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You Are Not David
You’re Not David
David and Goliath, a little guy against a big guy, the impossible against the improbable. “David and Goliath” is part of our cultural lingo and thinking. And that is part of the problem. In the story we want to be David:
- We can be David if we are willing to be used by God.
- We can be David if we are willing to use our abilities for God.
That is a Biblical, but a very narrow Biblical view.
- David and Goliath is not about David; it is about God’s sovereignty being defied – “You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel – you have defied him” (1 Samuel 17:45)
- David and Goliath is not about David saving his people; it is about God saving His people, despite the other people and his people – “and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the LORD saves, for the battle is the LORD’s. He will hand you over to us” (1 Samuel 17:47)
Expanding our Biblical view to the Christocentric view:
- The little guy is Jesus, so in this story David is Jesus, a type or foreshadowing.
- The impossible against the improbable is Victory over Goliath, so in this story Goliath is certain death.
If we are not David, then who are we? In this story we are Israel, “When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified” (1 Samuel 17:24). In the big picture, we are not David. We are the masses fearful of death (Hebrews 2:14-15), unable to do anything. We are not David. Jesus is.
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