“So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philisitne and killed him.” 1Sam.17:50 NIV

I think I could right here and now write 5000 words abut King David. He is a major figure in the Bible, he is mentioned 889 times in the NIV. 54 times in the New Testament. That is amazing considering there is about 1000 years between David’s time and Jesus. So David is a big deal.

Why is David such a big deal? I am going to talk about that in this post and hey BTW have you seen the “David” series on Amazon Prime? It is pretty good, that’s why I can’t stop thinking about him, though I have thought a lot about him before. But I am not a movie critic and there is some things (not surprisingly) I didn’t like about the series over all I think for being an Amazon thing it was pretty good.

“He (Goliath) looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.” 1Sam.17:42

I think we would call David a young man or a teenager. “A little more than a boy.” Grown men see teenagers as “boys” still. 

“The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of the Philistine. Saul said to David, ‘go and the Lord be with you’”. 1Sam.17:37

Firstly we can see from these scriptures that David was an experienced fighter not only in a physical sense but in a spiritual sense, for he says “the Lord will rescue me” David had faith, strong faith, and it just didn’t start there at the battlefield against Goliath. He already had it, proof of that is when he tells of how God rescued him from both a battle with a lion and another battle against a bear. This is huge and is an insight into David’s private life.

And what else do we know according to the scriptures? Nothing recorded. Bear and a lion is the start of David’s battles, or is it? I would like to suggest there was more. I’m sure of it, let me explain.

Prior to fighting bear/lion David who was a shepherd changed from being a boy to puberty age, and when that happens the hormones rage, right guys? And here he is all alone out tending the sheep all day and all night.

And what happens to a boy who is “glowing with health” when puberty hits him square in the face? His sexual desires rise up inside him and he is tempted to just go ahead and pleasure himself. Did David do that? I would argue that he battled with these desires but he trusted in God to delivery him from them and God did indeed deliver him from these desires. This is David’s first really tough battle against the spiritual forces of evil, and he won.

This gave him the confidence to win even greater battles, the lion and then the bear. This in turn gave him the confidence to fight even greater battles aka Goliath. These things don’t happen in a vacuum. 

The point I am trying to make is this. We don’t just go from no or tiny faith to big faith. It is a progression. We must start with the little battles that we are facing in our everyday lives. After we get a few victories under our belt then we are ready for something bigger. Little by little, bit by bit, the Bible says that somewhere.

But there is a problem, the “little” battle raging inside us isn’t so little in our minds, as a matter of fact it is huge, not just huge, impossible! Well yeah, I will give you that, it is impossible… so? What is your point? You are a Christian aren’t you? Jesus said to his disciples after he rose from the dead, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” And, “I am with you always.”

You are tempted, it is impossible for you to resist, you have tried.  The dark forces are too strong for you. Satan is stronger than you. I get it, I understand, you don’t think I haven’t traveled down this road? You are sadly mistaken, I have.

But where is Christ when you need him? He is right there beside you and we know that he is also within you. It is simple math, you are too weak to defeat the power of sin, you have someone who is more powerful than the power of sin who is living inside you. It is up to you to figure out how to tap into that power. That is your Christian duty. That is what David did. And that is why David is so important in the scriptures. Think of it, a thousand years later and the scriptures mentions him 54 times.

And now it is your turn. It is your turn to put your trust in Christ the same exact way David did. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you and for me and for all who call ourselves Christians. Your Lord, our Lord is here within us waiting, just waiting, He is not going to stomp on your free will, you must engage your tiny, puny faith. Don’t worry, one atom of faith is all you need but you must use it.  He wants no robots in heaven. 

So what happens to those who don’t trust Christ in times of testing (temptation) and we end up dying and never learning how to trust in Him for deliverance? You are not going to like the answer but I am going to give it to you straight, I owe you that. He will say to you, “Away from me you evil doer, I never knew you.” That’s not me, that’s bible.

In summary, please, please, please, be like David and slay your “Goliah”. David and a whole host of others in heaven are rooting for you, and so am I.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, may he lift up his face upon you and be gracious to you, may he lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen