14th November 2025

David faced many adversaries throughout his life: the ‘lion’ and the ‘bear’ (1 Samuel 17:34-36), his brothers (v.28), his own son (2 Samuel 15), and the then anointed king Saul. 

Then there was the one that made him famous: it took him into the king’s court, cemented a deep friendship with the king’s son and led to the king resenting him and hunting him down to destroy him. The adversary that led to all this was Goliath and his slaughter at the hands of this shepherd who was still a teenager. David declared, with a faith that had grown through the trials faced in his shepherding, that the Philistine would be defeated at his hand because he had, “…defied the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:36 NIV). David knew, with a certainty, that Israel was God’s covenant people and that God was living; he was real; he was a power to be respected and feared.

That defining moment when the stone was released from David’s slingshot to the macabre conclusion when he hacked off the head of this giant Goliath and carried it into Saul’s tent, would have etched itself on David’s mind – and reading through several of the psalms he wrote, it seems that the memory never left him. It’s a thread that weaves its way through these songs: not a dominant narrative but a persistent memory, continually reminding him that the same God who was with him then, was always faithfully there.

Psalm 18 can be seen as referencing this uneven battle that looks forward to Christ’s ultimate triumph over evil – the Shepherd defeating the devourer of the sheep. 

David reflects that it is God who ‘arms me with strength’ (v.32 NKJV), and not the armour of Saul: the armour that he rejected as he prepared to face Goliath. In his battles with wild animals – precursors to this confrontation – he sees God as teaching ‘my hands to make war’ (v.34). Goliath approached David, not on his own, but with a shield bearer, but David looked to God for his protection, claiming, ‘You have also given me the shield of Your salvation’ (v.35). He sees his God as with him in every step. He hurried down into that ‘valley of the shadow of death’, crediting God with ensuring at that vital moment, that ‘my feet did not slip’ (v.36), and that he had ‘armed me with strength for battle’ (v.39). And in verse 40 he makes what is surely a reference to the hacking off of the enemy’s head: ‘You have also given me the necks of my enemies’. 

David, in this battle, is a saviour of Israel. In a later battle, prior to beginning his ministry, Jesus confronts Satan and defeats him using only what the Apostle Paul describes as, ‘…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’ (Ephesians 6:17). He fights the enemy, Satan, with ‘the word of God’, parrying every thrust with, “…it is written…” (Matthew 4:1-10). This is the sword that defeats this powerful enemy. It is a ‘sword’ that is ours to use in any battles that we face, but knowing that the enemy has already been defeated.

Local congregation:
GCI Market Harborough
9 The Point
Rockingham Road
Market Harborough 
LE16 7QU

Meeting time:
Sunday 4.00 pm

Local congregational contact:
Sinead Henderson 
Email: sinead.henderson@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church