Tested in Battle

1 Samuel 17

Introduction. Following David’s anointing as the future king of Israel in chapter sixteen, chapter seventeen of 1 Samuel provides an update on Israel’s enemy, the Philistines. There is a face-off between the army of Israel and the army of Philistines. Unexpectedly, a 9’9” giant challenges any man of Israel to a duel to decide the fate of their people: the losers must become servants to the victors. In this study in David’s life we learn that after God calls us, and after he anoints us with the Holy Spirit, there is still a need to be prepared by God for our calling. How does God prepare us? By sending us to war. First, there are small battles, then later, bigger battles. Step by step, lesson-by-lesson, God transforms our character, heals our hearts, teaches us to discern the lies of the enemy, and leads us in his ways. Through every season of life he prepares us to fight battles for him. We are tested in battle.

Life is war. There is an enemy. Prayer is our communication system with our commander in chief. Our warfare is spiritual, but the battles are fought on the battlefield of life. The enemy’s weapons are lies and fear. If he can intimidate us, deceive us, and get us to believe his lies, he will wound us, even neutralize us and take us out of the battle. Our weapons are truth, intimacy with God, friendship with a few carefully selected brothers and sisters, and faith in God’s character. We learn to exercise these weapons by being led into battle by God himself. Prayer and worship are vital for keeping us in close touch with our leader, the Lord Jesus.

1 Samuel 17 is a true story from the life of David, a story of warfare and battle. It is a true story, but it is also an allegory of how God trains us to be men and women of faith. This story from the life David reminds us that life is war and the battle is serious. The stakes are high. Wrong choices have serious consequences.

Excerpts From God’s Word. “A Philistine warrior named Goliath came out of the ranks of the Philistines to face the armies of Israel. He stood nine feet, nine inches tall. Goliath was his name. Goliath defied the men of Israel to fight him: “I challenge the cowards of Israel this day! Come out and fight, like a man! Who dares take my challenge? Your God can’t help you!” Saul and his men were filled with fear and were distraught in spirit when they heard the giant’s challenge.

On one of his frequent visits to take food and supplies to his brothers, David heard the men talking about Goliath: “Have you ever seen or heard any thing like this ogre openly and defiantly challenging Israel? Did you know King Saul is offering a huge reward to any man who kills him?” David was stirred as he listened to the men. He said to his brothers, “Who does this lying lout think he is? Does he think he can get away with taunting the Living God?”

Later, when his brother Eliab challenged him about what he was saying, David responded, “Isn’t God greater than this unrighteous brute? Isn’t there anyone who will stand up for God?”

When Saul heard that David was ready to fight Goliath, he brought David before him. When he was standing before King Saul, David again was incensed that no one would fight Goliath. He said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail him because of fear. I will go and fight this pagan. I have fought lions and bears and defeated them, so I know God will be with me now. He will give me victory over this Philistine.”

When it came time for the showdown with Goliath, David refused to wear Saul’s armor. “I can’t move with all this stuff on me. It doesn’t fit, and besides, I don’t fight the way you do.”

David went out to fight the giant with his shepherd’s staff, a few water-worn stones and a slingshot. It wasn’t much, but David went with faith in God in his heart and the name of the Lord on his lips. When Goliath saw that David came out to fight him unarmed, he cursed David’s God and shouted, “Come to me little boy, and I will give your flesh to the vultures and your bones to the jackals.” Then David ran at goliath, head on, without fear. The fight didn’t last long. David loaded his slingshot and let fly. The stone flew straight and crushed Goliath’s skull. He sank to the ground like a bag of rocks, and the fight was over before it started. David finished him off by cutting off Goliath’s head with his own sword. That day everyone knew the Lord does not need great weapons and large armies to rescue his people, but a man or woman who will believe in God and act in faith.”

Lessons For Prayer and Personal Application.

David didn’t look for a fight, but was ready when it came his way. Why was he prepared to fight the giant? He knew God. He knew God’s character. He knew who he was to God. He knew God’s voice. He knew God’s ways. How did David know God so well? He spent time with God. He cultivated a private life of intimacy, alone with the Lord. David was intentional in his relationship with God. He recorded his prayers. He wrote songs of worship. He rose early each morning to spend time with the Lord. David said to the Lord, “Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.” (Psalm 5:3 The Message)

He focused on the character of God. David wrote these words in one difficult season of his life. “For his anger is but for a moment, his favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5 NKJ)

He was honest with God about his fears and his feelings, but he did not harbor hurt or unbelief in his heart. David grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God in every circumstance he faced. He paid attention to his heart, not to dwell on negative emotions, but to keep his heart free from sin. David embraced his anger but did not let it control him. He wrote in Psalm 4:4, “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.”

There are levels of warfare. In 1 Samuel 17:36, David said, “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them…” God allows us to face different levels of the same type of warfare to develop spiritual authority in our lives. Each new experience of spiritual warfare is intended by God to teach us new lessons about faith and discernment. We gain new levels of authority through each new level of warfare. We grow to new levels of faith through discerning the enemy’s lies and accusations against the character of God, against our standing in Christ, and against others who follow Jesus.

If the enemy can turn our energy and attention against others who have hurt or disappointed us, he can divert us from the purposes of God for our lives. There is no other way to learn the lessons he wants to teach us. Don’t run from the battle. Instead, press into God for grace to respond to others and to the challenge at hand with grace and wisdom. One way of running from the battle is to blame others for our problems. The “blame game” never works. We are not responsible for the choices others make, but we are responsible for our own choices. We are not responsible for other people, but we are responsible to God.

David served his brothers while he fought his nation’s enemy. Deep friendship does not occur without warfare. The battles we fight are often in relationship to those we love and are close to. Though David stood up to his brother Eliab when he challenged him, David did not fight his brother. He kept his eye on the real enemy. Don’t fight those who challenge you. Let God fight those battles for you. Save your energy to fight Satan and his lies. The real enemy for David was Goliath, and David knew that. While others listened to Goliath’s lies and were filled with fear, David kept his heart free of fear by focusing on the Lord’s goodness.

David understood that life is war. He wrote is Psalm 24:8, “Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the lord mighty in battle.” Life is war because the exercise of faith and laying hold of the promises of God for this life and for eternity is a fight. Satan aims to make our life empty and without purpose. He targets our faith for destruction. David wrote in Psalm 18:34, “He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” Again David declared, “Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident…For in the time of trouble he shall hide me…he shall set me high upon a rock…my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me…” (Psalm 27:5-6) NKJV)

When Jesus taught us to pray, he said to pray, “Your kingdom come…” Prayer is about advancing the kingdom of God on earth. We are welcome and encouraged to talk to God openly as “soldiers in the field,” but we must never forget that “prayer is about soldiers seeking comfort, wisdom, and direction…” (Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper, page 41ff) Life is war, but the ultimate victory is certain. What is not certain is our part in the victory. We can enter into the victory by learning to do spiritual warfare. We learn about spiritual warfare through the battles God leads us into. His intention is to strengthen us, to build character in us, character traits of perseverance, endurance, discernment, faith, and courage.

David was a man under authority. It says in 1 Samuel 17:20, “…David took the things and went as Jesse commanded him.” David was under his father’s authority and he was under Saul’s authority. Men and women who are under authority learn how to exercise authority. By learning to submit to others, we learn to exercise authority properly. Submission to authority doesn’t mean we don’t think for ourselves. Nor does it mean we surrender responsibility for what God calls us to do. But it does mean we align ourselves with what God is doing through our leaders and the “tribe” we are called to be part of. Every leader, every believer, needs to belong, to be part of a spiritual family.

David learned not to listen to the lies of the enemy. He saw Goliath for what he was: a pagan, an uncircumcised Philistine, and a perverter of truth. We can always tell when we are listening to the lies of the enemy: it results in hopelessness in our hearts and accusations against God and others. The enemy’s lies are intended to impress us, to gain a foothold in our thought patterns, and to strike fear in our hearts. In 1 Samuel 17:44, Goliath said, “Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and beasts of the field.” Not true! David responded to Goliath by speaking truth to him: “You come to me with a sword and a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, whom you have defied.”

David said in Psalm 86:11, “I will walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” David learned not to fear what others said, but to fear the Lord and to receive comfort and strength from his truth. Another time David declared that “His truth” would be a shield and defended to him (Psalm 91:4).

Goliath is called a “champion” in verse 4 of chapter 17. The word literally means “the man between the two.” Goliath was a self-appointed intercessor, a man who tried to stand between the two armies. He was contending for a role that did not belong to him. When you listen to the enemy he comes between you and the Lord, and between you and your friends and family. Satan is a false intercessor. Don’t listen to him. Turn instead to Jesus. Jesus is the true intercessor. He is interceding for us continually at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Hebrews 7:25). Turn to Jesus: carry your burdens, your worries, and your fears to him in prayer and he will give you grace and help in your time of need. He will not give the false comfort Satan offers, but true comfort.

David defeated the enemy with the simple weapons God had put in his hand. He went out to do battle against Goliath with five smooth stones, his sling and his staff. More importantly, he went armed with the name of the Lord. Likewise, our weapons for fighting spiritual battles are simple. The victory has already been won for us at the cross. Our part is to receive his victory over the enemy. Living victoriously is not a matter of methods or formula’s, but of receiving the Father’s love and grace in childlike faith. We do that by coming to him each day, opening our hearts to him and receiving from him what we need today to live in victoriously. David declared to Goliath, “…the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.”

Illustration. Fear has run in my mother’s side of our family for generations. I trace it back to our Norwegian roots. Since King Olaf marched through Norway in the 11th century, imposing Christianity on the people at the threat of death if the did not “convert,” fear has been a dominant spiritual stronghold in the land of Norway. I have known many great Norwegian leaders who have been plagued with fear.

I became aware of fear in my own life when I was in high school. I was unusually susceptible to worry and anxiety. It plagued me through university and young adulthood. But only when I asked the Lord to show me where the fear came from, did I begin to learn about the “fear factor” in my ancestry. I faced my fears and took responsibility for them. Though I was susceptible because of my background and my family genes, I accepted personal responsibility. I didn’t want to waste time blaming my mother or my Norwegian heritage for my tendency toward fear and insecurity. By taking responsibility, and looking to the Lord for help, I learned to draw on the Lord’s strength to overcome fear and insecurity.

But that did not mean I was delivered from the temptation to fear. In fact, after a few years I realized that God was intentionally took me through various experiences to teach me not to fear, to trust his character and his personal word to my heart. I learned to be a man of courage and faith by fighting spiritual battles against fear.

My journey through life has been one of discovery of God as my loving father. He has shown me in countless ways that he is not a ruthless king with a sword, forcing me to obey him, but a loving father, seeking to win my trust and love.

Prayer of Response. “Dear Father in heaven, thank you for conquering the lies of the enemy on my behalf. Thank you that I do not have to run from hard situations, but that I can overcome them through you. Thank you for the weapons of warfare you have put in my hands: your grace, your victory on the cross, and your word. Thank you for teaching me to face my fears. Thank you for freedom from blaming others.

And thank you for teaching me to fight spiritual battles, to take hold of the victory you have won for me on the cross. Thank you that you do not impose victory on me, but you teach me to be victorious, through your abiding love and grace.

Thank you that you have given me the gift of righteousness and an abundance of grace that I might reign in life in Christ Jesus. I ask you to remind me each day to receive from you your empowering grace and the gift of righteousness that is mine in Christ. I refuse the lies of the enemy. Teach me to discern his lies when they are hurled at me, just as Goliath lied to David and the men and women of Israel. You are the truth I believe! I love your, Lord. In Jesus mighty, victorious name, amen.”