We saw just now David's
humbleness and gentleness, the fruits of God's Spirit in him, in his
answer to his proud and harsh brother. Look next at David's spirit
of trust in God, which, indeed, is the key to his whole life; that is
the reason why he was the man after God's own heart--not for any
virtues of his own, but for his unshaken continual faith in God.
David saw in an instant why the Israelites were so afraid of the
giant; because they had no faith in God. They forgot that they were
the armies of the living God. David did not: "Who is this
uncircumcised, that he shall defy the armies of the living God?" And
therefore, when Saul tried to dissuade him from attacking the
Philistine, his answer is still the same--full of faith in God. He
knew well enough what a fearful undertaking it was to fight with this
giant, nearly ten feet high, armed from head to foot with mail, which
perhaps no sword or spear which he could use could pierce. It was no
wonder, humanly speaking, that all the Jews fled from him--that his
being there stopped the whole battle. In these days, fifty such men
would make no difference in a battle; bullets and cannon-shot would
mow down them like other men: but in those old times, before
firearms were invented, when all battles were hand-to-hand fights,
and depended so much on each man's strength and courage, that one
champion would often decide the victory for a whole army, the amount
of courage which was required in David is past our understanding; at
least we may say, David would not have had it but for his trust in
God, but for his feeling that he was on God's side, and Goliath on
the devil's side, unjustly invading his country in self-conceit, and
cruelty, and lawlessness.
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