stepped into the battle field, volunteered to fight Goliath and said, ““Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.” He stood up and defeated Goliath simply because he saw his big God.
The next verse declares that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. When most people would retreat, David lost no time to finally meet this giant head on. He rushed, he could wait no longer, it’s time to defeat this uncircumcised Philistine. It’s one thing to show up in battle, it’s another thing to finish it. It’s one thing to volunteer to fight Goliath, it’s another thing to finally do it. I like how New King James stated verse 48, “that David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.” David hastened, he ran. He never waited for his muscles to become big and mature. He never waited to learn more about military tactics and warfare. He never waited for Goliath to grow weak. He rushed to fight him. He ran and killed him. He rushed to get his victory.
I do believe in training and preparation. Training and preparation have their rightful place in God’s plan. But many times God’s timetable is better than any training and preparation. When God says so, we don’t have any other response but to go. Obedience to His call and direction prove to be the best training and preparation of all. Just like in the case of David, his rushing action in obedience to the call of His God became his best preparation and training. He came out of that experience better trained and prepared compared to all the Israelite army that trained all their lives just to fight battles such as this.
Finally, the Word of God declares, “And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.”
Of all the weapons that can be used to defeat a giant like Goliath, God chose to use a stone. Who would have ever guessed that a stone would kill this giant? Goliath trained all his life, he had been a warrior from his youth. He knew all kinds of weapon and knew how to defend himself against those weapons. All, except God’s weapon – a simple stone.
The Bible is full of many examples of this. How did the walls of Jericho Moab
Ordinary objects turned powerful tools in the hands of God. Ordinary people used mightily to accomplished gigantic task. In David’s case, a simple, ordinary stone from a brook brought down and killed a giant.
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