Become a Warrior
Three key takeaways
Life is a spiritual conflict, and you need to see it that way. If you think you are living in peacetime, the aim of your Christian life becomes comfort. Recognising real spiritual enemies, and that sin, death and Satan are giants you cannot defeat alone, is the first step towards fighting the good fight of faith.
A big view of God turns fear into faith. Everyone else in Israel saw only the size of Goliath. David saw the living God, and it changed the whole situation. Without a right view of God, awareness of the battle simply leaves you stuck in fear.
Your confidence comes from Jesus' victory and your place in his family. The story is first about Jesus, the champion who has already won the battle that matters most. You are adopted as a son or daughter of God, so you can step into the fight with courage that comes from who he is, not from who you are.
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Fighting is not an optional extra for a Christian. Becoming a spiritual warrior is a core part of following Jesus, and Scripture speaks of fighting the good fight of the faith and of wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers. David's encounter with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 is one of the best-known stories in the Bible, and it offers three steps towards learning how to fight.
a giant worth describing
The Philistines gather their armies at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and they stand on one mountain with Israel on the other, and a valley between. Out of the Philistine camp comes a champion, Goliath of Gath, whose height is six cubits and a span, roughly nine and a half feet. He wears a bronze helmet and a coat of mail weighing about 60 kilograms, with bronze armour on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear is like a weaver's beam, its iron head weighs six or seven kilograms, and a shield bearer goes before him.
His challenge is simple: choose a man to fight him. If the man wins, the Philistines will be Israel's servants. If Goliath wins, Israel will serve them. When Saul and Israel hear this, they are dismayed and greatly afraid. Anyone would be.
The story is unusually long, two or three times the length of most Bible stories, and that seems deliberate. It is not just a Bible story but the whole story of the Bible in miniature. The long, detailed introduction, down to the weight of a spearhead, conveys the reality and the challenge of warfare: an enormous opponent with impregnable armour, lots of fighting experience and an entire army behind him.
Step one: a right view of the world
David has just been filled with the Spirit, as the previous chapter shows. You might expect his next stop to be a worship conference or a Bible study. Instead, he is called into action, and the first thing he does is fight a giant. Receiving the Spirit of God does not remove you from the conflict. It equips you for it.
If you are not prepared for a world with real spiritual enemies and genuine challenges that seem impossible to overcome, you will be in trouble. Picture Alex the Lion (Madagascar) raised in a zoo and when challenged to a fight in the wild, thinks it is going to be a dance-off. He walks in ready to show his moves and gets a kick-in for his trouble. It is easy to treat the Christian life as though you are there to dance and sing, when there are real spiritual enemies who are big and clever.
This is where the story shows itself to be the Bible in miniature. A spiritual enemy of humanity has defeated every person he has come up against. Everyone has been tempted and tripped into sin at his hands. One theologian notes that the coat of mail in the original Hebrew is scale armour, which pictures Goliath as a serpent coming into the land to defy the people of God. That is the story of the Bible: the serpent in the garden defies God and leads God's people into sin, and succeeds. Sin, death and Satan are giants that you cannot hope to defeat by yourself.
People prepare for whatever they expect. A holiday somewhere sunny means swimwear and sun cream. Climbing Everest means hiking boots, layers, energy bars and probably a guide. John Piper has a phrase for this: you cannot know what prayer is for until you know that life is war. Without that, prayer becomes an intercom for calling the butler rather than a walkie-talkie for calling in the troops. If you do not think life is war, you will assume it is peacetime, and the whole aim of your Christian life will be a more comfortable existence. A right view of the world has to come first.
Step two: a right view of god
After eleven verses on how terrifying and undefeatable Goliath is, verse 12 begins: "Now David." It is a wonderful moment. You know at once that God is at work, raising up his servant. David has been sent from home with food for his brothers in the army, and he hears the soldiers say that the king will give great riches, his daughter and freedom for his family's house to the man who kills Goliath. David asks what will be done for that man, and then adds a question no one else has asked: "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
For the first time in the passage, God is brought into the picture. The soldiers are looking at how big Goliath is, how strong, how much better a fighter. David sees the living God. He tells Saul that the Lord, who delivered him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will deliver him from this Philistine. To Goliath he says that the Philistine comes with sword, spear and javelin, but David comes in the name of the Lord of hosts, so that all may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's.
David's worldview is God-centred. He does not need reminding that there is a battle, since it is literally in front of him. But everyone else has forgotten the reality of God. A fear-inducing situation is transformed by David's awareness of him. The Spirit has opened his eyes to spiritual realities that transcend physical size.
David is also refreshingly normal. He is not disinterested in a princess, a tax break and a massive bonus from the king. Godliness does not mean having no interest in good things. But he is not so distracted by them that he forgets the reality of God in the situation. He has desires, and he does not let them draw him away from God's call and purpose.
The two errors are linked. If you do not understand that life is war, you get stuck in a loop of chasing comfort. If you do not have a big view of the God you serve, you get stuck in fear, because there is a Goliath in front of you and you do not know what to do. The reality of sin, the fear of death and the darkness in the world that causes destruction and despair all require the help of God's Spirit to lift your eyes and stir your faith. You need that constantly, from Scripture, from other people and from songs and gatherings, to be reminded that this world is not all there is, and that there is a God who is bigger and rules over it all.
step three: a right view of yourself
David runs quickly towards the battle line, puts his hand in his bag, takes out a stone and slings it. It strikes Goliath on the forehead and he falls on his face. David has no sword in his hand, but he stands over the fallen Philistine, takes Goliath's own sword and cuts off his head. The Philistines flee, and Israel rises with a shout and pursues them.
who is this story about?
Historically and literally, this story is about David. But ask of every passage of Scripture who it is really about, and the answer is ultimately Jesus. There is a serpent in the garden, and a promise that God will raise up someone who will crush his head. David is a picture of that Messiah. The word means anointed one, and David has been anointed with the Spirit. He is God's king, crushing the serpent who is defying the armies of the living God.
Jesus has won this victory on your behalf. David did not have the sword or the javelin. What he had was faith in the purposes of God and the hand of God on his life. Jesus won the victory over sin, death and Satan with faith in the promises of God, willingness to put himself into the battle and, in the end, willingness to die in the place of others, trusting that God would raise him. David looked weak next to Goliath, and Jesus looked weak on the cross. Yet Jesus won through his death and resurrection, and that changes everything.
The story is also about you, but if you skip Jesus, it can become depressing. Reading it as "I am going to become more like David" tends to leave you feeling like a failed version of him: not fearless, not as God-centred, not winning every victory. It becomes a pressure to be an elite Christian. If you are anyone in the story, you are one of the Israelite soldiers, looking at the giant and knowing you cannot win. Unless God raises up a champion, you are stuck. And God has raised up a champion, who has won the victory for you.
Those soldiers went from trembling to chasing the Philistines. Suddenly they are bold. Because Jesus has gone before you, you can have confidence, since he has already defeated the biggest giant. You run behind him as he advances his kingdom and get caught up in his purposes. You win spiritual victories because he won the ultimate one.
whose son are you?
The chapter ends oddly. Saul asks Abner whose son this youth is, and Abner does not know. When David returns with the Philistine's head in his hand, Saul asks, "Whose son are you, young man?" David answers, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." It is a strange way to finish such a climactic story, but the question is persistent. Where did this man come from? Saul, anointed with the Spirit and head and shoulders taller than anyone, is afraid. Everyone is afraid except this one young man. What noble line produces that kingly courage and stature?
The answer is not Jesse. Jesse's other sons do not come across well in the narrative. David is Israel's Messiah because God anointed him with the Spirit and adopted him into his family and purpose. The king of Israel is called the Son of God, and he gets his courage from God himself, who chose and anointed him.
Later, the crowds in Nazareth ask a similar question of Jesus: where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers, and isn't he the carpenter's son? David defeated Goliath, but Jesus, the carpenter's son, defeated the true enemy, not with sword or spear but with sacrificial love and faith in the power and promises of God. Goliath taunted Israel for forty days, and they lost every day. Jesus was tested by the enemy's taunts and temptations for forty days in the wilderness, and he won every day.
would people ask the same about you?
Is there something supernatural, otherworldly and distinct about your life that makes people ask where it came from? Scripture says that by the Spirit you cry, "Abba, Father." Knowing the world you live in and the God you serve is not enough. The third component is knowing who you are in relation to him: he is not only a great and powerful God up there, but he lives in you and empowers you. You have been adopted into his family. You can have kingly courage, not because of your earthly parents, but because your heavenly Father is the King of kings.
Jesus, your older brother, is not ashamed to call you his brother or sister. Knowing who you are in Christ is a crucial ingredient in engaging in the spiritual battle. Without it you lose confidence, and rightly so, because there is not much confidence to be found in who you are. All of your confidence comes from who he is and from what he has said you are.
This does not produce pride, because you know it all came from him. You do not step up thinking you have what it takes. You step up knowing that the Victor lives in you, and that he has already won the battles that matter most. Even if you fall short or fail, it is still fine, because death has been defeated, sin has been taken away, Satan has been bound and you are a son or daughter of God for all eternity.
Few people will be national heroes like David. But every believer should be marked out by something supernatural that forces people to ask a question. One non-Christian neighbour once observed that a group of Christians all had a strange joy and peace that she did not see in her other friends, and she wanted to find out where it came from. Everyone wants boldness, joy and peace. When those come from beyond your personality and your genes, people notice.
at redemption
At Redemption, the story of David and Goliath shapes how we understand our calling. We expect real spiritual conflict, and we keep filling our hearts and minds with a vision of God that is bigger than the challenges of living in London or the fears that get in the way. Our confidence rests on Jesus' victory and on who God says we are. Our hope is that people looking on will see something otherworldly in us: a boldness, joy and peace that points beyond us to the Victor who lives in us.
