Morning Devotional

July 1, 2003

“David and Goliath”  

by Don Emmitte

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David shouted in reply, "You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD Almighty--the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the LORD will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone will know that the LORD does not need weapons to rescue his people. It is his battle, not ours. The LORD will give you to us!" As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd's bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it from his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face downward to the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine giant with only a stone and sling. And since he had no sword, he ran over and pulled Goliath's sword from its sheath. David used it to kill the giant and cut off his head. (1 Samuel 17:45-51 NLV).

The story of David and his encounter with the giant, Goliath, is familiar to nearly everyone who has read the Bible. I have used the story many times in sermons and devotionals. In fact, it may be one of the most used subjects of the Old Testament. Most of us know the exact number of stones that David selected from the brook for his sling. We are aware that David went into battle armed with five smooth stones and a sling, and that he only needed to use one of those stones to hit Goliath between the eyes and cause him to fall to the earth, dead. 

We know exactly how David killed the giant, but we sometimes forget the why. David didn’t go out and fight the giant so he could get TV coverage and make personal appearances on all of the talk shows. He didn’t capitalize his exploit to endorse a line of stones and slingshots so that he might get rich. He didn’t slay Goliath so that people would point to him and exclaim in tones of admiration, “Look, there’s the guy who defeated Goliath in battle!”  

David summoned up every ounce of his courage to encounter Goliath in battle so that he might prove to everyone that there was a God in Israel. David believed that the Lord would enable him to triumph and be shown as the great God that he truly is. All that David did, he did for God’s glory. He sought no credit for himself, but only sought to bring attention to The One True God who had guided the stone and made it possible for him to bring the giant down.  

Everything we do should be for the purpose of promoting God’s interests and not our own. Our job is to let the people around us know that God is in our midst, that He is for us, and that He will not permit any problem, no matter how gigantic, to prevail against us. You may not be facing a giant today. Your day may be relatively routine, but when you do everything for God’s glory it can be a truly great day! I do hope you will have a GREAT day!