A View from my Window ~  November 23 2023

I’ve been thinking about the Bible story about David and Goliath. David was a young shepherd lad who took care of his family’s sheep. He protected them from lions and wolves, mostly by throwing rocks at them with his slingshot. He was a brave, hard-working lad.

One day his father asked him to take some food and clothing to his older brothers who were serving on the front line in a war with the neighbouring country. He went there, only to find that the countries were busy hurling insults and challenges at each other, the usual precursor to a battle. The other country, inhabited by the Philistines, had a very, very large man, usually referred to as a giant, named Goliath. He was yelling insults at the Israelites about them, and about their God. Because he was so large and scary, no one was willing to fight him. 

David was used to fighting with things bigger than he was, after all, he was the youngest of eight brothers! He said he would go to fight to defend his family and his God. Everyone said he was too small, but they took him to the king to get him to tell David to go home. The king tried to dissuade him, and even got him to try on the king’s own armour, just to show him how he could not fill a real warrior’s shoes (or his breastplate, or helmet, for that matter). David insisted on being allowed to fight, in his own way, in his own clothes. 

David was so small and insignificant that Goliath laughed at him. David was so accurate that he hit Goliath in the middle of his forehead, under his helmet, with one of the stones he carried in a pouch with his slingshot. Then while Goliath was stunned, he ran over and cut off Goliath’s head with Goliath’s own sword! The other Philistines were so scared of this young shepherd boy that they all ran away. 

All of us feel like David at some point, trying to fight someone who is bigger or stronger than us. We sometimes refer to it as trying to fight city hall. But David won.

He won by doing a few simple things:

  1.  He knew quite clearly what it was he wanted to accomplish. He needed to defeat the giant.

  2. He remained true to himself. He wouldn’t use other people’s armour or weapons but relied on the ones he knew best.

  3. He trusted that God would carry him through.

So when you’re up against something that looks bigger than you and unstoppable, remember the story of David!

And if you are the Goliath, remember what happened to him! 


Heather Decker

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