1 Samuel 17:48-50 “As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.”

There is a time for the child of God to retreat when under attack. When the kinds of temptations that appeal to the lusts of our own sinful natures are luring us, especially sexual sins, God’s word to us is “Flee!” Nothing in Scripture suggests that we should engage the temptation to see how long we can hang in there before we finally give in. That would be foolish, not faithful.

But David was facing an entirely different situation here. The Giant Goliath had insulted God. He had called into question God’s power and grace. God’s reputation as the Deliverer of his people was at stake. And when God’s reputation suffers, so does the faith of his people.

The real issue was not the physical battle between an impetuous teenager and a godless Giant. It was the spiritual attack on the hearts of God’s children. There was an entire army standing behind David. But their faith had been compromised by Goliath’s size and threats. That’s why they were behind David, not out there meeting the challenge themselves. That meant that more than lives were at stake this day. Their very souls were in danger.

For that kind of battle, you can’t get started fast enough. David ran to meet the giant. There is an appropriate sense of urgency for us to get going, to engage our spiritual battle with the world for the hearts of neighbors who don’t know Jesus or church members who are losing their grip on him. For this the signal is never “Flee!” but “Charge!” when we are acting on faith, not fear.

Doesn’t David’s story make you want to do something? Doesn’t it make you want to act? Let me share with you a little story told by a pastor at a youth conference: “My kids have “Dave and the Giant Pickle,” (The Veggie Tales version of this story) and after they watched it a few times, I watched it with them and I thought, ‘That’s enough.; And so we read this whole narrative and my little son Johnny, he’s four years old, and he says, ‘Dad, he killed him all the way dead, didn’t he?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he did.’ He says, ‘He chopped his head off with a sword, didn’t he?’ I said, ‘Yes, he did.’”

“I have a sword in my office. It’s an unsharpened sword. We came in the next Sunday morning and I was out making copies—Johnny was in my office—and I could hear—it makes a certain sound—a “shing” when it comes out of the sheath, and he pulled it—and he comes out in the office and he’s almost in tears, and John says…it never dawned on me that he didn’t think Goliaths were still around today.  He says, ‘Dad,’—he’s almost in tears and he’s dead serious and he says, ‘If Goliath comes in this office, I will chop his head off.’” “I’m on your team, that’s where I am.”

That’s the power of God’s word in the heart of a young man, the power and faith that makes him ready to act. The battles God gives us to fight for him today may be spiritual, not physical. We fight with words, not swords. But his word gives us the faith to engage the battle, and trust him for victory in the end.