One morning whilst herding his sheep, David gets a message from his father, Jesse, to go to the battlefield and enquire about his brothers, who were soldiers in Saul's army. He was also to take some food to them.
He duly sets off and when he reaches the battlefield, he leaves his baggage and goes to look for his brothers.
He finds them and hears a man daring the Israelites to "send a man to fight with him". This man, Goliath, the giant, of course, promises that if any Israelite can beat him, then the Philistines will be the slaves of the Israelites.
David also happen to hear that the king, Saul, promised many valuable gifts to the man who could defeat this Goliath. He sets out to have these promises confirmed by other soldiers and then tells them that he would be prepared to fight this giant.
He gets taken to Saul, who first tries to discourage him from going into battle with the giant, but as Saul has no other volunteer, he agrees that David may go on behalf of the Israelites.
To give David some protection when facing the giant, the king then dresses David in his own armor, a bronze helmet and a coat of mail and gives him his own sword for the fight.
The king's own armor surely represented the highest authority in the land, and his sword wielded the most power in the country.
David, however, had never during all his battles with animals, amongst which were a lion and a bear, which he killed to protect his herd, had any weapons except his bare hands, his sling and stones, and probably a club of some kind, because he says:
"I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when
it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it"
1 Sam. 17: 35
David sets forth to tell the king exactly how he managed to save his herd and how he killed the bear and the lion with the help of his God and that the same God would help him to also kill the giant. Can you imagine this young man, probably a teenager still, in the field, having just killed a lion lying on the ground, probably nursing his wounds, because I cannot imagine a young boy killing a lion without him receiving a blow or two in return, or a mighty scratch of those powerful paws. Anyway, see him lying there, thanking God for his deliverance and laughing with excitement and joy at the momentous victory he has just gained over his enemy.
He proceeds to explain to the king that he would not be able to use the king's armor and sword and I just absolutely adore the reason his gives the king for his decision:
""...I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them." So David took them off."
1 Sam. 17:39
He had never done anything under the authority of the king. He had never called on his citizenship to enable him to achieve anything. He had never relied on the power and authority of any man. He had only ever relied on his God to help him in every instance and crisis. And he would do so yet again this day...
He would learn in time that no man is to be trusted for even the king, who had promised him his daughter as a bride, failed to honor his word and gave the daughter to someone else as wife!
I am sure before he accepted the challenge, the scenes of his battles in the field flashed through his mind. He saw again as if in technicolour every blow in every fight and the dead bodies of his very powerful enemies lying helpless before him. He strengthened his faith in God remembering just how God had helped and protected him during these fights.
And so strengthened:
"Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from
the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling
was in his hand. and he drew near to the Philistine." 1 Sam. 17:40
He acted on his faith.
The rest of the story we know very well...
If David had not learnt to trust in God in the small crises for the small victories, then he would not have had the faith to trust in God for this the biggest fight of his life.
We should learn from him. We should start asking for God's assistance in the very smallest of things, such even as finding a parking space, and trust Him for something different and bigger each day, so that we may build up our trust to have the necessary faith in Him to deliver us and assist us in the biggest of crises. Then when we do meet the big crisis, we will have confidence to ask God for his help and faith that He will hear and answer and give us the victory.
You see, if you can trust God, then all the devil ever manages with every attack of his, is to give us a new testimony of the help and faithfulness of God!
Thank You, Lord, that You teach us that if we have faith as big as a mustard seed, which is surely one of the smallest seeds on earth, then we will be able to move mountains. Help us to trust you from day to day in every crisis that we may meet. Remind us to look back at what You have already done for us and to build our faith from day to day to trust You even more.
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