Faith and the Impossible
Full transparency—I’ve been a scaredy cat my whole life. At parades, I would hide my face in my parents’ laps…because of the clowns. My dad would terrorize me just driving by graveyards. If anyone knows me now, you know there’s nothing I’m afraid of. Just don’t say the “S” word.…Snakes…
This is where the narrative of 1 Samuel 17 begins. I’m not talking about snakes. It begins with fear. Israel is cowering in fear over the Philistines and their giant warrior Goliath.[1] And that fear reveals something deeper than a weak military. It reveals a deep theological problem. One that can happen to us as well when we lose sight of God.
Fear grows when God shrinks. (1–11)
When we have a low view of God, our problems seem big. The opening section of this chapter deliberately magnifies Goliath. He is presented as 9ft 9 inches tall.[2] His massive armor is described piece by piece. The spear across his back, the enormous iron point on the spear weighs 15-16 pounds—imagine throwing that! (A javelin at the Olympics weighs 1.76 pounds.) Even the shaft of the spear is compared to a weaver’s beam, so the whole thing very likely weighed over 30 pounds. That’s the kind of thing you see people throw at strongman competitions. Every detail emphasizes his enormous size, strength, and is meant to intimidate. This is to intentionally overwhelm us with Goliath’s appearance so that this giant dominates our imagination before the battle ever begins.
So, we can understand the result. Saul and Israel see the giant, hear his challenge, and immediately lose heart. He challenges them in verse 10: “And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” They’re afraid! Complete frozen in fear! Verse 11 shows us, “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”
I think the most important detail of this scene isn’t Goliath’s size, though. It’s what the narrative shows us about Israel. The army that belongs to the Lord God doesn’t move because of fear. Goliath’s challenge isn’t merely military. It’s theological. In verse 10 he says, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day.” That word “defy” carries the idea of reproach or disgrace. It can even mean blaspheme.[3] This giant isn’t simply threatening Israel’s army. He’s dishonoring Israel’s God.
Yet Israel responds as if they are fighting for themselves. Their fear reveals what has happened in their hearts. Their vision of the problem has grown so large that their vision of God has nearly disappeared. Or the opposite is also true. Their vision of God has disappeared so that their vision of the problem has seemed so large. Notice that in the opening description of the battlefield God is basically absent from the perspective of the narrative. The focus is entirely on the horizontal scene of armies, weapons, and warriors until David begins speaking about the Lord later in the chapter.[4] When God disappears from the equation, fear takes His place. The heart always places something on the throne, and in this moment fear has become the king of Israel’s army.
It's like what happens during a solar eclipse. What’s bigger, the sun or the moon? The sun is 400 times bigger than the moon, yet during a solar eclipse, the moon completely blocks out the massive sun. During a solar eclipse, does the sun still shine? Yes. But all you see is the moon. They see only the giant. They don’t see God. They’re trying to fight with weapons. They’re forgetting that they need to fight with faith.
This isn’t limited to just a Philistine battle. It happens in our lives all the time. We face situations that appear overwhelming, and before we realize it fear and anxiety have already overcome us. We stare at the diagnosis, the financial pressure, our uncertain future, the conflict in that relationship, or the problems in the culture or world around us. Stop looking at your problems and start looking at God. Your problems will start to look different. Israel’s fear in this chapter reveals what happens when God is removed from the picture. The narrative is now about to introduce someone who sees the same battlefield but through a completely different lens, a God-colored one.
Faith is built in private obedience before it is tested in public battle. (12–37)
Verse 12 all of a sudden jumps from the battlefield and back to Bethlehem. After Goliath’s challenge and fear taking over Israel’s army, we’re brought back to the shepherd boy. It mentions again that David is the youngest son of Jesse, and while his older brothers have gone off to war, David is still tending the sheep.[5] He’s told to bring food to his brothers on the front lines. What he’s doing is humble. It’s not in the spotlight. And that’s the point. Before David ever faces Goliath, we’re reminded that he’s an ordinary young kid with an ordinary life. But, he’s been faithful in the small things. Remember in chapter 16, we saw him anointed by Samuel, but he didn’t go straight to the throne. Instead, he went back to the fields. He continued shepherding. He served Saul. Those ordinary, unseen moments weren’t wasted. They were preparing him for what God was calling him to now.
When David makes it to the camp, he hears Goliath’s challenge for the first time. And he takes it personal. Because it was against his God! Verse 26 shows us what he says: “And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” While everyone else is talking about the giant’s size, notice what David is talking about. He is talking about God’s glory. The difference here is theological. David sees the same giant everyone else sees, but he measures him against God, not against human strength. The biggest giant looks miniscule next to the almighty God. David keeps on saying these things until word gets to Saul. 1 Samuel 17:31-33:
31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. 32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
From a human perspective, Saul’s right. David is young. He’s inexperienced. He’ unarmed. But David isn’t arguing from his own strength. He knows who’s with him because he knows who’s always been with him. He points back to his life in the fields. Verses 34-37a:
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
David’s faith wasn’t formed on the battlefield with Goliath. It was formed through years of faithful obedience in the shepherds’ fields. Y’all, faith doesn’t appear out of nowhere when hardship hits. It’s formed in the daily, hidden moments of life. We’ve been talking about this over the last couple of weeks. When we obey God in the small things, He’s preparing us for bigger battles we face down the road. David’s courage in the valley flows directly from his faithfulness in the fields. The same is true for us. The obedience we practice today builds the faith we’ll need tomorrow. And when that day comes for the big battles in the valley, we know God will be with us then as well, like David did.
We must trust God’s presence in our battles. (38–40)
Saul agrees to let David fight, but he tries to help in the only way he knows how. He dresses David in his own armor. From Saul’s perspective, that makes sense. If you’re going to face a giant, you need the best equipment. But David can’t even walk in it. He takes them off and instead picks up his staff, his sling, and five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherds’ pouch.
This shows us the difference between human strategy and trusting God. Saul trusts in armor. David trusts in God. Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” This is a psalm of David and is a pre-battle prayer for going into battle that he wrote as king. David is first living this out here. He walks out to meet Goliath with nothing that looks impressive. By rejecting the armor, David is making a statement. He’s not relying on human might. He’s relying on the presence of the God who’s been with him every single moment up to that very point. David knows that God’s presence is what makes the difference. He’s not stepping into the valley alone. The same God who delivered him from lions is right there with him. This is why he can move forward without the things everyone else thinks are necessary.
We face the same choice in our battles. Do we trust in our own resources—our plans, our abilities, our safety nets? Or do we trust that God is present, even when the odds look impossible? Even when it doesn’t add up on paper? David’s theology was driving his actions.
Our theology dictates our actions and outcomes. (41–47)
Goliath sees David coming and laughs. Verse 43: “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Church, the world will often laugh at you, but God will get the last laugh. Goliath curses David by his gods and promises to feed his flesh to the birds. But David doesn’t flinch. His response in verses 45-47 is one of the most powerful declarations of faith in Scripture.
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with 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 defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”
David’s not minimizing the danger here, but he’s magnifying the Lord. The battle isn’t about David’s skill or Goliath’s strength. It’s about God’s name. That’s what this battle is about. That’s David’s motivation. He’s not fighting for personal glory or national pride. He’s fighting so that the world will know who God is. In verse 46 David says that the Lord will give Goliath into his hand, “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” The purpose of the victory isn’t David’s reputation. It’s God’s glory.
This is what separates David from every other person on that battlefield. Israel is looking at the giant. David is looking at God. The soldiers of Israel are frozen in fear. David walks forward in faith. The actions of both sides flow directly from their theology. Y’all, our theology is never theoretical. What we believe about God inevitably shapes the way we live. All theology is, in one way or another, lived theology. If we believe God is distant, we will live anxiously. If we believe God is weak, we will live in fear. If we believe God is uninvolved, we will live independently as if it all depends on us. But if we believe that God is sovereign, that He’s faithful, and that He’s good, that belief will shape the way we face every battle that comes into our lives. We will trust Him in all things.
That’s where David was. Eugene Peterson captures the unusual calmness of David in this moment when he describes him kneeling at the brook picking stones while two armies stand ready for war. He writes that David appears “seemingly oblivious to the danger,” with a “hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth.”[6] David’s confidence comes from knowing God is present in the valley with him. And because of that confidence, David can say something that must have sounded shocking to everyone watching. In verse 47 he declares, “The battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” He says that straight to Goliath! Straight to the giant!
That statement is the theological heart of the entire chapter. The battle is the Lord’s. Not Saul’s. Not Israel’s. Not David’s. The Lord’s.
And that truth reveals something about the way we often read this story. Many people treat David as the hero of this great Bible story. The story becomes an inspirational kids lesson about courage and determination. The message becomes something like this. Face your giants. Believe in yourself. Be brave in the face of adversity. But that interpretation completely misses the point. David isn’t the ultimate hero here. God is. David’s role is simply to trust God. David steps onto the battlefield with nothing but a sling and five stones because he believes that the God who rules heaven and earth is fighting for His people.
His theology dictates his actions. And because his theology is true, his actions lead to victory.
God wins the battles that we can’t win. (48–58)
When the moment finally comes, the battle that has frozen Israel in fear for forty days ends almost instantly. Verse 48 tells us that when the giant Philistine came to David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. David doesn’t hesitate. He runs toward the giant because he already knows who will win the battle. David reaches into his bag, takes out a stone, slings it, and strikes Goliath smack in the forehead. The stone sinks into the giant’s skull, and the man who had terrified an entire army falls face down on the ground. The warrior no one would face has been defeated by a shepherd with a sling.
The text goes out of its way to show that the victory couldn’t be credited to David’s strength. Look. Verse 50 explicitly says, “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.” No sword. No armor. No military advantage. The victory was the Lord’s. Earlier David had already declared the reason for the outcome. In verse 47 he said, “The battle is the Lord’s.” The fall of Goliath proves that statement is true. The God whom Goliath mocked has just demonstrated that Yahweh is the one true God and even giants fall down before Him.
But the greatest enemies in our lives aren’t giants standing across a valley. The enemies we face are far more powerful than that. We all face Sin, death, and judgment. No human strength can defeat those enemies. No amount of effort, morality, or religion can overcome them. The battle against sin is a battle we cannot win. But the good news of the gospel is that God has already sent a champion to fight the battle we can never fight. Just as David stood as the representative for Israel, Jesus Christ came as the representative for His people. On the cross He confronted sin and death, and through His death and resurrection He defeated them completely. The victory doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to Him. And just as David achieved the victory through faith, that’s how we receive the victory as well.
That means the question for every person is not whether you can defeat the enemy yourself. The question is whether you will trust the One who already has. Salvation isn’t achieved by human strength. It is received by faith in Christ. The battle has been won. The invitation now is to believe in the Savior who fought it for you.
[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/Israel-Philistines.html
[2] Possibly 6ft 9 inches, depending on variations in some manuscripts, though the accepted Hebrew text had him at 9ft 9in. https://www.gotquestions.org/how-tall-was-Goliath.html; https://etsjets.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/files_JETS-PDFs_50_50-3_JETS_50-3_489-508_Billington.pdf
[3] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2778.htm
[4] Robert Alter, The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel (New York: W. W. Norton, 1999), 101.
[5] He is likely a teenager here. He is definitely less than 20 years old. https://www.gotquestions.org/how-old-was-David.html
[6] Eugene H. Peterson, Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997), 36.
