A boy walks across a valley. An army stands on the hillside behind him, and another army stands on the hillside before him. Fear and terror seem to have weakened the army behind him to the point of uselessness. The army in front of him has also been weakened, but it doesn’t understand. It has been made weak by pride and hubris.
The boy walks between them with confidence and humility. He can have both because he understands Whose battle he is about to fight. Young David bends down and gathers stones from a shallow brook. One of them will become the missile that changes history.
Out from the prideful army walks an even more prideful man — a giant trained in warfare from his youth up. Goliath looks on his opponent with disdain. “Am I a dog,” he asks, “that you come to me with sticks?” [1 Samuel 17:43, NASB] To the boy he says, “I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” (1 Samuel 17:44)
David answers, “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 armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)
How can young David maintain both humility and supreme confidence? It comes from his understanding that “the battle is the Lord’s.”
David was too young, without proper training, ill-equipped, and without backup… or was he? He was definitely young — easily as young as 13, almost certainly no older than 16. Goliath’s contempt came because of David’s youth, his nonexistent armor, his lack of weaponry, and even his good looks. 1 Samuel 17:42 says Goliath “disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance.” The word here translated “handsome” means “beautiful.” He was a pretty boy and the giant disdained him for it.
When Satan tries to dissuade and discourage us from serving God, he tries to make even our strengths seem like liabilities. He makes us feel too young, or too old; too good looking or too ugly; a person with a dark past or a goody-two-shoes — too fat, too skinny, underqualified, or overqualified.
David was young, but he knew the Lord, and knew Him personally. His battle experience was not against men, but he had faced the lion and God gave him victory. He protected his sheep from the bear, and God gave him victory. The army shivering with fear behind David might not have had his back. But David stood in that valley — the living God within him and the armies of heaven on all sides. Goliath’s size, experience, equipment, and power were as nothing before God. And David made sure that everyone understood Who Goliath opposed that day in the valley. The giant could easily defeat David alone, but he didn’t stand a chance against God.
Maybe you feel alone in the valley — ill-equipped and ill-trained. The Christian army behind you may seem weak, ineffective, compromised, fearful, or uninterested. That which stands against you may seem confident, powerful, and committed. Even in such a dire circumstance, you can say with Paul in Acts 20:24, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself.”
It’s not about you, your strengths, or your weaknesses. In Christ, you can face any enemy, defeat any giant because… the battle is the Lord’s!
