I am David, son of Jesse, and long before I wore a crown, I was a shepherd boy who faced a giant. Let me tell you about the day that changed my life forever.
The Philistines had gathered for war against Israel. The two armies stood on opposite mountains with a valley between them. For forty days, morning and evening, a champion emerged from the Philistine camp - Goliath of Gath, a giant standing over nine feet tall. His bronze armor weighed five thousand shekels. His spear was like a weaver's beam. His voice boomed across the valley as he taunted Israel's army.
'Choose a man to fight me! If he kills me, we will be your servants. But if I kill him, you shall serve us.' Day after day, the same challenge. Day after day, the same response from Israel's bravest warriors: terror.
I had come to the battlefield only to bring food to my brothers. When I heard Goliath's defiance, something stirred within me. 'Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?' I asked. My brothers were angry with my boldness. King Saul heard about me and sent for me.
'Let no man's heart fail because of him,' I told the king. 'Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.'
Saul looked at me - a ruddy youth, untested in battle. 'You are only a boy,' he said. But I told him of my experiences as a shepherd. When a lion came and took a lamb from my flock, I went after it, struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. When a bear attacked, I did the same. 'The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.'
Saul offered me his armor, but it was too heavy, too foreign to me. Instead, I took my staff, chose five smooth stones from the brook, placed them in my shepherd's bag, and took my sling in my hand. I walked toward the giant.
Goliath was insulted. 'Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?' He cursed me by his gods. 'Come here, and I will give your flesh to the birds and the beasts!'
But I answered with confidence not in myself, but in my God: 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and 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. The whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. The battle is the Lord's!'
I ran toward the giant. I reached into my bag, fitted a stone to my sling, and let it fly. The stone sank into Goliath's forehead, and he fell face down to the ground. I took his own sword and cut off his head.
When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. Israel's army pursued them with a great shout. The victory that day was not won by sword or spear, but by the power of God working through a willing heart. Your giants may look different from mine, but the same God who delivered me stands ready to deliver you.