Lessons from David: How to Be a Giant Killer (5 page)

At one time, my brother owned a small mechanical shop. He was behind on some bills and his creditors called him, asking for money. One fellow in particular just got mean and vicious and tried to intimidate him. Basically, my brother told him, “Look, here’s the way I do it. I put everybody’s name in a hat. Then I just draw names out and pay bills until I run out of money. I just haven’t picked your name out of the hat yet.”

The guy snarled, “Well, I want my money!”

My brother responded, “If you keep bothering me, I’m going to take your name out of the hat!” The guy stopped calling.

Jesse didn’t even put David’s name in the hat. He didn’t think enough of his youngest son to bring him before the prophet. But Samuel said, “He must be the one! Therefore, none of us are going to sit down until David comes.”

God Is Looking

Back then, they couldn’t just call David on his cell phone. There were no cars to drive out to the pasture to get him. David may have been quite a way off in the wilderness, off somewhere keeping the sheep. It must have taken someone traveling on foot round-trip at least an hour to bring David back. So when Samuel said, “None of us will sit down until he comes,” it put a real urgency upon the messenger to retrieve David as quickly as possible. It was a pain for all of them to just stand there until David came.

This also showed a tremendous amount of honor and respect. By this time, Samuel had recognized that David was the chosen one, regardless of what he might look like. The prophet was going by the Word of the Lord in honoring David.

Out in the wilderness, David knew what was happening. He knew that the prophet was there to anoint a king. He knew that his seven older brothers were brought in as candidates, while he was left out in the field with the sheep. A lesser, more insecure person would have been crying and bellyaching. They would have said, “God, I didn’t even get a chance!”

We don’t know exactly what David was doing, but there’s no indication in the Word that he was whining, griping, or complaining. In fact, if he had done that, God would never have selected him anyway. Even though David was initially excluded, God passed by all the others and had them stand until he arrived. God considered, chose, and honored David, the one whom no one else considered. God looked on David’s heart. He passed over everyone else to find David!

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

The word “perfect” in this verse doesn’t mean sinless or problem free. It means someone whose heart is fully committed, completely belonging to the Lord; someone who is seeking God with their whole heart. God passed over an entire nation, seven older brothers—everybody—to find David. Then He made them stand until David came. The Lord put honor, favor, and blessing upon David because David had put honor, favor, and blessing upon the Lord.

“Here I Am!”

God wants to do the same for you. You don’t have to be a silver vessel, just a surrendered one. It’s not your ability; it’s your availability God is interested in. God is looking for someone who will make Him first in their life. Your response to the Lord right now ought to be, “Look no further! Here I am! I’m turning my life over to You with my whole heart.” If you will genuinely do that, you’ll be promoted. You’ll see God’s blessing come to pass in your life.

The Bible describes David’s appearance as “ruddy” (1 Samuel 16:12). This word literally means “red.” Scholars aren’t sure whether this means that David was redheaded or just had a red complexion. Either way, such an appearance would certainly be unusual for a Jew. The word “ruddy” also has the connotation that he was pampered, what we would call a “Mama’s Boy” today. He was also…

Withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to.

These aren’t necessarily bad traits or characteristics, but they aren’t what you would expect in a warrior-king. It certainly wasn’t what Samuel was expecting at the beginning. But God told him, “Don’t look on the outward appearance. Look on his heart.” God chose David, despite the fact that in the natural he didn’t have the height, stature, build, or looks one would expect of a king. God chose him because of his heart.

Regardless of what your limitations are in the natural, God looks at your heart. Even if your body is handicapped, God isn’t looking at that. He’s looking at your heart. Your heart isn’t handicapped unless you choose to let it be that way. You can choose God. You can seek Him with a perfect heart. And if you do, He’ll raise you up and do miracles in your life just as He did for David.

Be Like David

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

Later in 1 Samuel 16, the Word goes on to say that David was chosen out of all the Israelites to come and play his harp before Saul because he was a valiant man and God was with him (1 Samuel 16:18). The one who recommended David to Saul was one of his servants. They were looking for someone who could play the harp and alleviate the torment Saul was experiencing from an evil spirit that was plaguing him. In the midst of this search, David’s name just happened to be brought up. Coincidence? I don’t think so!

Personally, I believe Samuel anointed David in secret because he was afraid of what Saul might do. But the principle is true: Once you have begun to seek the Lord and He releases His anointing on your life, you are like a cork. They could put you on the bottom of a lake, but you will still rise to the surface. It doesn’t matter what they do. You’re like cream—always rising to the top!

If you seek God with your whole heart, the eyes of the Lord will find you (2 Chronicles 16:9). He’s looking for a person like that. He’ll pass over everybody in your nation, state, and city just to find you. Once He locates you and releases His power into your life, He’ll cause you to be drawn to the top. God will release His blessing through you into this world. It’s just a matter of time. This is exactly what happened with David.

Don’t be like Saul. He was a man pleaser, motivated by pride and arrogance. Since he was afraid of people, he was always trying to please them. This caused him to disobey God and say, “I’m not going to do it Your way. My way is better!” Saul refused to accept responsibility and became stubborn and rebellious instead. Humble yourself and accept responsibility. Come to the end of yourself and the beginning of God.

Be like David. Prepare your heart to seek the Lord. He is not looking for people with talent, education, or natural abilities. He’s not against such people, but neither is He for them. What God is looking for is a heart that seeks after Him. God chooses people based on their heart. If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you will be filled (Matthew 5:6). You won’t only be satisfied and have your needs met, but you’ll also be filled with the power, presence, and provision of God. He will pour you out and make you a blessing to other people. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

Prepare Your Heart

If you are born again, God gave you a perfect heart. Quit walking in the vanity of your own wisdom and embrace the wisdom of God. Renew your mind to His Word so you can see yourself the way He sees you. Understand the riches He placed within your born-again spirit and how you can experience them day-by-day.

As a brother and fellow follower of God, I haven’t yet arrived, but I have left. God has spoken these things into my life in a powerful way. I have prepared my heart to seek Him and be fully committed to Him. As you can tell, I’m not the most qualified person to do what I do. I’m a hick from Texas who dropped out of college after only six months. But the Lord has used me to raise up multiple Bible schools all around the world to train ministers and equip believers. In the natural, it doesn’t make sense. But God saw my heart, not my education (or lack thereof). You can have thirty-two degrees and still be frozen!

I’m certainly not the best sounding or best looking person. Yet the Lord has me preach and teach His Word all around the world, both on radio and television. He could have easily chosen someone who sounded better, looked better, or dressed better. I really don’t have a corner on anything in the natural. I have just sought the Lord with my whole heart and He has blessed me. He has used me, and I’m thrilled about that!

The Lord has a plan, a destiny, for you. As you seek Him with your whole heart, you’ll find yourself walking in that plan more and more. I pray that you will let the Holy Spirit burn these truths into your heart so you will be a man (or woman) after God’s heart too!

Chapter 6
Seeing Through the Covenant

David was anointed to be king in secret. Nobody knew he was king yet except his family and Samuel, and they were hiding it. If the present king, Saul, had heard this news, he would have killed them all. Samuel acknowledged this in 1 Samuel 16:2.

David had been playing the harp in the court of Saul, however Saul didn’t know who David was. When the Philistines came down to fight, Saul went off to battle and sent David home. While he was home, David went back to keeping his father’s sheep. A proud person wouldn’t have been able to do this. David was the anointed and rightful king, but he was tending his father’s sheep just like he had done before all this happened. Another characteristic of humility is patience, while impatience is a sure sign of arrogance and self-reliance.

Jesse’s three oldest sons, Eliab, Shammah, and Abinadab, were in the army, so they went with Saul to battle. But as they went out to battle, a champion of the Philistines, a giant named Goliath, came out and challenged the armies of Israel.

The Philistine Champion

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Most scholars believe that Goliath stood at least nine feet nine inches tall. Some even say he may have been as tall as thirteen feet!

And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

Scholars estimate that the coat of mail that Goliath wore weighed about 125 pounds! The giant’s armor alone probably weighed more than David!

And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

These scholars also estimate that Goliath’s spearhead weighed fifteen pounds. The actual shaft of his spear must have looked like a rounded off 4x4 post. It had to have quite a bit of weight in order to balance out the heavy spearhead. If the head was fifteen pounds and the shaft was another fifteen pounds to balance it out, then his spear weighed about thirty pounds. Can you imagine how hard it would be to throw a thirty-pound spear?

This is an indication of Goliath’s size and strength. He wasn’t tall and skinny. He was a well-proportioned, muscular giant of a man. In the natural realm, nobody could compete with him because he was easily their superior.

“What Is the Reward?”

And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

The Israelites actually hid themselves behind rocks and in dens and caves. Among the entire nation of Israel, there wasn’t a single person willing to go up against this giant Goliath.

David’s father called him while he was keeping the sheep. He gave him some bread and cheese, and said, “Take this to your brothers and to the captain over them in the army. Find out how they’re doing and bring me back word” (1 Samuel 17:17-18). Back then, they didn’t have newspapers, radio, television, or Internet for news broadcasts. If you wanted to find out what was happening to your children who were out fighting in a battle, you had to send someone to get a first-hand report. So Jesse sent his youngest son David to do this.

As David arrived at the Israelite camp to see his brothers, the armies lined up as Goliath, this Philistine champion, issued his challenge once again. Then he cursed the Israelites and called them cowards as they fled from before him (1 Samuel 17:23-24). After David saw and heard these things, he asked, “What will be done for the man who kills this giant and takes away our reproach?” Instead of running away and being afraid like everybody else, David was saying, “This guy needs to be stopped! What are they promising the fellow who will go out and defeat this giant?”

The Right Way to Think

Remember, David was still a youth at this time. Most scholars believe he was around seventeen years old when he was anointed to be king. Therefore, he was probably eighteen or nineteen at the time he heard Goliath’s challenge. He certainly wasn’t very old. All of the seasoned men of war were bigger, stronger, and more experienced than David, yet they were standing around, full of fear. They were all shaking in their boots, but David challenged them saying, “What right does this man have to say these kinds of things?”