Tonight, as I was studying for Sunday School tomorrow and Awanas this week, I was reminded of this question. It got me to thinking. What if Goliath hadn't fell the first time? Would we still teach it to our children? Would we still encourage them by telling them that God is on their side? That He can overcome any situation no matter how difficult it may seem? The answer I keep coming back to is, yes, we should.
You see the miracle of the story shouldn't be focused on the fact that Goliath was killed. Yes, that's awesome and God totally made it happen. But, you know what else He made happen? David's courage. And, that's a miracle in itself.
You see, David was a scrawny little thing. He was no where near the size of Goliath and he wasn't even in the army. He wasn't trained to go against Goliath. He could have easily said, "Nope. Swerve." or the Biblical equivalent. But, he didn't. He refused to back down. He knew God had prepared him for this moment regardless of how it turned out.
David had no clue how the end would turn out, but he had faith. Faith enough to know that God would take care of him regardless of the outcome. He knew God had plans for his life and he used his past experiences to guide him. He had killed a bear and a lion for Pete's sake!
But, see, here's the thing. Sometimes Goliath's don't fall down with a single stone. Sometimes they don't fall down with a thousand stones. Sometimes they just stand, hovering, waiting to knock you when you're down. And, what do we do? Do we just sit there and wait for another David to come and fight for us or do we continue fighting for as long as it takes?
How long do you think David would have spent throwing stones had the first one not worked? I mean, he had five but do you think he would have went back for more? What if he used up all the pebbles he could find? I think David would continue having the courage to stand and fight. Why? Because he knew that God was there. He knew that God had been there before and would continue to be there again.
Life isn't fair. Sometimes it tries to knock us down. Sometimes our Goliath's won't fall. Sometimes we'll be the ones trying to put our Goliath's back together because we don't have the courage to live without them. But, God says, "Look. There's the bear you slayed before and here's the lion. You do what I ask and I'll take care of the rest." The only question that remains is will you continue fighting even if Goliath doesn't fall?
