Hey everyone, it's Stephen here, Pastor of Regeneration Church Monash and welcome to a 3 Minute Message.
David and Goliath is one of the most famous Bible stories and it’s also one of the most famous stories in world
history. It is the quintessential underdog story where you have a smaller, weaker character overcoming a much larger
and stronger character in a surprising way. And today I want to share with us three things we can learn from the three
main characters in this story.
So let’s begin with Saul and the Fear that Paralyses. So Goliath, this giant of a Philistine, comes out to challenge
Israel to send a champion to fight him to the death for the sake of each respective nation. So if you think about it,
who should Israel have sent to take on Goliath? Who was their greatest warrior? It actually should have been Saul!
Now we’re told in the Bible that the reason they chose him to be king was because he was a head taller than every other
Israelite man. So he’s not only taller, he’s also more physically imposing and stronger, he’s clearly the greatest
warrior. But Saul is paralysed by fear. Now what about you? Are there areas in your life where you are paralysed by fear
or perhaps areas where you might be driven by fear? How might we overcome the fears in our life?
Well, firstly there is the Goliath way of courage. You see, Goliath was supremely self-confident. His courage came from
his confidence in his physical size. He probably has never lost a battle in his life. It also came from a confidence in
his superior weaponry and armour, which is pretty high-tech if you compare it to David’s shepherd’s staff and sling. So
if we think about the Goliath way of courage today, here’s what it could sound like:” Believe in yourself! You can do
anything you set your mind to. If you just believe in yourself enough, you can achieve all your dreams. But there
is a problem with the Goliath way of courage, isn’t there? You see, the problem that Goliath had was his confidence led
to an overconfidence. His confidence in his weapons and his physical strength prevented him from even considering the
fact that his size and his slowness might actually be a weakness. And that led him to overestimate his abilities as
well as underestimate David and the God of Israel.
Well, another way to overcome our fears is the David way. You see, David also had supreme courage, he too had supreme
confidence. But his courage was completely different to Goliath’s. While everyone in Israel was more concerned about
saving their own skin, David’s highest concern was the glory of God. His courage came from a confidence that God would
defend his own name. And his courage also came from the fact that he knew that the Lord had anointed him. And so we know
how this battle ends. But the point of the story is not so much that we all need to become David and we all can be
David, but rather it exposes our need for a champion, a hero, a saviour. And Jesus is the greater David, that on the
cross and in his resurrection, he defeats the greater giants of sin and death. And it is by looking at Jesus the true
anointed one that we too can find the courage to overcome our greatest fears.