The Battle Belongs to the Lord

David has just walked down the hillside from the Israelite camp.  He has no armor, he has no shield-bearer.  He is young and untried.

But he walks forward with the strength and courage that can only come from God.

⁴¹The Philistine came on and drew near to David, the man who bore the shield going before him.⁴²And when the Philistine looked around and saw David, he scorned and despised him, for he was but an adolescent, with a healthy reddish color and a fair face.

⁴³And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you should come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴The Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

Goliath, it seems, had a bit of a big mouth.  He was a veteran of battle.  He was fully armed and ready to face anyone Israel would send down… and they send this… this kid carrying nothing but a stick. It was an insult!

And Goliath called it the insult it was – “am I a dog?” which is what the Israelites called everyone else.  Dogs.  Apparently Goliath knew of this and threw the insult back at them.

But apparently he doesn’t care too much.  You see, he’s sure that he won’t even have to break a sweat to win.

Then David responds:

⁴⁵Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied.

David Brought God into the equation immediately.  He walked forward in the power of the Lord.  He went into battle to defend the name of the Lord.  He went in full confidence of God’s deliverance.

His boast was not of himself… but of the God of Israel.

⁴⁶This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

⁴⁷And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.

Ooh – it just keeps getting better!  Here he is, a young, untrained guy, standing up to a well-armed, strong, huge warrior whose sole desire is to cut his head off.  And he calls him to the mat.

He brings all the swagger that he didn’t use with Saul – all the confidence and defiance he can muster to tell Goliath – and the Philistines behind him – that the God of Israel will not allow His children to be enslaved.  That he will win this battle without any armor, and without any sword.

He is giving the credit to God before he even starts.

Now that the insults have been hurled, it’s go time.

⁴⁸When the Philistine came forward to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

⁴⁹David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone and slung it, and it struck the Philistine, sinking into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck down the Philistine and slew him. But no sword was in David’s hand.

How can a tiny little rock kill a man?

Well, it may not have been a pebble.  Historians say that the stones that were often used in slings were a little bit larger than a baseball, and that in the hands of someone that knew how to use a sling properly they could be flung at speeds in excess of 100 mph.

Basically Goliath was taken down by a very solid fast ball between the eyes.

Ouch.

My daughter was hit in the head with a softball over the weekend – not anything to sneeze at.  Thankfully that ball wasn’t going anywhere near 100 mph, and it wasn’t aimed at her face.  There was little to no damage done.  However another woman at the tournament was not so lucky.  She was hit in the face with a ball.  It knocked her out cold.  There was blood – lots of blood, and she was having trouble remembering things.  A softball is much more forgiving than a rock… but even that can do some serious damage.

I’m sure David knew he would get one, maybe two shots off with the sling before Goliath was on top of him, and he took every advantage he could.  It says he was running towards Goliath – adding momentum to the rock he threw.  He didn’t hesitate either.  He started running, loaded the sling and flung it with all his might, and the rock struck home.

And with the power of the Most High God behind that rock, Goliath didn’t stand a chance.

When it’s go time for us, do we run headlong into the fray, taking advantage of any momentum God had given us?  Or do we hesitate and consider turning tail and hiding out until it’s over?

God will provide the weapons that we need for any battles that He has called us to.  We just need to trust the outcome to Him and give it our all.

We need to move forward in faith and trust that His strength will see us through.