Just One Story III: The Bigger They Are . . .

. . . the harder they fall. I have not studied the source of that old saying, but it may easily have come from the story of David and Goliath. No matter its origins, it sums up one of God’s lessons in the story of David and Goliath.

    Goliath was a big man and he was heavily armored and heavily armed. He was approximately nine feet tall, wore a bronze helmet, a coat of mail that weighed almost 200 pounds, and had bronze armor on his legs. He carried a bronze javelin and a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam. Just how big a weaver’s beam was we don’t know, but it had to be big to support a spearhead that weighed almost two pounds. As easy as it is to criticize the Israelite army for being afraid of him, they had good reason to be afraid. Because of his size, Goliath was accustomed to the fear he inspired in others. It is unlikely he had ever fought a one-on-one battle once he “had his size” as they used to say. Because of this he had a sense of invincibility. When David came out to challenge him, he “disdained” David as an unworthy opponent. He did not take David seriously. He logically believed that his size, his armor, and his weapons were sufficient to deal with any individual enemy, much less a young man. He feared no man and believed in his own size, strength, and ability.

    David, on the other hand, knew that this was not his battle, but the Lord’s. David did not trust in his own ability, strength, or experience. He trusted in the power and promises of God. He knew what God had done for His people; he knew what God had done for him; he knew what God would do on that occasion. He had complete faith and confidence in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Notice the difference in their attitudes when they came together for the battle. Goliath said, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? . . . Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” David responded,

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. 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, 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. (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

David’s entire response glorified God. David trusted in the Lord not in his skill, experience, armor, or weapons. Because David was young and small he understood that he could not kill a giant Philistine, but God could and would if he had faith in Him. One of the basic axioms of Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step groups is that one’s addictions are too big to defeat alone and that only by relying on God can those additions be conquered. AA’s historic success is a result of this great truth. As long as we depend on our own strength defeat is inevitable as it was for Goliath, but as long as we put our faith in God, He will defeat our biggest enemies.

May “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 2:11)”