perspective

 

The story of David and Goliath is a familiar one, even if you don't really know a whole lot of stories from the bible. It's referenced all the time, a picture of standing up to the giants in your life, facing your problems head-on, knowing you can conquer anything you come up against.

Or at least, that's the common understanding. We're shown David, a young man, who isn't afraid to fight the giant no one else will stand against. And on the surface, that's true. But what really matters is what we see when we dig a little bit deeper.

Yes, we're shown David. We're told he was a young man (though I tend to think he was a bit older than is usually depicted, possibly closer to 20) who was home tending his father's sheep instead of serving in the army. We know that God had used his time in the fields protecting the sheep as preparation for what he would face--he had killed both a lion and a bear, and he was willing to stand against the giant.

It's easy to see David's bravery and think of it as an intrinsic character trait, something God used for His purpose. But let's look closer.

Here's the description we get of Goliath: 

"Then a champion emerged from the Philistine camp, Goliath of Gath (one of the five capital cities in the Philistine confederation), who was over nine feet tall. He wore a bronze helmet and a chain-mail coat that weighed more than 100 pounds of bronze. His legs were protected by bronze shin guards, and he had a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders, ready to throw. The shaft of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam, the iron head of his spear weighed 20 pounds, and his shield-bearer went ahead of him. He was a fearsome sight." (1 Samuel 17:4-7)

Most likely, David was somewhere around 5 feet tall, the average for most men of that time and place. Goliath was taunting the men of Israel every day, twice a day, for 40 days. For some comparison, a typical spear head in the Late Bronze Age would have weighed somewhere between 0.5 and 1 pound. The scale armor the soldiers would have been wearing? It would have probably weighed somewhere around 30 pounds. That definitely makes this reaction understandable:

"When they saw Goliath, all the Israelites were frightened and retreated from him.
Soldiers: Have you seen this man who steps forward? He’s trying to taunt Israel" (v. 24-25)

The men of Israel weren't a bunch of inexperienced hicks carrying pitchforks. This was an army that had faced many enemies and been victorious. They recognized that he was taunting them, but you really can't blame them for not wanting to stand against him in single combat. They looked at him and saw what most of us would see--an overwhelming enemy, massive, carrying armor and weapons that made theirs look like it belonged to children. Not only that, but he was sure enough of himself that he was taunting them by saying the Philistines would become slaves of Israel if he lost the fight against Israel's best champion. It would have been easy to see him and be afraid.

What's incredible, though, is David's reaction: 

"David (asking those around him): What is the reward for removing this insult from Israel by killing this man? No uncircumcised Philistine can get away with taunting the armies of the living God!" (v. 26)

David was looking at the same giant, but he wasn't seeing the same thing. Instead of seeing a giant warrior who seemed unbeatable, David saw a man who had no part in the covenant God made with His people. Instead of hearing Goliath's taunts as being aimed at the people of Israel, David saw Goliath aiming his taunts at God through taunting His army.

Sure, we can see a bit of cockiness in David's explanation to King Saul of why he was willing to fight. He talked about killing a bear and a lion with his bare hands when they tried to kill lambs from his father's flock. In that, though, we also see something we often forget--God uses the things in our past to prepare us for His plan. The skills you've developed in the everyday, seemingly mundane tasks of your life? God can use them. The stuff you've faced in your past? That was all there for a reason.

David was willing to face the giant when none of the warriors of Israel's army were for one very specific reason: he trusted God to fight the battle for him.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You are coming to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I am coming to you in the Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot, God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day Adonai will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and take your head off you, and I will give the carcasses of the Philistines’ camp today to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth. Then all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel, and so all this assembly will know that Adonai delivers not with sword and spear—for the battle belongs to Adonai—and He will give you into our hands.” (v. 45-47)

How we face the battles in our lives depends in large part on how we view those battles. David saw Goliath not as a way to prove himself and his own abilities. Instead, the taunting of the giant in front of him was seen as an affront to the Lord of Hosts (Adonai-Tzva'ot, the Lord of Armies). David stood up to him not to glorify himself, but so that everyone would see that the God of Israel was the one true God.

So maybe the giant in your life isn't about you. Maybe that giant is there solely to show the awesome size of the One True God.