I Samuel 17 is a classic David-and-Goliath story. In fact, it is THE David and Goliath story!
By all accounts, Goliath should have won this fight. He was tall and strong, yes, but even more than that he wore armor and had weapons. He had not only had experience as a warrior, but also confidence (some would say over-confidence.) If Las Vegas bookmakers were laying odds, it might be hard to find anyone willing to bet so much as a nickel on David.
So how did David win? David was a long shot, and it was through his long shot that he carried the day! Because of David's faith in his God, he was willling - even eager - to stand up against the Philistine champion. David realized that the same God who delivered him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear during his shepherding days could now protect him from the hand of the giant. And so God guided the hand that guided a stone at the forehead of the defiant Philistine.
Many people think that David killed Goliath with that stone from his sling. Actually, it would appear that the stone knocked Goliath out, and that David took advantage of his unconsciousness to sprint over and kill Goliath with his own sword (vs. 51). The Philistines flee in shock, and the Israelites mow them down as they retreat.
David's expression of trust and confidence in the Lord remains stirring and compelling even 3000 years later: "But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and 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 very 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 Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand" (vs. 45-47).
Even today, it is still true that the battle belongs to the Lord!
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