In David’s day they fought ‘by representation’. That means that one man would fight for the nation as a whole, and the country of the losing warrior became subservient to the country of the conquering warrior. So David versus Goliath was really Israel against the Philistines. It was a one-on-one contest: winner takes all. Most of us will have read the story of David’s victory over the giant with faith, a stone, and a slingshot. But it wasn’t just one stone he picked up, but ‘five smooth stones’. It wasn’t a lack of faith. David knew that Goliath had four brothers, and he may have needed extra stones to defeat them too. Giant-killers realise that their giant represents greater issues. A giant never stands alone; behind it lie its causes. All issues, such as eating disorders, addiction, self-harm, and anger, are driven and supported by other issues. Somewhere behind the obvious giant are its supportive brothers – pain, guilt, loss, shame, and control. David was prepared with five stones – one for Goliath and one for each of his four brothers. We need to ask ourselves what lies behind our giant. With God’s help we can conquer both the giant and the things that stand behind it. Sometimes we need to go and talk to someone about those issues behind our giant, there’s no shame in needing to do that. Also, giant-killers are not overwhelmed by the challenges. We should never allow our fears to overwhelm our faith. The Bible says that ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind’ (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). Fear will feed on the failures of the past, but we can’t allow yesterday’s failure to overwhelm today’s faith.

What Now?

Take your failings; list them on a piece of paper and write at the top of the page: ‘These things won’t overwhelm my faith’.