David's Conquering Faith

Read 1 Samuel 16-17
 
1 Samuel 17:26 “Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”
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1 Samuel 17:37 “The Lord who rescued me from  the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from  this Philistine!”
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1 Samuel 17:45-46 “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
 
WHAT do you think makes the David and Goliath story so appealing? Is it the youth destroying the seasoned-warrior giant? Is it the shepherd David going forth when fear grips Israel’s soldiers? Do we rejoice that Good wins over Evil? Perhaps it is David’s trusting knowledge of God. The young warrior knows he is a servant in God’s kingdom.
   One thing we can notice is that David never referred to Goliath as a giant. Instead, “pagan Philistine” or “Philistine” is how David saw him. To David, Goliath was an enemy soldier another country who defied God – nothing more. In fact, David saw Goliath as weak and powerless against the LORD. David’s living faith was his assurance God would use him to conquer Goliath. “Fear”, “giant”, “can’t”, “impossible” and “defeat” were not in David’s vocabulary.
   Giants challenge us, too, don’t they? They’re named Uncertainty, Hurt Feelings, Jealousy, Disappointment, Unforgiveness, Disease, Poverty and Anger. They loom large before us, daring us to come against them. They call out to us each day to bind us to fearful inaction. These enemies will never back down until we attack them with trust the Living God will defeat and destroy them.
   The good news is that giants get very small – they even die – when we trust the Living God’s power to conquer them.