The Philistines gathered their forces for war . . . Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah; then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines. The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them.

Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed 125 pounds.

There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze sword was slung between his shoulders. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed 15 pounds. In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him. He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations: “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? 1 Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.”

Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!” When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified. Now David was the son of the Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and during Saul’s reign was already an old man. Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third, and David was the youngest. . . .
One day Jesse had told his son David: “Take this half-bushel of roasted grain along with these 10 loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Also take these 10 portions of cheese to the field commander.

Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring a confirmation from them. . . .”
So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him.
He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry. Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other.

David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were.
While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, which David heard.

When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified. . . .
David spoke to the men who were standing with him: . . . . Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God. . . ?”
David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!”
“What have I done now?” protested David. “It was just a question. . . .” What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him.
David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!”
But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.” 1 Samuel 17:1-33

PUT ME IN THE GAME

He was nine feet, nine inches tall and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed 125 pounds. There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze sword was slung between his shoulders. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed 15 pounds. In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him. 1 Samuel 17:4-6

SIZE OF THE PROBLEM

The Philistines gathered their forces for war . . . Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped. . . . 1 Samuel 17:1-2

SAFETY OF THE STANDS

“Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!” 1 Samuel 17:28

VOICE OF DISCOURAGEMENT

One day Jesse had told his son David: “Take this half-bushel of roasted grain along with these 10 loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Also take these 10 portions of cheese to the field commander. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring a confirmation from them. 1 Samuel 17:17-18

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“The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer . . . . A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities—all these are marks, not . . . of superiority but of weakness. . . . It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt