(Part 2)
“David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel. As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright. “Have you seen the giant?” the men asked. “He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!” David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”-1 Samuel 17:22-26
Day after day the Israelite army listened to Goliath’s taunts and jeers. Israel hadn’t surrendered, but they were not winning either. They were caught between the two, paralyzed with fear. However, because they were all afraid of facing the giant alone, it seems that they were all ok with the status quo. That is until David showed up. David saw what the other men saw and heard what the other men heard. Yet, he was not dissuaded. He told King Saul in vs. 32: “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul, “I’ll go fight him!”
King Saul’s response to David’s declaration was both discouraging and faithless:
“Don’t be ridiculous. There is no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You are only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”-1 Samuel 17:33
As loud as Goliath was that day with his taunts and continuous scoffing, his voice wasn’t the loudest voice that was crippling King Saul and the armies of Israel. Every man that stood on that battle field that day believed, about himself, the very words that King Saul was speaking over David. David told King Saul: “I’ve defeated the lion and the bear and God will rescue me from this Philistine too.” David wasn’t afraid to battle the Philistine because he had already faced off with lions and bears. Likewise, David wasn’t intimidated by Goliath’s taunts, because he had already overcome the Eliab’s and Saul’s in his life.
When David came to the battlefield he heard Goliath’s daily verbal abuse towards Israel, but when he begins to question it; he is confronted with another voice:
“But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!”-1 Samuel 17:28
David was being scorned by Eliab and his motives were being drawn into question. He was being belittled and mocked. Eliab, the first born of Jesse, was obviously still bitter at David. God had rejected Eliab and passed him over as the next king of Israel and David had been anointed king by the prophet Samuel.
You better believe that the moment that you start to rise up in faith against your giant, there are going to be those who scorn you, because their life didn’t turn out the way they planned. Their dreams didn’t come to pass. Their prayers didn’t get answered the way they hoped and if you don’t rise above those voices you will stand on the sidelines listening to giants cripple your life instead of facing them.
Scott Burr
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