“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and 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. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”” (1 Sa 17:45–47)

Conquer the “Giants” before you is a common application of the David and Goliath battle. But is that accurate? Is the battle begin David and Goliath teaching us to conquer the “Goliaths” before us?

David’s battle with Goliath is bigger than you and I. It is a cosmic battle between the one true God – Yahweh – and the lifeless gods of this world. It purposes to show God will not be defeated by worldly powers no matter how great they might seem to us. God is the One who is in control and we can trust that to be the case.

Here is how one author puts its:

“Nothing contrasts the value systems of God and the world like the narrative of David and Goliath. This is not about how to take on the “giants” that stand in the way of our dreams. It is about the weak versus the strong, faith versus arrogance, the living God versus lifeless idols. It is ultimately about how God rescues his helpless people through His Spirit-anointed, faith-filled, Serpent-crushing warrior-king.” (Unfolding Grace, 233-34).

The David and Goliath narrative is about more than you and I. It is about more than our troubles. It is about the cosmic struggle between good and evil, God and Satan. It ultimately points us to Christ, who wins victory for us all. Jesus is the better and greater David who crushes the head of the serpent through His sacrificial death on the cross and finally through His victorious return.

Don’t view this as a moral tale to defeat your giants. That is to think too narrowly and selfishly. View this as a cosmic battle that provides you with ultimate victory!