Step out

So at work we have a weekly prayer/devotional time. Yup, at my job. And I don’t even work for a ministry. Anyway, my boss was talking about David & Goliath and how David stepped out on his own to do God’s will and it really made me stop and think. Thus the following thoughts on a story we all know.

A re-look at an old story. David & Goliath.
The home team: The Israelites.
They weren’t some rag-tag group of untrained men. They were fierce warriors having won against many enemies. Their leader? The first King of Israel, King Saul. Saul, the man the people loved. Saul, who stood a head taller than any man in Isreal.

The opponent: The Philistines.
Honestly, I don’t know a lot about the armies of the Philistine, besides them popping up time and time again in the Old Testament as enemies of Israel. However, I do know that Goliath was not a warrior to be taken for granted. Many scholars believe him to be over 9 feet tall, but even if this is incorrect we do know that, “He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds. He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds.” (1 Sam. 17:5,6)

The Battle:
Each day the two armies lined up and faced each other, and then did nothing but threaten each other. The mighty army of Israelites quaked in fear at Goliath, his taunts and his threats. “When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.” (1 Sam. 17:11) No one would step forward. I wonder if the Philistines knew this would happen. Perhaps they didn’t want to go up against the Israelites as a whole so they called for just the one mightiest Israelite warrior to fight their giant.

The Israelites stood on their mountain for 40 days while the Philistines stood on theirs, no one answering the call. Not even their leader Saul whose place it should have been.

How often are we like this as Christians? We know we are mighty together. We thrive in our Christian friendships, and churches, and groups. We can conquer anything as the army of Christ. But are we willing to step out alone? To expose ourselves? To say, “I’ll leave even my fellow believers behind to defend the name of my God!” As a group we will fight, but can we stand alone?

David did.

The hero:
Enter David. Too young to even be part of the army. He was only there to bring food to his brothers. He got there just in time to see the shouting match. Each day the armies would line up to meet each other. The Israelites went with, “shouts and battle cries” and after seeing Goliath again “began to run away in fright”. (1 Sam. 17:20, 24)

For 40 days this had happened, the Israelites shouted and made noise, tried to intimidate and then ran away in fear.

How like us this is! We will gather together and shout for the Lord, we will rev each other up, and we will think we are ready for the battle— then something bigger than we had planned on gets in our way we run back in fear!

Not David.

David, just a young teenager, has a stunning response to Goliath and to his fellow Israelites, “Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Sam. 17:26) Who is this guy? This giant? That thinks he can defy us, God’s people?

Makes me think of the many promises God has given us.

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” Rom. 8:31

“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Luke 10:19


David knew that he could take Goliath. Maybe partly it was a young boy's bravado, but David also knew who he was fighting for and he wasn’t afraid to fight alone.

Evidence that David had confidence in God and not himself is shown when he talks King Saul into letting him fight. “The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” So, Saul let him go.

We know the story, Saul tried to give David his armor, but it didn’t fit, so David faced the mightiest warrior of the Philistine armies with a sling and five smooth stones.

One young shepherd alone, against a giant.

Even when Goliath tries to scare him David doesn’t back down, doesn’t look towards the other Israelites for help, he doesn’t try to conquer Goliath in his own strength. “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you!”

Do we ever do this? Do we face the temptations, the trails, and the enemies to our faith with this kind of daring? Even if we have to face it without the security blanket of other Christians? We must have the confidence to face what is taunting us and say with nothing more than God at our back, “I will fight you!! In the name of the Lord of Heaven’s today the Lord will conquer you!”

If we don’t than we’ll just flee back to our tents, to our comfortable places of worship, to our prayer groups, to the resting army and just prepare for the next day’s useless shouting match.

In the end David knocked down his giant with a stone. And after not fitting into Saul’s armor he had the strength to lift Goliath’s sword and cut off the head of his enemy. Alone in the world’s eyes, but really he did it with God at his side.

After David’s boldness the Israelites got up and chased after the Philistines, conquering them. When King Saul saw this he asked, “Whose son is this young man?” (1 Sam. 17:55).

I want to be someone that inspires other Christians to action. I want to be someone who makes the kings of this culture stop and say, “Who is this?”

There is much to be said in favor of the body of Christ, the army of the Lord. However, sometimes it takes a single person stepping out of the comfort of the group and standing alone for God to make a difference. I mean look at Moses, Gideon, Deborah, David and many others. They stepped up when no one else would.

“After removing Saul, [God] made David their king. He testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Acts 13:22


My desire is to me a woman after God’s own heart, to do everything He wants me to… even if I have to do it alone.