“I’m Coming
Against You
In the Name Of The
Lord”
Saul replied, "You aren't
able to go out there and fight that Philistine. You are too young. He's been a
fighting man ever since he was a boy."
But David said to Saul,
"I've been taking care of my father's sheep. Sometimes a lion or a bear
would come and carry off a sheep from the flock. Then I would go after it and
hit it. I would save the sheep it was carrying in its mouth. If it turned
around to attack me, I would grab hold of its hair. I would strike it down and
kill it. In fact, I've killed both a lion and a bear. I'll do the same thing to
this Philistine. He isn't even circumcised. He has dared the armies of the
living God to fight him.
"The Lord saved me from the
paw of the lion. He saved me from the paw of the bear. And he'll save me from
the powerful hand of this Philistine too."
Saul said to David, "Go.
And may the Lord be with you."
Then Saul dressed David in his
own military clothes. He put a coat of armor on him. He put a bronze helmet on
his head. David put on Saul's sword over his clothes. He walked around for a
while in all of that armor because he wasn't used to it.
“I can't go out there in
all of this armor," he said to Saul. "I'm not used to it." So he
took it off.
Then David picked up his wooden
staff. He went down to a stream and chose five smooth stones. He put them in
the pocket of his shepherd's bag. Then he took his sling in his hand and
approached Goliath.
At that same time, the
Philistine kept coming closer to David. The man who was carrying Goliath's
shield walked along in front of him.
Goliath looked David over. He
saw how young he was. He also saw how tanned and handsome he was. And he hated
him. He said to David, "Why are you coming at me with sticks? Do you think
I'm only a dog?" The Philistine called down curses on David in the name of
his god. "Come over here," he said. "I'll feed your body to the
birds of the air! I'll feed it to the wild animals!"
David said to Goliath, "You
are coming to fight against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin. But I'm
coming against you in the name of the Lord who rules over all. He is the God of
the armies of
"This very day the Lord
will hand you over to me. I'll strike you down. I'll cut your head off. This
very day I'll feed the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air.
I'll feed them to the wild animals. Then the whole world will know there is a
God in
"The Lord doesn't save by
using a sword or a spear. And everyone who is here will know it. The battle
belongs to the Lord. He will hand all of you over to us."
As the Philistine moved closer
to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet him. He reached
into his bag. He took out a stone. He put it in his
sling. He slung it at Goliath. The stone hit him on the forehead and sank into
it. He fell to the ground on his face.
So David won the fight against
Goliath with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine down and killed him.
He did it without even using a sword.
1 Samuel 17:33-50
The story of David and Goliath
is one we can tell our children, and their children. It is a story of God’s
power and might. It is a story of insurmountable odds. It is a miracle, just
like God performs in our own lives.
Our Daily Bread –