By Robert C. Oliver Contributing columnist
The apostle Paul wrote, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we though patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Most who know anything at all about the Bible know the story of David and Goliath. It is not our intention here to just tell the story again, but to point out some remarkable lessons that we can learn from that event that can benefit us in our efforts to ascertain a home in heaven in the end. The seventeenth chapter of the book of First Samuel records these events.
The main characters of the story are, of course, David and Goliath. David was a shepherd, son of Jessie and had several brothers fighting with the army of Israel, under king Saul. David was sent by his father to take some cheese, corn and bread to his brothers and to seek of their welfare. In the meantime, the Philistines, which were fighting Israel, had a champion by the name of Goliath which came out twice a day for forty days offering a challenge to Israel. Now, Goliath was a giant. He was about nine and a half feet tall, his coat of mail weighted around one hundred and sixty pounds. The head of his spear weighed about eighteen pounds. Goliath was a man of war from his youth. His challenge was for Israel to send a man out to fight him. If he won, the Philistines would be their servants, if he lost, they would be the servants of the Philistines. Though Israel was the nation of God’s people, they feared Goliath and sent no one out to fight him.
Now David arrives and our lessons begin. When David heard the challenge, his question was “who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God” (I Sam. 17:26). The first lesson we must learn is one that apparently Israel had not learned, but David had. It was to have faith in God. David asked another question, “is there not a cause” (I Sam. 17:29). He recognized there was a cause much greater than he, and worth whatever it took to be victorious in that cause. Another such heroic action is seen in Esther when she put her life on the line for the salvation of the Jewish nation. Her words were, “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:15-16). Fear and lack of faith caused the entire army of Israel to back off from doing what God would have them to do. When Israel first came out of Egypt, twelve spies were sent to spy out the land. Ten of those spies after seeing how rich the land was, but also how strong the people were said, “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Num. 13:33). They feared the giants of the land and refused to do the will of God. In both the case, of David and Goliath and the twelve spies, there were some that actually had enough faith in God to stand strong in the sight of the giants. Joshua and Caleb stood as did David. In both cases the strong were those who realized that if God was on their side, they could not fail. David told Goliath, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou has defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (I Sam. 17:45-46). Joshua and Caleb said to Israel, “If the lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey” (Num. 14:8).
In the case of David and Goliath, David slew the mighty Goliath with a stone from a sling (I Sam. 17:49). In the case of Israel in the wilderness, they refused to heed the advice of Joshua and Caleb and allowed their fear to cause them to wander for forty years until all those men had died, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. It would seem then that there are some much bigger and stronger giants to be fought than those who literal ones who threatened Israel in the long ago. Fear robbed them of their faith and a lack of faith robbed them of their courage to stand up and follow God’s commands. Thus, fear became a bigger and stronger giant than the actual giants were. Many today fear fighting their traditions, their opinion, their feeling and their peers, resulting in their unwillingness to follow the actual teachings of God’s word. Trust in God and fight any giants that would stand between you and heaven.
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