Jesus had many victories all throughout the Bible. One victory that always stands out to me and is one of my favorite Bible stories would be the story of David and Goliath.

Let’s check out 1 Samuel 17. I will be referencing the NIV version.

The story starts off by displaying that the Philistines and the Israelites were at war with one another. After describing the setting of this war, Goliath is introduced. “A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span” (Verse 4). The verses after this kept describing the armor that was seen on him, and I noticed the Bible includes the weight of the bronze armor which I believe was meant to show that Goliath carried some serious strength. He was tall, and mighty in the eyes of the Israelites. But remember, God sees us all as equal. It doesn’t matter how small, or tall you may be, we all have a purpose in God’s eyes.

After the Bible provides the use of imagery by describing Goliath’s physical appearance, Goliath proclaims that the Israelites shall find a man to fight him. If the man wins, then they will become Israelites “subjects”. Now if Goliath wins, the Israelites shall become “subjects” to the Philistines and serve them. As soon as Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were immediately terrified. In this next section of the story, David is now introduced.

Basically to summarize David’s description, he was a shepherd who would tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. David was also the youngest son with three older brothers who were in Saul’s army. David was soon sent to his brothers camp to deliver ten loaves of bread, roasted grain, and ten cheeses for the commander of their unit. The main purpose of David bringing these supplies for his brothers was to see how they have been. When David arrives and asked his brothers how they were, that is when he heard Goliath’s statement about the agreement made between the Israelites and Philistines. A verse that stands out to me when David heard Goliath’s statement would be: “Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear” (Verse 24). This verse shows how great the Israelites fear was towards Goliath, and instead of praying and facing the fear head-on, they ran.

David’s curiosity started to increase after witnessing Goliath’s statement so he started to go around and ask fellow Israelites what was going on. When David’s oldest brother, Eliab heard of this, he became angry that his little brother would involve himself instead of staying where Eliab believes he belongs. What shocks me is what Eliab states to David at the end of verse 28: “…I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle” (Verse 28). If someone said this to me, especially a family member, I would feel beyond hurt from hearing this especially since David’s purpose of coming was to check on his brothers and provide them food. After that hurtful comment Eliab made, David still pursued his curiosity to find out further information on Goliath’s statement. Now when Saul heard of David’s curiosity, Saul believed David was too young to take on a strong and skilled man like Goliath. David responds with a powerful statement to show Saul that with the Lord, he is capable of anything he puts his mind to. “‘The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.’ Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the Lord be with you’” (Verse 37). Instead of David running away in fear like the rest of the Israelites did, David put his trust in the Lord and decided to take on Goliath. Saul decided to dress David in some armor, but David immediately declined since he was not used to wearing armor. All David needed was: “Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine” (Verse 40).

When Goliath saw David, he immediately despised him. Goliath felt offended that David would come to him with sticks so it ended up with David being cursed by Goliath’s gods. Goliath starts the fight by threatening David, and David’s response to this threat has such a powerful appeal because of the words that he spoke: “David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands’” (Verses 45-47). How powerful.

After this powerful statement made by David, the battle begun. As Goliath came towards him, David pulled out a stone from his bag, slung it and struck Goliath on the forehead. Immediately, Goliath fell facedown on the ground.

The biggest lesson that I like to take from the story of David and Goliath would be that our victories are found when we trust in the Lord through every trial, battle, and/or tribulation we may face. David could’ve ran when he saw Goliath just as the Israelites did, but instead he trusted the Lord and was found to be victorious.

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10 NLT).

Amen.