Before Goliath Lost His Head

Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath from 1 Samuel 17. Little boy David kills the Philistine giant with a slingshot and a stone. But there is one amazing fact about that story that we need to consider and we will have to “reverse engineer” the story to understand it.

Verse51 “David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.”

When you think that David had to draw Goliath’s sword out of his sheath, one has to wonder why Goliath didn’t even see David as threat enough to draw the sword. I have to suppose that Goliath thought it was going to be a piece of cake, and that he would probably just thump David in the head to kill him. He definitely underestimated the threat David posed. Does the enemy see you as a threat, or does he scoff at you when you come on the scene.

Verse 41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"

This stick Goliath referred to was found in verse 40 when he said:

“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.”

The shepherd’s staff was used to keep sheep and the sheep dogs in line. David obviously saw Goliath as the same type of threat that he had faced before. God had been faithful to him before, so why should he fail to show up now? But that is not the point we need yet.

Here’s the difference between David and Saul:

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

Saul was paralyzed with fear for forty days when Goliath came out and talked smack twice a day. Saul was once a brave man, but to get to the real difference, we need to go all the way back to chapter 16.

Verse 1 says “The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king." And verse 13 says “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.”

Here’s the point: David was already a king even though he was just a young shepherd boy. Saul was already a coward even though he still wore the crown of a king. And they each acted appropriately to their spiritual condition, not their earthly appearance.

Are you a king, even though you might be a ditch digger? Are you a son of the Almighty even though you look like an accountant or a waiter? WE SHOULD START ACTING LIKE WE ARE SPIRITUALLY REGARDLESS OF WHAT WE LOOK LIKE PHYSICALLY. Pray today that God would reveal to you how He sees you, and not how everyone around you sees you.

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known." 1John 3:2