David and Goliath has to be the most famous story of the Old Testament, so naturally, it is also one of the most abused. Culturally, while girls have their Cinderella stories, boys have their David and Goliath stories. Equivocating the two, that ain’t right. But it’s just as bad within much of the church—from flannel graph Sunday school lessons, to FCA pep talks, to Facing the Giants.
A big part of the problem is that we tell this story as though it were just a good story. It is a great story, but it is not a story like you find in Aesop’s Fables or Grim’s Fairy Tales. By this I mean more than that it true, whereas those other stories are make-believe. I mean that this story is part of a bigger story—the story. It is not independent. It doesn’t float. It is not disconnected. The story of David and Goliath is part of a story that has you longing not to be a king, but longing for a king. You’re longing for God’s king. And Saul’s presence has only heightened your desire for God’s king.
No, this story does not come to first encourage you to conquer the giants that oppose you. It comes to you as part of the Israel of God, shaking and trembling as you stand before an unbeatable foe. It comes to you as good news that God has raised up a king and deliverer. But even that story isn’t big enough yet. This story comes to us as we are longing for the promised serpent-crusher who will undo the curse and bring a deliverance by judgment (Genesis 3:15).
We are not David. We need a David. We need a King. We need a second Adam. And then, having Him, entering into His victory, being conformed to His image, being sent out in His name, then we will begin to image Him forth. But you will always fail if you first dare to be a David. You must first behold and look to the true and greater David.
Look to Him! Born in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah. Laid in a manger and lauded by shepherds. Exiled to Egypt because a false king seeks his life. Coming suddenly as the Lord’s anointed to minister to the afflicted. Despised and rejected by men. Defeating our greatest foes not by a display of strength, but by humble weakness beheading the scaly serpent, undoing the curse, triumphing over the grave. God has given Him strength and exalted His horn (1 Samuel 2:10). He rose. He ascended. He rules. He stands supreme over all. And He will return in glory to judge the ends of the earth and deliver us and bring us into the land of eternal rest.
Look to Him! Look to Him! Look to Him! Oh that you had eyes to see Him, the eyes of faith. Do not be jealous like an Eliab. Do not be impressed with a Saul. Do not be intimidated by a Goliath. Look to Christ! Don’t in pride seek to be king. Don’t in folly embrace a king like the nations. Don’t in fear bow before a tyrant king.
Look to the Christ who bowed lowest before God and rose highest over men. Look to He who is God incarnate and man exalted. Look to the one who stood in our place, God’s champion, the in-betweener. Look to the King whom God has raised up for Himself, the King after His own heart. Look to the one whose bruised heel rests triumphant on the crushed head of the dragon. Look to the one who conquers by the cross.
Do not doubt Him. Do not disdain Him. Believe in Him, enter into His kingdom, and know that there is a God in Israel, know that there is a God who saves not by sword or spear. He has saved sinners with a wooden sword stained with His own blood, for the battle is the Lord’s. Look to His King.
No Other Boast 