Leah Grace Just a few weeks ago, my family and I watched a musical called The Empire and the Kingdom. It was a really neat production that told several different Bible stories in a unique way.
In this musical, the Apostle Peter was the main character, who had traveled to Rome to encourage the persecuted believers there. It wasn’t long before they were all hiding out in the catacombs, and eventually thrown into prison.
To build up the believers’ faith, Peter would tell them stories about the amazing things that God had done. At one point in the story, a teenager was struggling with immense fear.
“Do what David did when he was afraid,” Peter said. “He would sing.”
Then, the scene changed and you could see David, the armies of Israel, and Goliath.
In that short scene—it couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes long—I felt like I was immersed into the story of David & Goliath. I’ve heard it more times than I can count. I’ve read it several times. I’m no stranger to the story… yet it struck me in a different way this time.
I found myself amazed that the God who slayed Goliath through a young shepherd boy is the same God who is with me. He is in me. And, the most incredible thing is that neither Him nor His will have changed a bit.
God didn’t decide to stop doing miracles after the Bible was written. He still does them! I got so fired up thinking about Romans 8:11, which that says that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us.
Then, an interesting thought hit me:
David didn’t know the story of David & Goliath until after it happened.
That makes obvious sense, but I’d never stopped to think about it before. We—or at least I—always imagined David stepping onto the battlefield without a doubt in his mind. I pictured him with complete confidence, courage, and faith.
Yet as he stood there, he didn’t see how the story would unfold. It makes me wonder, what was he thinking in that moment when Goliath started laughing at him? What would’ve happened if he chickened out?
He didn’t know the story of David and Goliath. No one had ever told him that he would staThe story of David & Goliath just it hit me in a different way—and encouraged me to trust God for the impossible.nd before a giant and take him down with a stone from his slingshot. He might’ve felt puny, insufficient, and stupid for daring to take on Goliath.
Yet he stood up for God and faced that giant anyway… and God came through.
That thought challenged me.
We all face giants in our own lives. But what if we lived our lives with this perspective: One day, this will be a story to tell that shows God’s faithfulness and the miracles that He does when we believe Him no matter what.
Rather than caving to the fears, doubts, and insecurities that come against us, what if we stand firm and don’t give in? Even when the situation looks hopeless, terrifying, or completely impossible. David didn’t have to know how or what God was going to do. He just had to stand in faith even when all of the odds were stacked against him.
We cannot forget who our God is. He still does miracles today. He has not stopped moving or working. He loves us so incredibly much. In fact, we have it even better than Moses, Elijah, David, Abraham, and everyone else who saw God do some amazing things (2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Hebrews 11:39-40).
In fact, Jesus made a surprising statement in John 14:12: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”
I am so inspired, and I hope you are too, to realize that God is greater than anything we could ever face in our lives: spiritually, mentally, and physically. I’ve seen God do miracles in all of those areas and it is amazing.
Don’t be afraid even though you can’t see how your story will end. We look at the story of David & Goliath and say “Of course God came through for him! What kind of God would He be if he let someone trust Him like that, just to completely fail him?”
God has the same heart, desire, and power to do that in your own life. Don’t give in to fear or doubt. Stand in faith, and one day, this will be a story that you’ll tell others to show them how amazing our God really is.
And, I think He does best when all of the odds look like they’re stacked against you. 🙃 He loves to show off. Not so that we can brag on Him—although He likes that too—but so that we can know how much He loves us. So that we can experience how much He loves us. 💜
That’s so awesome, Leah! If we didn’t give in to fear, like David, who knows the good that would come out of it? A lot of bad can come out of fighting a giant, but a lot of good can too when God is for you. All you have to do is believe that you’ll have a similar experience to David’s. Thanks so much for this post!
Yup! It makes me think of Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”