Five Smooth Stones Against a Giant

Every morning he came down the hill, and every morning the army of God turned to ice.

His name was Goliath. He was a giant. Taller than a tall man standing on another tall man. His voice was like thunder rolling down the valley, and what he shouted was this: "Send me one of your soldiers. Just one. Let him fight me. If he wins, we are your servants. If I win, you are ours."

And nobody moved.

The soldiers of God's people were brave men. They had swords and spears and shields. But not one of them was big enough, and not one of them was strong enough, and they knew it. So they stood frozen in their ranks, hearts shaking inside their armor, while the cold feeling crept up in them, the feeling of being too small for the thing in front of you while everyone around you is too afraid to move.

Forty days the giant came. Forty mornings of being afraid.

Then a boy walked into the camp.

His name was David. He was the same shepherd boy Samuel had anointed in Bethlehem, the one God had chosen while his seven tall brothers were passed by. He had no armor. He was only carrying bread for his brothers. And when he heard the giant roar, he did not freeze. He lifted his face and said, "Who is this man, that he dares to mock the living God?"

They tried to put armor on him. It was too heavy. He took it off. He went down to the stream instead, and he bent low and chose five smooth stones, and he slipped them into his shepherd's bag, and he walked out into the valley alone.

The giant laughed. "Am I a dog," he roared, "that you come at me with sticks?"

But David said, "You come with a sword and a spear. I come in the name of the Lord. This is his battle, not mine."

Then David reached into his bag, set one smooth stone in his sling, and let it fly.

And the giant fell.

The soldiers who had been too afraid to move ran forward, cheering and chasing. The victory belonged to every one of them, though not one of them had thrown the stone. One champion went out alone, into the place where they were all too frightened to go, and his victory became theirs. They only had to receive it.

Tuck that boy and his five small stones somewhere safe in your heart, because a bigger giant was still coming: the giant of sin and death, the enemy too big for any of us, the one that freezes every heart. One day Another would walk out alone to meet it, carrying not a sling but a cross.

Jesus is the true Champion, the better David. He stepped into the field for a whole army of frightened people who could never win, and he won. The victory is yours, not because you are big enough, but because he is. You only have to receive it.

And as David walked back from the valley with the whole army roaring his name, a prince named Jonathan stood watching him, and his heart went out to that shepherd boy. That is the next story.