1 Samuel 17:36-37 (NKJV) 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”
We have been looking at how understanding the reality of our covenant with God is essential for us to thrive. Now we are looking at how someone who was covenant-minded faced adversity. The story is about David and Goliath. We have seen that Israel was in a battle with their sworn enemies the Philistines. The Philistines, following tradition, sent a champion to challenge Israel’s best fighter to single combat. The winner of that fight would determine the winner of the war. This made perfect sense as it would lead to less bloodshed. The problem for Israel was the size of the Philistine champion. He was literally a giant.
When this 9-foot-tall behemoth came out every morning and issued his challenge, the Israelite army hid in their positions. They knew that none of them, not even King Saul who was the largest man in Israel, could defeat Goliath. This intimidation so paralyzed the Israelite army that they could do nothing. This condition continued until a boy around 18 came to the battlefield to bring provisions for his brothers. Instead of giving in to the intimidation of this giant, he wondered why there was a problem. He uses a term that is key to what we are looking at. He calls the giant an “uncircumcised philistine.”
Circumcision was the sign of the covenant of Abraham. If a man was circumcised, he had a special relationship with God. Any circumcised man could call upon God as his ally. Since Goliath was not circumcised, he had no covenant with God. God was not his ally. Since David knew of and understood his covenant with God, to him this giant was not intimidating at all. He knew how big he was. He knew that he did not possess the strength to defeat him. However, he knew something else that changed everything. If David went out against Goliath, God went with him. With his covenant partner helping him, David could not lose. The size of the opponent was irrelevant.
Just as David saw the circumstance differently than the rest of the Israelite army, we can see our adversity differently than those around us and even than we ourselves have always viewed them. I have a covenant with almighty God. That does not mean I control God. It does not mean that I use it to manipulate God into doing what I want. God initiated the covenant with Abraham, not the other way around. He wants us to realize that, thanks to this relationship, God is with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us, and, in the end, we will be victorious. That is God’s promise to his covenant partners and that is his will, not mine. How he brings about that victory is up to him. I must do my best to hear his direction and walk in his Word. If I do, he will fight for me. The result may not be what I expect, but it will be the best for me and for those around me.
At this point in the story, the King hears what David has been saying. David is brought to the king and before he has a chance to say anything, David says something that, on the surface, seems naïve and arrogant.
1 Samuel 17:32 (NKJV) Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
Saul’s response is predictable.
1 Samuel 17:33 (NKJV) And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
In essence he tells David, “You cannot fight this giant. You are too young, too small and too inexperienced. He could kill you without breaking a sweat.” This is absolutely true as far as David’s ability is concerned. However, David had a revelation that he not only believed but had proven in real life situations. David begins to explain to Saul that when he took care of his father’s sheep, they were attacked at different times by a lion and a bear.
I did some research to see what kind of lion or bear he might have encountered. It turns out that in those days the same kind of lions we find in Africa today were in that part of the world. So the lion he fought was the same kind I have seen on the African Savanah. Likewise, the bears were much the same as we might encounter in north America today. No 16–19-year-old could defeat either. In 1 Samual 17, David says he killed the lion with his bear hands. That is not possible, yet it is exactly what David had done. What he says next is the key.
According to today’s scripture, David did not say that his victories over the lion and the bear proved his great prowess as a warrior. He says, “The Lord delivered me.” In verse 37 we see once again how David describes Goliath. He calls him an uncircumcised philistine. David could not defeat either lion or bear, but a man in covenant with God could. It is interesting to note that David never called Goliath a giant. His focus was not on the size of the problem, but on the covenant that guaranteed success.
It was David’s job to protect the sheep. Because God was David’s covenant partner, God strengthened him and enabled him to do the job. Although it was really Saul’s job to protect Israel, David shows why God eventually made him King. He was willing to take on the responsibility because, “this uncircumcised philistine is no different than a lion or a bear.”
We face lions and bears. There is always the intimidation factor of the giant when we do. The voice that says we are too weak, too small and too incapable will come against us. We will be bombarded with the inevitability of our eventual defeat no matter what kind of battle we are facing. The more we look at what we have and try to build ourselves up in our own ability, the more it will be proven that we cannot possibly survive. What can we do? We can remember that we are in covenant relationship with almighty God because of our salvation in Christ Jesus. We can read the promises of our covenant that Paul says are yes and amen in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20.)
Paul tells us what Abraham did in Romans 4 as he faced an impossible situation. He turned his mind from considering the real impossibility that was against him, and instead considered the promise of God, his covenant partner and ally. He also glorified God for what he had done in his life and simply to remind himself how great his covenant partner really was. We can do the same. All of which reminds us of the one who chose to make covenant with us. It reminds us of who made the promises we read in the Bible, and it reminds us that we have faced other challenges and God has never failed us.
To David, the size of the giant was irrelevant. His lack of experience as a soldier was irrelevant. What was relevant however, was that he had faced unbeatable adversaries, yet God had enabled him to kill them, and it was God who would empower David to defeat Goliath and help deliver the army and nation of Isreal from the philistines. The how and when must be left to God. We must be willing to do things God’s way. In the end He will make the difference because we have a covenant with him.
For Audio Messages, search “Practical Wisdom from the Word of God” or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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