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David had been living in communion with God — David had been storing up spiritual strength and imbibing spiritual principle from God, which he was now to exhibit under circumstances which appalled the heart of other men. And thus if is when God has need of His servants, and when circumstances require their help; then they do show that they have principles which are able to honour Him, while other men fall back, and then do they show which is the man that really does most good in his generation; then is it seen whether Eliab and men of his stamp are able so effectually to serve their generation as David, who comes forth in the power of God to do deeds at which other men tremble. And we see another lesson. When these two respective candidates — the man armed with the power of God and the man standing merely in his own strength and wisdom, are brought into circumstances of perplexity and danger, then it is seen which has real courage, the man that can rely calmly upon God or the man that stands only in his own strength.

I. First of all, THE MISTAKES AND WEAKNESSES OF THE WORLD IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF DIFFICULTY. Whence was it that Israel's fear arose? They "judged after the sight of their eyes" — they looked only on the outward appearance — they made just the mistake that Jesse did. The reason Israel feared was that they looked upon the outward appearance; they were guilty of the same want of faith that the ten spies were who were sent up to spy out the promised land. They saw the Anakims great and tall; and what did they do? They measured the Anakims by themselves, and they said, "We were in our own sight as grasshoppers;" and they were afraid. So it was with Israel: they saw the power, as they conceived it, of the Philistine's host; they saw the number of the men arrayed against them; they saw Goliath of Gath, and their hearts failed. We see that in this case Israel looked only at their own human resources; they measured their own power, by comparing it with the overwhelming power apparently of the host of the Philistines, and they felt that they themselves were as nothing to the Philistines. David had felt a union between himself and God; David was able to identify himself with God; he felt that the cause of the armies of Israel was the cause of the living God, and that the Philistines were arrayed therefore against the power of God. But observe how this language of faith is instantly mistaken, and excites anger. If we look at the remark of Eliab to David we shall see this. You know the truth of this; the moment the world sees a power greater than its own, it calls it pride. It was so of old; it was so in the case of Joseph's brethren; they could revile the "dreamer," as they called him, yet Joseph only spake words of soberness and truth, when he related what God had shown to him; but his brethren, who were not of a like spirit to himself, could not bear it, when he stated what God had told him. So it was with Eliab, and therefore he rebuked David; but the truth is this — David was speaking a language which Eliab knew nothing about — the language of faith. The simple language of faith is to take God at His word, and to build securely upon it; and although the world may call this pride, yet there is nothing so like humility amongst all the graces that we find in the Word of God as that which entirely puts self on one side, and simply depends upon what God says. This is the spirit of a little child; if there be anything for which children are remarkable, it is the implicit confidence that they put in what is told them We often smile at their credulity; but we might learn a lesson from it by which to serve God more faithfully. I say, therefore, that this is real humility — for there is no humility so real as that which ceases from self-confidence and leans on Christ. David lost sight of himself entirely — he lost sight of everything that was human, and he saw only God, and he had learned, by seeing the power of God, that "no flesh should glory in His presence."

II. But now let us look at the other principle — THE STRENGTH AND WISDOM OF THE POWER OF FAITH, Observe what David said in the twenty-ninth verse, when Eliab rebuked him David said — "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?" There was deep cause; David saw the army of Israel as the army of God. It was not Israel that had been defied, in his estimation, by the Philistine, but God, and there was cause to act and there was cause to speak, when God's honour was outraged. And so there is now. Your object in daily life should be identical with David's, as David's was identical with our Lord's. When our Lord stood before Pilate he said — "For this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." And what was David doing? He was bearing witness unto the truth. David drew from a source which in untouched by circumstances His need was the same, and therefore his resource was the same, and therefore his confidence was the same. It was the Lord; and it was all one to Him to deliver from the bear and from the giant. It was the same principle that animated Caleb and Joshua. When they saw those Anakims, they did not adopt the language of the unbelieving ten, but they said, "Ye are meat, for us" Why? "The Lord is with us." That was the secret of their confidence.

III. And this leads us to consider THE VICTORY OF DAVID. It is not the nature of the weapons, but the arm that wields them; and the smooth pebble from the brook, when winged by the power of God, is able to slaughter the great giant of Gath. So with the preaching of the Word of God. The world despises preaching as an instrument of God; but it is God's weapon. The giant despised David; but still David was God's instrument to overthrow him. David, in his humility, put, himself out of the question; there was no desire to magnify himself, but he was desirous to hide himself, that God's glory might appear. What are we, any of us? What is the strongest believer here? He is before God as nothing But what is God to that man? God is all, and God is everything to him, in all his circumstances.

(J. W. Reeve, M. A.)

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KJV: And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

WEB: David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."