When we read the story of David and Goliath, we don’t always connect it with the fact mentioned four chapters earlier (13:19-22) that the Philistines, in their oppression of Israel, had banned blacksmiths among God’s people, and thus the ability to make metal weapons. At the time of David, only King Saul and his son Jonathan had swords in all of Israel. Goliath, with his bronze armor, shield, and sword, was not just a giant: he was a giant reminder that Israel didn’t have what it took to compete with the world—or so they thought.
This is why David’s declared: “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty…This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands…(so that) all those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s.”
Goliath was not the problem—he was the solution. God was using Goliath to teach his people a lesson. What are the “swords and spears” you have been trusting in? Perhaps if there is a giant in your life today, it is because God wants you to learn that “the battle is the Lord’s.”
– Ken Roach