We all know the story of David and Goliath. Even unbelievers know the story. How many times have you heard of a matchup in professional sports labeled as a “David versus Goliath” contest?

Every little boy loves this story because it is one of courage, fighting, swords, blood, and death. Every time I read my three-year-old son’s story Bible to him, he asks me to read “the giant one,” and sometimes to read it more than once!

Even though we all know how this conflict went down, I think most of us have overlooked what God actually said about this event:

“All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, ‘Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.’ And David said to the men who stood by him, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ And the people answered him in the same way, ‘So shall it be done to the man who kills him.’”
 — 1 Samuel 17:24-27

So David came to the Israelite camp for the first time and saw Goliath breathing threats against the Israelite army. His response to seeing this was: “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

I do not know about you, but this makes me want to fight. This gets me all kinds of fired up. The entire Israelite army had fled from Goliath in utter fear. The text says they “were much afraid.” But David, the shepherd boy, not impressed by Goliath, was filled with boldness and courage.

So after declining Saul’s personal armor, David then collected five smooth stones from the brook for his sling and approached Goliath:

“Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, ‘I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.’ So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.”
 — 1 Samuel 17:38-40

As a side note, I do not want to miss an important point. I will be honest: through my childhood I always thought David turned down Saul’s weapons because they were too large. That is what all of the flannelgraph storyboards demonstrated to me. But if you read the text, this is not the case at all. The text says that David turned down the weapons because he had not tested them.

This is such a subtle yet valuable lesson for us to learn. David advanced toward Goliath carrying his staff, his pouch, and his sling. These are the tools he knew and was comfortable with. This is a basic fundamental for good self-defense. David understood this. Be wise like David.

In the text we also see the reaction Goliath had to David:

“And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.’”
 — 1 Samuel 17:41-44

The reply David had to the threats of the Philistine was this:

“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
 — 1 Samuel 17:45-47

How often do we have the same courage that David had? How often do we face our enemies with that much confidence?

Goliath is a perfect picture of the culture we are facing. Goliath had the same spiteful God-hating attitude which confronts us. When the big, mean, and haughty culture is bearing down on us, when they ask if we are “dogs that you come to us with a book,” our response should be neither to duck and cover, nor to run and hide. Unlike the Israelite army, we should not retreat.

Our response should be: “Who are you, uncircumcised culture, that you should defy the armies of the living God!”

When the culture spits at us, hurls insults, and threatens us, our response should not be to find a bunker and wait out the storm. Our response should be to confront them in the name of the Lord of hosts, and to let them know they have defied the God of the armies of Israel.

But for what purpose? Why be courageous? As the passage says, “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,” and to declare, “the Lord saves not with sword and spear.”

Far too many Christian men are cowards. Far too many Christian men lack the testicular fortitude to confront our enemies in the name of the Lord of hosts. Christ created all things and will reconcile all things to himself. He has promised to vanquish the works of Satan. This battle belongs to him. We are but tools in his hand to accomplish total victory.

Why are we so afraid? Like the men of Israel, why are we fleeing from the fight? The Lord does not promise that we will win every battle, but he does promise that we will win the war. The end has already been determined: a small shepherd boy understood this, and so should we.