Preparing to Trust

Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:31-51

³¹ When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. ³² David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³ Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and whenever a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth, and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!”

³⁸ Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. ³⁹ David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.

⁴¹ The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. ⁴³ The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” ⁴⁵ But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and 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 very 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 Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel ⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

⁴⁸ When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David’s hand. ⁵¹ Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it.

Questions

1. Who was David prior to this story, what prepared him for this moment?
2. Why does Saul offer David his own armor, what does this story say about Saul?

Background

Related Scriptures: 2 Samuel 11-14; Isaiah 10:1-3; Matthew 23:1–36; James 5:1–6

David was not an incompetent shepherd boy, he had been prepared by trusting God in the wilderness.

Reflection

The Sunday school presentation of David and Goliath presents a young boy against a grown man, a warrior against a child with no business being near a war. Yet this depiction misses much of what is going on in the passage and so fails to illuminate one of the major lessons from the passage. Much of this understanding hangs on the term that is often translated “youth” in 1 Samuel 17. The assumption is that David must be a young teen who stays home because of his age. The truth is the term means “under someone else’s authority” or we might say “lived at home”. David was a youth in the sense that he was under his dad’s authority and as the youngest in the family was tasked with running the household and providing supplies for his brothers. The won glory while he labored at home, or at least that was the view many of his contemporaries would take. But David was not a child he was a responsible and capable adult who was tasked with caring for his father’s wealth (flocks) in the wilderness, a very hostile place. The wilderness is a difficult place to survive and in the Bible is connected with learning dependence on God.

David is like Moses and the Israelites who spent years in the wilderness learning to lean on God during the difficult times. The story makes this connection even closer in saying that Goliath defied Israel for forty days a clear reference to the forty years Israel spent in the wilderness. Israel spent forty years in the wilderness learning from God before facing the challenges to their inheritance. David likewise spent time in the wilderness and Israel endured forty days before their inheritance was delivered. This comes out when David is talking with Saul. On one hand Saul’s offer of armor seems like a generous (if misguided) offer by Saul to help David overcome a seemingly invincible foe. But what the encounter between Saul and David is meant to show is one man who has been shaped by living with God and another whose lifestyle of wealth and power have lead him away from God. Saul was the designated king of Israel, it was his responsibility to fight Goliath. He was ignoring his responsibility. Further, when David approaches him about fighting Goliath Saul offers David his royal armor. This is not a magnanimous gesture. The story is implying that Saul trusts in the strength of arms rather than God (Psalm 44:6). Even worse is that had David worn Saul’s armor then most of the troops would have recognized the armor and thought it was Saul fighting Goliath and allowed Saul to claim credit. Saul demonstrates how power corrupts people and leads them from dependence on God to looking out for their own good. By contrast David’s life to this point has been preparing him to trust God. The dangers he has previously overcome through God have helped him to learn to look for God’s help.

David preparation in the wilderness allowed him to learn to trust God. But Saul also had experiences that could have done the same for him. But the difference is that Saul did not allow the circumstances of his life to become a wilderness joinery where he encountered God. The difference is not that David went through difficult times and Saul did not, the difference is that David allowed those difficult times to show him how to rely on God. And when the true difficulty came Saul ran away to protect his own interests and David bravely faced the obstacle trusting in God. Both Saul and David saw the same obstacle, Goliath, the difference in how they approached the situation came down to where their faith rested. It was David who had formed himself in the wilderness learning God’s protection that was able to stand true in the face of difficulty. This is the challenge each of us faces, to allow the circumstances of life to help us learn dependence on God. We all have the opportunity to all the situations of life to prepare us to trust God. David took that time and used it wisely and had the confidence and determination in the face of danger. The question is do we use our time to develop in the wilderness with God so that when the trials of life come we feel confident in the Lord.