The story of David and Goliath is a Sunday school favourite for many children and adults alike. We know how the story ends: young David defeats Goliath in a battle where the odds were heavily stacked against him, thereby proclaiming “the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:46).
Forty days before that moment of triumph, Goliath towered over Israel, taunting the Israelites with his thunderous voice as he challenged the nation to send someone to fight him. Imagine the Philistine soldiers adding jeers and ridicule. The Israelites must have been dismayed and terrified!
David himself was no stranger to discouragement. His brothers misunderstood his intentions when he brought them food from home, at the instruction of their father. When Saul came to know about David, he belittled David, “…you are only a boy…” (verse 33). Later when Goliath saw David, he despised him, mocking his youth and size. Right up to the point of his eventual battle with Goliath, David had to fight the voices that sought to put him down.
We live in a world where we are constantly surrounded by noise and different voices calling out at us. While we may be able to shut out the incoming voices by putting aside our phones or through a time of solitude, the voices of doubt, discouragement, fear and condemnation that we have previously heard can remain in our minds. These often cripple us and erode our self-esteem.
God has given us ways to combat these debilitating voices in our hearts, however, and here are some of them:
Paul admonished us in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “…we are to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” As we filter each thought through Christ, the truth will set us free (John 8:32).
In Psalm 18:6, David wrote, “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him, into His ears.” Verbalise those inner voices to God.
David, a shepherd boy went into battle, fully confident in the promises of God’s power and faithfulness (verse 37). This gave him faith and courage to face Goliath.
May we tune our hearts to hear the voice of Truth in our noise-filled world.
Lam Kok Hiang has over 30 years of experience in full-time Christian vocational ministry. He holds a MA (Biblical Studies) from Dallas Theological Seminary and has led Cru Singapore as National Team Leader since 2006. An avid runner, Kok Hiang shares a love for books with his wife, Sharon. Together, their desire is to see young leaders rise up in local churches and missions agencies across Asia.
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