“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” –David, Psalm 23:1-4

David, the shepherd boy, has a different perspective in life.  David believes, committedly trusts, and relentlessly loves the Lord God of heaven and earth. He composes songs about God and sings to God in worship wherever he goes as he leads sheep.  It is no wonder that he writes, “The Lord is MY shepherd” who takes care of me!

God has helped him protect the herd of sheep David’s family owns.  God has given young David strength and wisdom in fighting bears, lions and other beasts who threaten the sheep.  David fears no evil because he knows God is truly with him.  So, from David’s perspective, God fights with and for him in all the battles of life!  David gives God glory for it is God who wins. 

This is a perspective for life we should all get behind for when trials come, God stands ready to intervene for His beloved who believe. 

David’s next “valley” he will walk through is recorded here.  I know many of us have heard, read, and maybe even roleplayed the story in youth group many times; but read it as if it were your first time.  See the “dark valley of the shadow of death”.  Look up and observe the opposing armies camped out ready to fight on both sides of the valley. Feel the heat of day and the dirt beneath your feet.  Now listen to hear a giant, crude and arrogant man defy God with words of hate for God and God’s people. Then watch what God does best that surprises all people on both sides. God has prepared a young man, seemingly ill equipped to all those around him, to slay this giant.  From God’s perspective; David is exactly the right person who will declare His glory and power to all people.  Yes, spoiler alert, God wins! 

1 Samuel 17

David and Goliath

Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. ² Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. ³ The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

⁴ A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. ⁵ He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; ⁶ on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. ⁷ His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

⁸ Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” ¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” ¹¹ On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

¹² Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, ¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

¹⁷ Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰ Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. ²² David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴ Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

²⁵ Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

²⁶ David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

²⁷ They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

²⁹ “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” ³⁰ He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

³³ Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹ David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴² He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. ⁴³ He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

⁴⁸ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹ Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

⁵¹ David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. ⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

⁵⁴ David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵ As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”

Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

⁵⁷ As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.

⁵⁸ “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.

David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Did you read God’s story portrayed through David, Saul, and Goliath with a new perspective? Many thoughts are swirly around in my mind, too!  Let’s consider each person, one at a time:

Saul—is full of fear and is wondering if this giant of a man can be overcome? He is dismayed by his own weakness and lack of wisdom to resolve this situation that is only growing worse with each day. Saul’s men are not unified for this battle and has put fear in their hearts as well. Saul is angered by the taunts from the Philistine to him first and to God and His people.  Saul once knew God well and trusted Him; but now he leans on his own understanding and wisdom as he leads. Saul’s ego is fractured and bruised.  From his perspective, this is no-win situation.

Goliath—is big, confident, burly, and believable simply because of his stature!  Goliath is king of the battle in his mind.  He relies on his largeness to bully all who are physically smaller and weaker than he thinks he is. Goliath is a bully.  We all know bullies who have revenge on their minds from past hurts or being bullies themselves.  Revenge breeds contempt, hate, and all things evil.  Goliath is a Philistine, a cult of evil who God told His people to destroy when they first entered the Promised Land.  They didn’t, so here they are paying the consequences of yet another slice of disobedience.  From Goliath’s perspective; he’s in charge.

David—since before birth, God had him on his mind and in His plan.  God has been preparing David for this moment.  God equipped David for this time and place using challenging feats of strength as a shepherd boy along with the trials of being bullied by older brothers who think he is “less than valuable” to their family.  David loves God with all his heart, mind, and soul. He worships God often in songs of prayer and praise. David knows God and seeks the heart of God.  David’s passionate faith leads with desire to do what God has given him to be and do even if he doesn’t know all that entails—yet.  David feels held back by his older brothers and his father Jesse.  But he trusts God relentlessly for how He will work in David’s life.  From David’s perspective, God has already won! That’s why he runs to the battle to finish what God began!

Jesse—Ah, Jesse, is David’s earthly, maybe overprotective, father.  From his perspective he feels he must keep his youngest close to home—to tend to sheep.  After all, how much trouble can David get into while merely caring for sheep?  He finally allows David to take cheese and bread to his brothers involved in battle.  Jesse tells David explicitly to “check on them” while taking food to sustain them.  Did God lead Jesse to tell David to do this? Mm. From Jesse’s perspective—protect his own at all costs!

You know, sometimes facing our giants in battle with the Lord might first involve serving cheese.  Mm, Hold that thought….

God—This is God’s story being told to us through His Word to declare who He is with how He works on our behalf.  God knows every giant that plagues His people.  We must realize that our Holy, Almighty God is the main character!  Our compassionate, all-knowing God was, is and always will be in control for God has not given up His authority no matter how defiant this giant or our giant situations are for us. God is faithful even when we, as his people are not and fear fills our being.  This battle with the evil giants of the Philistine army serves to declare God’s glory and power to all involved and gathered in this place at this time.  David knows it.  Saul is baffled by it.  And Goliath?  He’s toast!  God wins. 

So, what’s our perspective of God now?  How do we now see our “giants”?  Who’s greater—our giant tests, trials, suffering, along with our giant fear of unknown outcomes or our known God? 

David’s dark valley became a place of God’s victory!

Lord,

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (the rest of Psalm 23)

In Jesus Name, I will trust in you, for my good and your glory, Amen