Sessions Include:

1 Facing Your Giants / 1 Samuel 17 / David and Goliath

2 Silent Phones / 1 Samuel 16 / The Lord Rejects Saul

3 Raging Sauls / 1 Samuel 18 / Saul’s Growing Fear of David

4 Desperate Days / 1 Samuel 21.1 - 9 / David at Nob

5 Dry Seasons / 1 Samuel 21.10 – 22.2 / David Pretends to be Crazy

6 Grief-Givers / 1 Samuel 24 / David Spares Saul’s Life

7 Barbaric Behavior / 1 Samuel 25 / David, Nabal and Abigail

8 Slump Guns / 1 Samuel 27 / David Among the Philistines

9 Plopping Points / 1 Samuel 30 / David Destroys the Amalekites

10 Unspeakable Grief / 2 Samuel 1 / David Hears of Saul’s Death

11 Blind Intersections / 2 Samuel 2 / David Anointed King

12 Strongholds / 2 Samuel 5 / David Becomes King

13 Distant Deity / 2 Samuel 6 / The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

14 Tough Promises / 2 Samuel 9 / David and Mephibosheth

15 Thin Air-ogance / 2 Samuel 11 / David and Bathsheba

16 Colossal Collapses / 2 Samuel 12 / Nathan rebukes David

17 Family Matters / 2 Samuel 15 / Absalom’s conspiracy

18 Dashed Hopes / 1 Chronicles 28 / David Plans to Build a Temple

19 Take Goliath Down! / 1 Samuel 17 / Five Smooth Stones

Goliath: the long-standing bully of the valley. Tougher than a two-dollar steak. More snarls than twin Dobermans. He awaits you in the morning, torments you at night. He stalked your ancestors and now looms over you. He blocks the sun and leaves you standing in the shadow of a doubt. “When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope” (17:11 MSG).

But what am I telling you? You know Goliath. You recognize his walk and wince at his talk. You’ve seen your Godzilla. The question is, is he all you see? You know his voice—but is it all you hear? David saw and heard more. Read the first words he spoke, not just in the battle, but in the Bible: “David asked the men standing near him, ‘What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ ” (17:26 NIV).

David shows up discussing God. The soldiers mentioned nothing about him, the brothers never spoke his name, but David takes one step onto the stage and raises the subject of the living God. He does the same with King Saul: no chitchat about the battle or questions about the odds. Just a God-birthed announcement: “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (17:37).

He continues the theme with Goliath. When the giant mocks David, the shepherd boy replies:

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 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, and he will give all of you into our hands. (17:45–47 NIV)

No one else discusses God. David discusses no one else but God.

A subplot appears in the story. More than “David versus Goliath,” this is “God-focus versus giant-focus.”

David sees what others don’t and refuses to see what others do. All eyes, except David’s, fall on the brutal, hate-breathing hulk. All compasses, sans David’s, are set on the polestar of the Philistine. All journals, but David’s, describe day after day in the land of the Neanderthal. The people know his taunts, demands, size, and strut. They have majored in Goliath.

David majors in God. He sees the giant, mind you; he just sees God more so.

Max Lucado, Facing Your Giants (Nashville: W Pub. Group, 2006), 3–4.

We have just released a new Bible study on the life of David using Max Lucado's book, Facing Your Giants as a guide.

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