Who Is This Giant to Defy the Living God?
"For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" — 1 Samuel 17:26
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Introduction
For forty days, the army of Israel heard the same voice. Every morning and every evening, Goliath marched into the valley and issued his challenge. And every morning and every evening, trained and armed men "fled from him and were greatly afraid."
Then a young man arrives — one who hadn't even come for the battle. He was bringing bread and cheese to his brothers. He hears the exact same threat everyone else had heard. And he asks the question no one had asked in forty days.
Notice this carefully: David doesn't ask "How big is he?" He asks "Who is he before God?" The entire difference between a paralyzed army and a victorious young man fits inside that question. And it's that question that opens this series.
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1. Everyone Saw the Same Giant — But Not Through the Same Eyes
Saul and his soldiers were seasoned men. They knew how to size up a battle. And when they sized this one up, they concluded: he's too big for us. David looked at the exact same man and concluded: he's too small for God.
The problem was never a lack of information. Both sides had the same facts — the height, the bronze armor, the spear as thick as a weaver's beam. What David added to the equation was a factor everyone else had left out: the living God.
Pay close attention to that phrase, because it isn't decorative. David doesn't say "the God of Israel" or "the God of our fathers." He says the living God. He's drawing a contrast between the Lord and the silent idols of the Philistines. A God who lives is a God who sees, who hears, and who responds. And if He lives, then this defiance will not go unanswered.
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2. Faith Is Not Denying the Giant
It's important to correct a distortion of faith here — one that causes real damage in our churches. Biblical faith is not pretending the problem doesn't exist. David never said Goliath was small. He never denied the armor, the spear, or the nearly ten feet of height.
What faith does is not erase reality — it places reality in its proper position. The giant is still a giant; he just ceases to be the final measure of all things, because there is Someone greater on the same field.
There is a world of difference between denying a diagnosis and bringing a diagnosis before God. Between pretending a debt doesn't exist and laying that debt before the One who owns the gold and the silver. The first is naivety; the second is faith.
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3. The Right Question Changes the Battle Before It Begins
Later, standing before Goliath himself, David declares: "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied" (v. 45).
Notice the structure of that declaration. David names the enemy's weapon — he doesn't ignore it. He names his own weapon — the name of the Lord. And he names the offense — "whom you have defied."
David's victory didn't begin with the stone. It began much earlier, in the moment he decided which question was the right one to ask. When your perspective shifts, the battle has already shifted with it.
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Conclusion
Maybe there's a Goliath that's been shouting at you for forty days. A diagnosis. A debt. A child who walked away. A marriage that's running on empty. A fear that wakes you in the middle of the night.
I'm not asking you to pretend it isn't there. David never did. I'm only asking you to ask the right question: Who is this giant to defy the living God?
Measure your giant — but measure him next to God, not next to your own strength.