This morning, my Bible plan took me to 1Samuel 17. When I realised it was the well-known account of David and Goliath, I smiled, thinking it a strange reading for Good Friday.
This story always transports me back to my Sunday School days, to colouring pages I couldn’t complete without straying outside the lines, and to an old song about David’s sling going round and round and round and round, accompanied by actions. It also reminds me of a teacher friend who loved acting out stories with her class. She stood on a table pretending to be goliath, while urging her pupils to shout and taunt. I bet they enjoyed that! Then, when the child chosen to be David slung his stone from an imaginary sling, she jumped down from the table, landing on the floor with an almighty thud, probably scaring the children and making poor little David think he really had killed his teacher.
David was the youngest of a troop of boys, and as the least important member of the family, it fell to him to care for his father’s sheep, while three of his older brothers joined King Saul’s army in battle against Israel’s age-old enemy the Philistines. Wondering how things were going on the front lines, dad Jesse sent David with food for his brothers and their captain. However, when David reached the army, he discovered there was a problem. Every time the two armies faced each other to fight, the Philistines put forward their strongest warrior, a giant of a man called Goliath, who demanded a one-on-one duel with any Israelite willing to accept his challenge. Since no one was, this left the battle in a state of stalemate, with the Israelites retreating, only for the same events to be repeated the following day.
Today, as I re-read 1Samuel 17, I was struck by the question Saul’s men asked David. “Have you seen the giant?” (1Samuel 25A NLT). Considering that Goliath was over nine feet tall, this seems like a crazy question. David couldn’t have missed him! He’d just been listening to his taunts!
As I pondered this question, “Have you seen the giant?” I thought about Good Friday. Just as David was brave enough to approach King Saul and say, “Don’t worry about this Philistine. I’ll go fight him.” (1Samuel 17:32, I can imagine Jesus turning to his Father in heaven when Adam and Eve sinned and the enemy seemed to have taken the upper hand, and saying, “Don’t worry, Father. I’ll go fight him.”
As we look around the world today, we see sin looming larger than a nine-foot giant. Everywhere we turn, there is chaos, poverty, and disaster. People are homeless and afraid. Addictions and their consequences run rampant. Children are growing up without hearing about Jesus, and the elderly are treated with disrespect. Just two years ago, we remembered the Lord’s resurrection in the middle of a worldwide lockdown because of COVID-19. Families were prohibited from meeting together, and churches closed. The world was a mess of fear and panic, as rumours and conspiracies ran rampant. Was this the end? Would life ever be normal again?
I remember that strange Easter of 2020, sitting alone on my garden swing, thinking about the sin and suffering that made it necessary for Jesus to give his life, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude. I was grateful that he loved me personally enough to die, despite the many ways I continued to let him down. I was thankful for the way he brings down giants in my life that would otherwise seem insurmountable. Despite the state of the world, there was still plenty to celebrate, and a good reason to rejoice.
When Jesus hung on the cross, his final words were, “it is finished.” (John 19:30 NLT). What a statement! But what did it mean? I believe he was telling us that the giant had been slain. Just as Goliath defied the Israelite army, Satan has attempted to interfere with God’s good plans from the creation of the world. He enticed Eve to eat the fruit in the Garden. He tried to wipe out the nation of Israel when Moses was born, and then later during the time of Queen Esther, all to stop the messiah from coming. Yet God’s plans cannot be thwarted. His promises are yes and amen. Right at the point when sin entered the world, he promised us a Saviour who would crush Satan’s head, (Genesis 3: 15), And that’s what happened when the perfect, sinless Son of God gave up his life, then rose again three days later. He conquered death once and for all, because death was the ultimate punishment for sin. Therefore, in overcoming death, he defeated sin and broke the curse of the fall.
“Every giant will fall. The mountains will move. Every chain of the past, you’ve broken in two. Over fears, over lies, we’re singing the truth, that nothing is impossible with you.” (Lyrics taken from Every Giant Will Fall by Rend Collective). Hallelujah! What a Saviour! This is our Jesus! This is our God! He’s the giant slayer and the chain breaker! He’s the miracle-worker and the way-maker! So rejoice with me as we celebrate his death and resurrection. David killed Goliath with a stone and a sling because he knew where his strength came from.
David’s battle cry was, “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.” (1Samuel 17: 45). Jesus’ victory cry was, “It is finished!” But what is ours? If we know him as our Lord and Saviour, we can boldly declare that our sin was paid for at the Cross, that Jesus’ death guarantees our eternal life, and we don’t have to be slaves to sin or Satan anymore.