While none of Israel’s soldiers could muster the courage to face Goliath even after hearing his taunts day after day, it only took David hearing him once before he was ready to face the giant. It didn’t matter that Goliath was enormous and David was just a young boy – perhaps a teenager at this point. It didn’t matter that Goliath was a warrior and David was a shepherd. This Philistine was mocking God, and that could not continue.

So an unlikely hero stepped forward to face the enemy of God’s people. If we read ourselves into this story as David, we would be prone to reaffirm our call to live with courage, dependent on God. And there is nothing wrong with that; but if we do, we miss the greater lesson here for us. If, instead, we see ourselves as the Israelites and David as a hero outside of ourselves, we see the beauty of the Gospel. Jesus is the greater David. Jesus was the unlikely hero who stepped forward to face off against the enemy of sin and death and defeated them in the power of God. All while we looked on as He fought in our place.

How might you attempt to fight in your own power instead of resting in God to fight for you? Why?