SERIES: The Life of David
TEXT: Samuel 17:20-51
MESSAGE: “David and Goliath”
Q: What are your fears?
“The study followed subjects over an extended period, asked them about the things they feared, and then observed which imagined misfortune actually came to pass. And of the 15% of concerns that did happen, 79% of people found that the challenge was much easier to handle than expected, or that they learned a valuable lesson from it. Which means that 97% of the things we worry about really aren’t worth worrying about at all.” — Richard Holman
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” — Psalm 8:1-8
“They tell us that it is only when Christ crucified and risen stands at the centre that the pieces of the jigsaw—the picture of creation and of man’s position in it—fall into place.” — Michael Wilcock
TEXT: 1 Samuel 17:20-51
Q: What does fear reveal about the individuals in this text? Fear revealed…(1. Eliab: A Bitter Brother 2. Saul: A Cowardly King 3. David: A Humble Shepherd)
1. Eliab: A Bitter Brother (v. 26-31)
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.”
“Here…is a richly elaborated horizontal deployment of troops and individuals. God is out of the picture, except for the invocation through David’s words.” — Robert Alter
“Consider the times when you have felt controlled by other people—times they ‘made you’ angry or depressed. How would you complete the following statements? I need ____. I long for ____. I want ____, and I am not getting it! I demand ____! I insist on ______! I can’t live without _______! This explains why Christ is sometimes not enough for us.” ― Edward Welch
2. Saul: A Cowardly King (v. 32-37)
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.”
“In the biblical sense, what we fear shows our allegiances. It shows where we put our trust. It shows who is big in our lives.” ― Edward Welch (When People Are Big and God Is Small)
3. David: A Humble Shepherd (v. 41-47)
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.”
“Look at me. I’m twice your size. Look at me. I’m high tech, and you’re low tech. Look at me.” He has banished all fear. There is no evidence anywhere in the text that he has the slightest doubts, the slightest fears, the slightest sensation that there is any danger at all to him. That’s the Goliath approach…” — Timothy Keller
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt
TAKEAWAYS: How can we learn to face fear with a God-centered courage?
- Reflect on whether my personal ambitions take precedence over God’s will
- Acknowledge the areas in my life where I am controlled by the fear of people or circumstances
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” — Proverbs 29:25
- Learn the joy of embracing humility that is rooted in God-confidence
“Our ultimate source of security isn’t in what we own or accomplish but in what we receive in and from God.” — Benjamin Bae
“Seventeen verses in the New Testament describe Jesus as “the son of David.” The words are not first highlighting His physical descent from the line of David (though that is true); rather, they are a messianic title. In His controversy with the Pharisees, Jesus asked them this question: How can the Messiah be the son of David when David himself calls Him Lord? Jesus understood that David pointed beyond himself to Him. This is why we must learn to read the Scriptures through the lens of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are all about Him.” — Ian Hamilton