1 Samuel 17:1-10 (KJV)
Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.
And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.
And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.
And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
Andre’ Rene Rousimoff was born into a French farming family in 1946.
Born with a problem[1] in his pituitary gland that did not regulate growth hormone, Andre was 6’1” tall by the time he was 12 years old. He eventually reached a height of 7’4”[2] and a weight of 520 lbs.
He was a teenager when he was recruited as a professional wrestler and eventually give the moniker, “Andre’ the Giant.”
As big as he was, it was easy to exaggerate stories about him.
He was also known for eating mountains of bacon
They say one time he ordered extra bacon with his breakfast. When they brought out three extra slices he complained. The waitress then, they say, delivered him two plates piled high with bacon.
From then on that’s how he ordered his bacon.
He was at one time called “the greatest drunk on earth” because he one time drank almost 2500 ounces, that’s 156 16oz bottles of beer in one sitting.
That story got so blown out of proportion that, once when Andre’ had surgery, the anesthesiologist used his alcohol tolerance as a dosage guide during the surgery.
They say one time he was at a restaurant with Arnold Schwarzenegger. When Schwarzenegger got up to pay, Andre’ picked him up carried him outside and deposited him on top of his car.
Andre played small parts in a number of movies. In one episode of The Six Million Dollar Man he appeared as Bigfoot.
While he did lose some wrestling matches due to technicalities or disqualifications, he was never pinned or forced to submit.
He could therefore claim the title as “the only undefeated wrestler in wrestling history.”[3]
Imagine the stories one could tell about Goliath!
The Bible says he was six cubits and a span tall – that’s 9’9”.
Given that height, he could easily have weighed 700 or 1000lbs.
Don’t be fooled into thinking he must have been slow and ox-like either.
Until Andre the Giant was into his late 30’- early 40’s he was capable of performing the most sophisticated wrestling techniques, like flying kicks, etc.
Goliath shook Israel to their core.
· He was asking them to fight in a manner they had never fought be before
· He was asking them to send a man who could in no way match him pound for pound
He was bigger
· His spear was bigger
· His shield was bigger maybe
· His voice was bigger[4]
But Goliath was defeated in a manner much the same as was his challenge, by a totally unconventional and unheard of warrior; a boy with five smooth stones and a heart after God’s.
Before David could kill Goliath he had at least five other giants to kill:
First there was
I. THE GOLIATH OF INSIGNIFICANCE
1 Samuel 17:12-15 (KJV)
Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.
But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
Consider the simple insignificance of David at this point in his life.
He was a young man, a boy really, the youngest of his father’s eight sons.[5]
· He was an unknown.
· He was not a soldier.
He was merely a shepherd who had been sent to the field with a bit of food for his brothers.
His only responsibility, and his father must have thought was all he was capable of[6], was
· To get the food to his brothers and
· To bring back word how the battle was going
One of the biggest challenges we all face in our lives is not believing we are capable of facing any bigger challenges.
It’s true of all of us.
Once in a while you will hear someone question, “Is this all there is to life?”
It is if you won’t try anything more in life.
I heard a fella the other day explain his life this way. He said, “Listen I am black. Others died.”
Then he stopped and said, “No, it’s not about my color. It’s about the opportunities we all face.
· We live in houses built by people who had to learn a construction trade
· We use water, brought into our homes after hundreds of years of work learning to plumb in clean water into our homes.
· We are warmed by heat that took hundreds and hundreds of years of experimentation and instruction before it cold safely warm our houses.
· A doctor studied for 10 years or more so he could help your parents deliver you into this world.
· Your mom and dad struggled to pay bills and put food on the table so you could go up to adulthood.
And you think you have a right to be selfish and blow your life in mediocrity?”
He said he just could not be that kind of selfish person. He had to push himself to make a difference with his life.
David was nothing more than a shepherd boy.
Before he could ever fight Goliath, he had to kill the giant that said he couldn’t fight Goliath.
Second, David had to kill
II. THE GOLIATH OF INTIMIDATION
1 Samuel 17:26-29 (KJV)
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.
And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
I am not sure that, at this moment, David had it in his head to fight Goliath himself.
He just thought someone should.
Then along comes his brother who began to mock, belittle and ridicule him.
The moment you presume that something more can be done, that you can do something more than you have done, somebody, somewhere will begin to mock you for it.
It might be your
· Parents
· Your brothers or
· Your sisters
Remember, Jesus very own siblings didn’t believe Him at the first. They tried to get Him to be quiet and stop making such bold claims, as that He was the Son of God.
When Anita and I got married I was an ironworker and she was a public school teacher.
We began to grow as Christians at just about the same time we were married.
Not long after our marriage our church announced it was going to start a Christian School.
Anita felt led to resign her job as a public school teacher and volunteer at the new Christian school.
The person who gave her the most grief was a fellow Christian who also worked at the public school she resigned from.
Before David could enter the valley and fight Goliath he had to defeat the giant of intimidation preventing him to going into the valley at all.
Thirdly David had to kill,
III. THE GOLIATH OF INEXPERIENCE
1 Samuel 17:31-39 (KJV)
And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.
And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.
And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.
And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.
The thing that appeared to be David’s greatest weakness, that he was not a proven soldier, turned out to be his most effective strength.
He could not fight Goliath like a soldier fights
But Goliath could not fight David like a shepherd fights
You know, God made you exactly the person that you are.
I am not giving you an excuse to keep from bettering yourself.
Everyone of us is commanded:
· to put off the old man and
· to put on the new man
That means there ought to be constant change and growth in us.
· David could not fight Goliath with a sword and a shield.
· But he fought plenty of other enemies with them later.
What I am saying is that all you have to be to be used of God today is who you are today.
· You don’t have to know what someone else knows
· You don’t have to act like someone else acts
· You don’t have to pretend to be who someone else is
Be honest, be godly and be yourself.
Before David could cut off the head of Goliath, he had to be convinced his sling and stones would do the job.
Fourth, David had to kill
IV. THE GOLIATH OF ANXIETY
1 Samuel 17:41-44 (KJV)
And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.
And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.
Can you imagine a fight more unfair than this one looked to be?
The giant disdained David.
He tried to scare David with threats, “I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the airs and to the beast of the field.”
Fear may be the most crippling enemy any man ever faces.
The old gladiators, they say, subscribed mostly to the philosophy of stoicism; to embrace pain and hardship as a reality and to befriend it.
That may seem crazy until you realize:
· That pain and hardship was an obvious reality for them and
· That a synonym for stoicism is patience or forbearance.
Romans 5:3-5 (KJV)
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Colossians 3:12-13 (KJV)
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
In many respects those first century Christians were very much like the Roman Gladiators.
· They knew the hardships associated with their faith
· They embraced those hardships and
· They grew better because of them
David looked his fear straight in the face and the Bible says,
1 Samuel 17:48 (KJV)
And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
Before David could kill Goliath he had to face down his fears.
And then, David had to kill
V. THE GOLIATH OF IRREVERENCE
1 Samuel 17:45-46 (KJV)
Then said David to the Philistine, 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 hast 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.
The last thing anyone should think is that the enemies we face are powerless.
Jude 1:9 (KJV)
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Like the seven sons of Sceva who tried to cast out a devil without the power of God and were driven away wounded instead,[7] people try to wrestle against feelings of:
· Inferiority an
· Anxiety and
· Intimidation and
· Inexperience
today, without faith in a living and true God.
And it is not working.
Does anyone honestly believe a shepherd boy and a slingshot could kill a 9’9” soldier with a sword a shield and an armor bearer without any help?
There were no Israeli soldiers in the valley with David, but he was not alone.
And I just want to tell you today, you can’t defeat your feelings of
· Inadequacy
· Intimidation
· Insignificance and
· Anxiety
on your own.
Let alone a Goliath like the spiritual wickedness in high places.
Until you defeat irreverence in your heart through faith in Jesus Christ – the little pebbles in your pouch are nothing but dust against the devil.
But once you have conquered such irreverence so that you, like David can cry, “I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand…”
Conclusion
Scholars believe that Psalms 144 and 145 were written by David after defeating Goliath.
I want to merely point you to two passages,
Psalms 144:1 (KJV)
Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:
Psalms 145:1-3 (KJV)
I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
A heart after God glorifies Him for victories.
[1] Known as gigantism in children and acromegaly in adults.
[2] This figure is disputed by some. Others believe he was 6’11” at his tallest.
[3] Given this title in 1987. My understanding is that Hulk Hogan subsequently defeated him.
[4] If Goliath had something similar to acromegaly, he might have had a significantly deeper voice than most – as did Andre’ the Giant.
[5] That doesn’t necessarily make him young, but the narrative of the passage tells us he is.
[6] Or else he would have been mustered out to the battlefield himself.
[7] Acts 19:14-16 (KJV)
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
