Over three thousand years ago, in the Valley of Elah, two armies stood on opposite mountains—the Israelites to the north and the Philistines to the south. Between them lay a flat valley with a dried-up riverbed.
Stepping forth from the army of the Philistines stood a massive man, Goliath of Gath. Goliath was a mountain—towering almost ten feet tall and incredibly strong. He defied the power of the living God and called him weak. Goliath shouted to the army of Israel, heaping shame upon them since none dared to accept his fight-to-the-death, winner-take-all challenge. For forty days, Goliath came forward, and for forty days, the men of God shrank back. This murderous machine had sent many men to meet their Maker. Anyone who entered one-on-one combat with this killer was signing up for a suicide mission. It’s no wonder the men of Israel cowered in fear. The army needed a champion to contest the giant, but who would face him?
Sometimes victories are won by the most unexpected people. We call them “underdogs.” People love rooting for the underdog. We tend to favor the unfavorable. If you’re cheering on an underdog who ends up winning, this unexpected success makes you feel happy. There’s something going on at the chemical level inside our brains that makes us feel this way. Such an out of the ordinary outcome releases a hormone that gives you joy. We are rewarded for cheering on the underdog and we can’t help but root for those less likely to win.
At first glance, David appears to be the classic underdog. Isn’t this the way we usually hear it told?—the scrawny young shepherd boy who stands no chance against the might of Goliath. David was too young to join the army, and he had no reason to be near the battle. He showed up in the story because his father, Jesse, asked him to deliver some food to his soldier big brothers. When he arrived and heard the giant pour out his scorn against the army of Israel, David was furious. He stood up for God and with only one swing of his sling—Goliath is knocked out—dead.
Often the story of David and Goliath is described as one of personal courage in the face of overwhelming odds. David—the underdog—an Old Testament superhero. A popular moral to the story is this:
“Get out there and face your giants because the heroically courageous always come out on top.”
But that is not what the story of David and Goliath is all about. David is no “underdog” at all. He certainly didn’t talk like an underdog when he boasted of striking down both lions and bears. David speaks of Goliath as if he’s just another notch in his belt of defeated foes.
But where did David’s confidence come from? Why was he so sure in his ability to defeat Goliath?
STONE # 1 | David’s confidence came from skill
Today, just like David, I have five stones—or points to make about David’s confidence. First we are going to look at where David’s confidence came from and then we will see how it influence his life and those around him. The first stone is this: David’s confidence came from skill.
Skill may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of a shepherd. Normally, it’s a very boring job. A shepherd must be able to sit still and watch over sheep as they do nothing but eat grass. But David refused to sit still. He had his sling to occupy his time. David spent his days gaining accuracy. Imagine a field laden with stones—practice ammo—and stumps—target dummies.
David raised his sling and whipped a stone out toward a stump. The stone sank deep into the bark of the tree stump. Again and again, David hit his mark, each shot increased his accuracy and skill. At the time, the young shepherd had no idea that he was getting ready to sink a stone into the skull of God’s enemy.
Fighting Goliath was David’s opportunity to prove his skill. But King Saul doubted his abilities. David’s confidence made Saul feel weak before his men. He shrugged off the shepherd boy with sarcasm, saying “Go. And God help you! [You’ll need it].”
Then he outfit the boy with armor thinking that David would need to be dressed like a soldier and wield a sword. But David knew his skill with a sling and was confident he could to strike down the giant. David didn’t see himself as the underdog. Saul looked out an saw a giant unstoppable killer, but David saw just an obstacle waiting to be moved—an enemy ready to be defeated.
“Giants are often not what we think they are, the same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of greatest weakness… Goliath’s size, strength, weaponry and armor hardly prepared him for a shepherd boy with a sling.”
Malcolm Gladwell
God has given each of us skills—or talents—that we must develop. He has a plan and is building us for great things in the future.
What skills do you have that are being built up? What God given gifts have you received that could be practiced? Have you been neglecting these skills? You can honor God by getting better with the talents he has already given you. Maybe you’re athletic, play sports! Or perhaps you’re artistic, then draw, paint and create! Music? Then play majestic melodies! Whatever you do with the talents you have, don’t take them for granted. Do the best that you can do with gifts God has given you. By doing this, you will be honoring God, and who knows—maybe God will use those skills to do amazing things one day.
STONE # 2 | David’s confidence came from God’s faithfulness
Our second stone is this: David’s confidence came from God’s faithfulness.
Every once in a while, David’s day of shepherding and slinging got interrupted in the worst way. Lions and bears would come to abduct their next meal from the flock. But God supplied David with strength and agility to rescue his father’s sheep from the clutches of terrible beasts.
Imagine this scene:
David is about fourteen years old at the time, shepherding the flock—when out of nowhere a lion darts down and picks up one of the sheep.
Now—Lion’s are ridiculously strong. If a lion decide to slap you in the face, it would literally crush your skill. A lion can bite through even the thickest human bone as if it were a tooth pick. I don’t know about you, but if a lion stole one of my sheep, I’d probably just say “Okay, fine—you take it!” But that’s not what David does.
Seeing the beast, David charges in with his staff. The lion, hearing the steps of the boy behind him turns to see—and gets smacked in the face. Stumbling back, but not losing his grip on the lamb, the lion recovers and lunges toward the boy. But David doesn’t give him an inch. He goes in for his throat, choking with both hands and kills the beast.
There is absolutely no way that David could’ve been strong enough to defend that sheep on his own. All the skill in the world would not add up to a fourteen year taking down such an enemy. He trusted in God’s faithfulness to give him the might he needed to wrestle a lion. The young shepherd boy had confidence in God to subdue his foes. You could say that David was self-confident, or confident in his strength. But more importantly, he was confident in God’s strength. Instead of “self-confident” we can say that David was “God-confident”.
Let’s get back to Goliath. A great foe appears before Israel, the army does not share in David’s God-confidence. When observing David’s response to Goliath, the men of Israel felt weak. As they shrank away, David stepped up. This was the army of Israel! They knew all the stories—how God defeated one adversary after another and they were walking away at the sight of one man! Many of them had just recently witnessed God’s ability to do amazing things.
Twenty-five years before the battle with Goliath, the Philistines had gathered an army that was 500 times the size of the Israelite’s. They were holding a fort while King Saul was hiding in a cave. But Jonathan, his son, decided to take a stand.
Jonathan left from hiding and approached the Philistines. Seeing the young prince, they called him over, saying they had something to show him—their blades. But as Jonathan got closer, the Philistines fell to their knees. Jonathan killed twenty men. Then, the earth quaked and the rest of the Philistines became confused—fighting one another. When Saul and the Israelites saw this, they rushed in and took the fort causing the Philistines to flee in fear.
Imagine how the Philistines must have felt when entering battle with the Israelites a second time. They had seen the God of Israel make soldiers fight against their fellow soldiers. Perhaps this is why they sent Goliath into one-on-one combat. If Goliath had one opponent, he couldn’t get confused about who to attack. The giant was arrogant enough to stand up to the God of Israel while the rest of the Philistine army was a safe distance away.
Our enemy knows the power of God.
Even the demons believe [in God]—and shudder!
James 2:19
But when we lack God-confidence, we give the enemy a foothold. Don’t give the devil room to stand—look back on what God has done and have confidence in his faithfulness! Edmund Burke famously wrote,
All it takes for the enemy to win is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
We can’t afford to stand idle when a giant gets in our path. The world needs men who are God-confident. We may feel weak in comparison to a giant, but we must remember that God is greater than Goliath.
All of God’s greats have been weak men who did great exploits for God because they relied on his faithfulness.
James Hudson Taylor
STONE # 3 | David’s confidence came from God’s calling
The third stone, and final source of David’s confidence was from God’s calling.
As the recently anointed future king of Israel, David had received his calling. He knew that God would fulfill his promises. He believed that God would remove any obstacles that stood in his way (no matter how tall). David knew that God was bigger and stronger than the Philistine giant. He knew God had plans for his life that were greater than dying on the field of battle against just one man. So he went into battle /knowing/ that God would give him victory over Goliath—because God had given David his calling.
Sure, you haven’t been anointed as a future king by one of God’s prophet—but the bible tells us that God knows what’s in store for us and that he’s in control.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord
Jeremiah 29:11
We need to trust in God’s calling on our lives, whether we’ve received it yet or not. Trust that God has a plan and purpose for your life. Then, walk in confidence as God begins to direct your path. Trust that he is faithful to make a way for you.
But not everyone approved of David’s call. When David’s oldest brother, Eliab, saw the confidence of David, he felt weak. He accused his younger brother of abandoning their father’s sheep and questioned his motives for arriving at the battle. He doubted the call that God had put on David’s life. Yet what is strange is that Eliab was there when the prophet Samuel poured oil on David’s head and proclaimed him the future king! Eliab was jealous of his younger brother. As the oldest, he probably felt tossed to the side in light of David’s calling. Eliab’s jealously blinded his ability to see what God was doing through his younger brother.
Sometimes, we find ourselves jealous of another’s abilities to serve God. We start to second guess their motives and undermine their integrity by accusing them of being attention-seeking. We build up a wall of deflection to defend ourselves from acknowledging our lack of God-confidence. But this isn’t right at all. In fact, when we try to diminish what God is doing in another person’s life, we could be damaging their confidence in God.
Not only that, but we are focusing on the wrong person. When we focus on what other people are doing, we are neglecting to pay attention to what God is trying to do in our own lives.
STONE # 4 | David had the God-confidence to defeat all his foes
The fourth stone is one of the ways David’s confidence in God impacted his life. Younger men, hear this point: God can defeat all your foes.
When the king, the army, and the older brother confronted a giant, they thought, /This makes me look weak/. But David heard the insults flying from Goliath’s mouth and thought /This makes God look weak/. Fueled by his God confidence, David left Saul’s tent and got ready for battle.
As he prepared, David did something odd. He picked up not one, but five smooth stones. Why did he do this? If he was so confident in God’s faithfulness, wouldn’t he only need one stone? Did he think he would miss four times—or maybe he thought it would take more than one direct hit? Either way, this moment seems like a weak move for David.
We don’t know why David picked up the five stones, perhaps that will have to be something I ask him about in heaven. For now, the best thing we can do is try to look at the bigger picture of David’s life. We learn later that Goliath had four cousins, almost as big and strong as he was. We can’t know for sure if they were at the battle when David faced off against Goliath, but we can imagine how their presence could have impacted him.
David stopped and looked across the valley—scanning the Philistine army. He noticed other tall men standing out among the rest. He knelt down to gather his ammunition, he counted, “One for Goliath…one for each of his four cousins.” When David appeared to falter in his faith, he was actually trusting God to deliver way beyond his immediate circumstances. His God-confidence was so great that he believed he wouldn’t just slay one giant that day, but five!
It’s hard enough to have confidence in God to take us out from under our present struggles. But how much harder is it to also trust him with what’s coming next? When facing giants, do we believe that God has the ability to not only deliver but over-deliver? The lesson we can learn from David is to trust God with every situation—not just the big giants right in front of us, but the ones waiting around the corner, too.
STONE # 5 | David had confidence in other giant slayers
Our fifth and final stone for this morning is for the older men here, the fathers and our counseling staff: David had confidence in other giant slayers.
Toward the end of David’s life, he got very ill. Knowing this, the Philistines took advantage of his weakened state and attacked. Gathering his men, David went to meet them in battle—but grew weary and fell.
Seeing David down on the ground, one of Goliath’s four cousins came to kill the crippled king. David had trained his men to be giant-slayers, men who wielded the God-confidence necessary to take down Goliaths.
One-by-one the rest of Goliath’s cousins came after David, attempting to take his life. But again and again his men stood in their way to defend their teacher and king.
Five giants—defeated in battle by David and his giant slayers. As he reflected, David wrote Psalm 18. He said:
“He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support.”
Psalm 18
Are you training up giant-slayers? You’ve learned to have confidence in God to defeat your foes, but are teaching others to do the same? Who are you discipling?
When you are facing giants in your own life, do you rely on self-confidence or God-confidence? David trusted his LORD to deliver him from every enemy. God was the source of David’s confidence. Clutching his five stones, David was far from being an “underdog.” He was an expert marksman—confident in a mighty God—the future King of Israel—and a lion killer. And no one, not Goliath or any other giant, could stand in his way.
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