1 Samuel 17:16-25: a reflection

16The Philistine came near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 17Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand; and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news.” 19Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the place of the wagons as the army which was going out to the fight shouted for the battle. 21Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. 22David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and said the same words; and David heard them. 24All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were terrified. 25The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He has surely come up to defy Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter, and will make his father’s house tax-free in Israel.”

For forty days, the Philistine giant Goliath has come out morning and evening to defy the armies of Israel, and for forty days no one has dared to face him. When David arrives at the camp, sent by his father with provisions for his brothers, he hears the giant's defiance, and he sees something no one else seems to see. All the men of Israel, when they saw Goliath, fled in terror; but David, hearing the same defiance, is stirred, not by fear, but by indignation that this man dares to defy the armies of the living God.

Notice the difference between how the soldiers saw Goliath and how David saw him. The soldiers saw a giant too big to fight, and measured him against themselves, and were terrified. David saw the same giant, but measured him against God, and was indignant that anyone would defy the living God. The difference was not in the giant, who was the same to both, but in what they measured him against. The soldiers saw through the lens of fear; David saw through the lens of faith.

That difference shapes how we face our own giants. The obstacles and threats before us look one way when we measure them against our own strength, and another way when we measure them against God. Measured against ourselves, our giants loom impossibly large, and we are afraid; measured against the living God, they are cut down to size. How you see your giant depends on what you set it beside. When you face something that seems too big to overcome, do not measure it only against your own strength, and be terrified. Measure it against the living God, as David did, and see it rightly. The giant is the same; faith sees it against a God who is greater.

Lord, for forty days Goliath defied Israel, and all the soldiers who saw him fled in terror; but when David heard the same defiance, he was stirred not by fear but by indignation that anyone would defy the living God. The difference was not in the giant, but in what each measured him against. Shape how I face my own giants. The obstacles and threats before me look one way when I measure them against my own strength, and another way when I measure them against you. Measured against myself, my giants loom impossibly large, and I am afraid; measured against you, the living God, they are cut down to size. When I face something that seems too big to overcome, keep me from measuring it only against my own strength and being terrified. Help me measure it against you, as David did, and see it rightly. The giant is the same; help my faith to see it against a God who is greater than every giant.