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DAVID’S FAITH IN GOD
1 Samuel 17:17-51
Sermon by:
Rev. J. Overduin
Published by the
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA
Rev. J. Overduin - 1 Samuel 17:34a, 37
DAVID’S FAITH IN GOD
Sermon by: Rev. J. Overduin
LITURGY:
Opening Psalter
347:1
Scripture Reading
1 Samuel 17:17-51
Text
1 Samuel 17:34a, 37
Psalter
342:2, 4
Psalter
322:1, 2
Sermon
Psalter
4:5
Psalter
391:2, 3
Doxology: Psalter
318:7
2
Rev. J. Overduin - 1 Samuel 17:34a, 37
3
Beloved Congregation:
We do not know the age at which David definitely was born again, but certainly
very early in life he was brought, by God’s grace, to a place where he felt his need of
divine help; and when he was a youth, he learned to lean upon God, and to see the hand
of God in all his personal experiences.
David loved to be with the sheep that belonged to his father Jesse. He loved the
sheep, too, especially - so we think - in the spring-time when the little white lambs ran
among the mother sheep, jumping and playing with each other in the sunshine. David
would then pick up his harp and play sweet music that echoed round the hills like the
wind, and he would join-in and sing so that the songs sounded as if they were lifted above
the earth.
David loved his mother dearly. He had often heard from her lips the wonderful
stories of all that God had done for his fathers in the days of old. David was no softy. If
necessary, he could stand on his heels and face lion, bear or wolf. David knew that the
things his mother had told him about the great God Who rules in the heavens were all
true. It may be that he had heard the well-loved story of the great prophet Samuel. At
that time Samuel was a very old man, but, when he was a young lad, he had heard the
voice of the Lord calling him. Just as Samuel had answered, “Speak, Lord, for Thy
servant heareth,” so David’s young heart was waiting to hear the Voice of the Lord and to
obey.
Even before young David heard, in a very special way, the Voice of God, the Lord
had chosen him and was providing for Himself a King from among the sons of Jesse, and
was taking him from the sheepfold, from following the sheep. For when the Lord calls us
to follow Him, He does not tell us what He will do with us. He may call us to some
positions of honour or He may call us to fill some lowly place of service.
“How shall the young direct their way? What light shall be their perfect guide?”
That is what David sang in Psalm 119. He gives the answer to that question in that same
verse which we have sung:
“Thy Word, O Lord, will safely lead,
If in its wisdom they confide.
Sincerely I have sought Thee, Lord,
O, let me not from Thee depart;
To know Thy Word and keep from sin
Thy Word I cherish in my heart.”
This was David’s practice in early youth: “O Lord, Thy Word I cherish in my heart.”
Fathers and mothers, boys and girls, I would like to impress upon you that no life
can be well-lived, if the foundations are not laid in the Word of God, which is a lamp
unto our feet and a light unto our path, and which shall stand forever. In our days, above
all other days, parents and friends may well be deeply concerned for the future of any
young man or young woman who goes out into life without the Word of God and
Rev. J. Overduin - 1 Samuel 17:34a, 37
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therefore without God. Certainly, life’s journey always has been a dangerous journey, but
it is a fact that temptations are multiplied. There are more pitfalls than ever prepared for
the feet of those who are not watchful. Possibly, in all the world’s history, it never has
been more difficult for young people to live uprightly than it is today. It is absolutely
necessary that every boy and every girl should come to know God early and to know
Christ early.
O, we may rejoice and remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Shepherd
of His people, is also the Saviour of the children. He loved to take the little children in
His arms, when He was here on earth, and to bless them. He is still the same. He said:
“Let the children come to Me, and do not hinder them; for of such is the Kingdom of
Heaven.” (Matthew 19:14).
Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ is the true Saviour. He is the only Saviour and He is a
complete Saviour. He declared that He was the Good Shepherd Who gave His life for the
sheep; that He is the Door into the sheepfold, and that He gives to His sheep eternal life.
He promises that He will always care for His sheep. Neither the lion nor the bear shall
ever pluck them out of His hands. There is no salvation for boys and girls, for men and
women, in any other than in Jesus Christ.
There is only one safe place - do you not see that in this world, especially
nowadays, there is no safety anymore? The safety that we enjoy is relative. There is only
one safe place for any one of us, and that is to be held in the hand of the Son of God
Himself. He has come, according to His own words, to seek and to save that which was
lost. When He saves us, He comes to take us, to possess us, to hold us, and to secure us
from all harm and injury, for time and for eternity. Blessed are you who seek Him early
and diligently, for this is His promise: “I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me
early,” - that does not only mean early in years, but it means: those who seek Me
diligently - “those who seek Me early and diligently shall find Me.” (Proverbs 8:17).
2.
Let us follow David’s life a little, and see how this young servant of God served
the Lord. From our text we learn, first of all, that he served the Lord in caring for his
father’s sheep. It is a difficult thing when young people go away from home, whether to
school or to work. But it is especially difficult when young people begin to work for their
own fathers. Generally speaking, it is a great deal easier to work for a stranger than it is
to go into business with father, because the boy usually expects to have a somewhat easier
time than if he were working for a stranger. It is to David’s credit that, although he
worked for his father, he worked faithfully; and he stuck to his task which his father had
given him to do.
There are some boys and girls who find it difficult to stick to anything. But they
will also find it difficult to do anything in life successfully. David kept his father’s sheep,
and he worked as faithfully for his father as he could have done for a stranger. Herein lay
the secret of the success of all his following career. It was a humble task: just keeping his
father’s sheep. We know what was in David. He was a great soldier in the making. He
was a great poet, for no one has ever sung as sweetly as the sweet Psalmist of Israel. He
Rev. J. Overduin - 1 Samuel 17:34a, 37
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was a musician. He had it in him to sit upon a throne and govern a kingdom, and to
speak, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to speak of the coming Messiah, Jesus, the
Son of David! In this he was a type of Christ.
No doubt when David was just a boy he already felt all these powers within him.
Is that not the experience of so many a one whom God has used to bring to pass great
things? In his earliest days such a man had his dreams of those things. He felt those
powers that God had put within him, and he knew that some day he would have an
important task in life. No doubt David must have felt like that! Those marvelous Psalms
were there, struggling for expression. His fingers longed to pluck the strings of that
wondrous harp of his. Maybe he even thought about it to fight in the army of Israel. Yet,
when his father said: “David, go down over there into the wilderness and look after those
sheep,” David did not say, “I am too big for that.” No, he accepted the humblest task as
from God, and he went at it, and he did it well.
Have you ever heard the story - it is the story of a distinguished member of
Parliament, who delivered a great speech in the House of Commons, thrilling the House
by his eloquence, by the strength of his arguments? When he resumed his seat - it was
either his first speech, or one of his earliest speeches - someone asked: “And who is
that?” Someone nearby said: “O, that is so-and-so, he shined my father’s boots when he
was a boy!” The orator overheard him, turned to him and said: “Yes, sir, and did I not
shine them well?” You see, there is something in the boy who knows how to clean his
own shoes, or someone else’s shoes, how to shine them well.
Whatever David did, he did it well; he did it thoroughly, because he served God;
and whatsoever he did, he did it to the glory of God. Beloved, how is it with us in our
daily work? Have you learned to pray and to practice(!) “Thy will be done on earth, as it
is in heaven?” That is, according to the explanation of our Catechism, “grant that we and
all men may renounce our own will, and without murmuring obey Thy will, which is only
good; that so everyone may attend to and perform the duties of his station and calling, as
willingly and faithfully as the angels do in heaven.”
That is the work of God’s grace in the hearts of His people. There is no place in a
Christian’s life for careless service anywhere - whether it is washing dishes, or shining
shoes, or keeping sheep, or attending to the garden, or shoveling the snow, or dusting the
house, or cleaning the rugs - whatever it is, we ought to be ashamed to do anything halfheartedly. David said to Saul: “Thy servant kept his father’s sheep.” Any task that David
did was well done.
God’s men are usually made in the wilderness. You remember that great man of
whom the Lord Jesus said that among those who were “born of women there has not risen
a greater than John the Baptist,” and of whom Jesus said further: “What went ye out in
the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” A weak, soft, compromising
good-for-nothing? Is that what you expected to see in the wilderness? But what went ye
out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Then He said: “Those who are clothed in
soft raiment and fare delicately, are in King’s palaces.” John the Baptist was made a man
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and a prophet, not in King’s houses, but in the wilderness, in the hard places of life. That
is what God calls His servants to, not to an easy task, but some obscure position. “It is
good for a man,” so we read in Lamentations 3:27, 28, “it is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because He has laid it upon
him.” (namely for his benefit).
Then another thing: the smallest job on earth will afford opportunity for the
exercise of manly qualities, if they are there to be exercised. David might have said:
“What is the use of a shepherd’s staff? I would like to get on the uniform, like my big
brother who has joined the army; I would like to join the army too. I would like to have
my sword by my side, and go out and do some great task!” But father said: “David, just
go down and look after those sheep.” That was his job. You know the story, do you not,
that while he was looking after the sheep, there came a lion and a bear, and this did not
happen only once, but it happened at least more than once that David had to fight with a
lion or a bear until the cruel beast rolled over and died.
You will always have opportunities to find lions and bears, if you are a real
Christian. “Your adversary, the devil,” says the apostle Peter, “walks about as a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). Moreover, you will find a lion or a
bear right in your own heart; there is lion enough there, and bear enough too, if you know
what I mean. There are the evil lusts of our flesh against which we have to struggle all
our life long. Indeed, there are plenty of bears to kill, there are plenty of evils to
overcome: temper, impatience, an unruly tongue, selfishness, covetousness; every kind of
evil will attack you in the wilderness. There is plenty of opportunity to show what is in
you. You can be sure of this: the boy or girl, or man or woman, who does not succeed in
the wilderness; the person who does not keep the sheep committed to him; who does not
daily come across the lion and the bear on his path, and prays: “O, God, grant me to finish
the day as before Thee, successfully, through the power of the Holy Spirit,” - the man or
woman who does not do that in the obscure places, will not have any other place worth
mentioning.
David surely had rather a hard task one day when his father said to him: “I want
you to go to the camp of Saul, and I want you to take some provisions for your older
brothers up there, and some cheeses for the captain of their company; and you are to
inquire after their health and come back and let me know.
So, David went up to the camp. O, we know what was in him. It must have been
rather difficult from him to go like an errand boy with a basket under his arm up to the
camp, and you know what he found when he got there. Soon he found himself among the
soldiers of Israel, facing the enemy. They told him of the things that a certain fighter of
the enemy, by the name of Goliath, was saying, and how afraid they were of that man!
While David was talking to the soldiers, Eliab, his oldest brother, came by. He was very
angry with David. “Ah,” he sneered, “why did you come here, and with whom have you
left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know why you have come. It is because you
think you are somebody, and because you wanted to see the battle!”
Rev. J. Overduin - 1 Samuel 17:34a, 37
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You see, Eliab supposed, we rather think, Eliab supposed that everybody was
looking to see Eliab do some great thing! What was more natural than that his younger
brother should have left the sheep to go and see his big brother in action. We should not
be surprised if David had lost his temper and if he had said: “Eliab, do not think that I
came down to see you do anything.”
O, these are little things, but when a big brother looks down on a little brother,
and tells him to go down and look after his sheep - especially if that little brother is the
bigger of the two in reality - it is a pretty difficult thing for him to hold his peace. But
David was well-mannered. Instead of meeting evil with unkindness he only said: “What
have I now done? Is there not a cause?” David then turned from Eliab and said no more.
Ah, David never ran away from a lion or a bear, but he was quick to run away from that
big brother of his, not because he was afraid of him, but he was a little afraid of himself!
He thought to himself: “I had better put a little distance between us, until he gets cooled
off.” Then he turned away to another man and said: “Tell me what this giant is saying.”
There is a sense in which that old saying is true, that “he who fights and runs away, will
live to fight another day.” Sometimes it is a good thing to turn away from people; and
when you have a little difficulty at home, like that with brother Eliab, do not argue the
point, just leave it to him. “He that is slow to anger,” so we read in Proverbs 16:32, “he
that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that
taketh a city.”
As for David, he had won his first victory. He had shown that those who can
overcome evil with good, like the Lord Himself, are strongest in the fight. Is that not
what Paul says in Romans 12:21: “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.”
3.
At last, this modest young man - for that is what David was - had the courage to
accept the challenge of the giant. The giant had been saying: “Choose out a man from
among you who can fight, and let him come down to me. If he can kill me, then we will
be your servants, but if I overcome him, and kill him, then you must be our servants and
serve us.” And, as if that bragging were not enough, he tossed his head in the air and
shouted so that all could hear his deep voice: “I defy the armies of Israel this day: give me
a man that we may fight together!” Day by day this great giant came down with his
armour bearer, who was carrying his great brass shield in front of him. He had a helmet
of brass and an armour of brass. The poor Israelites were so full of fear that they did not
know what to do.
David went to the king and made his proposal - and David had not been to a
military college; he did not know anything about war. Saul was surprised at David’s
offer. “Why,” said he, “that is funny, my son, you are only a youth, and this giant has
been a man of war from his youth.” Some people are so very modest, so very humble,
especially when there is any danger, and say: “I am not able to do that task.” They call it
modesty - it may be cowardice. What we learn from David’s example is this: when you
come face to face with some great task in life, if God has called you, and if you feel by
the goings of God upon your own spirit, that you have it in you to do it, do not be too
Rev. J. Overduin - 1 Samuel 17:34a, 37
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modest to say: “I will do it.” David was not too modest. He said to Saul: “Your servant
will go out and fight with this Philistine.”
There is a preparation of the wilderness that makes a man ready for anything. So,
when Saul said: “You never did fight a giant, did you?”, David said: “No.” “You never
did go out against the Philistines to battle?” “No.” “You never did wear armour, a helmet
of brass, a shield, and use a great sword?” “No.” “Well,” said Saul, “put them on
anyhow, and let us see how they fit you.”
So David got Saul’s armour on, and rattled around in it. But he put them off,
saying: “I cannot fight that way, I cannot go out with these. I will do the job, if you will
let me do it, but I will do it in my own way. I have had my experience; I slew a lion and a
bear, and I never did it at all, but God did it through me.” David had learned to recognize
God in the little things of life, and by the deliverance, wrought in the obscure and wild
places, he had laid up a store of knowledge, and of experience, that served him in times of
need, when troubles round him swelled, when fears and dangers pressed upon him.
There is something like that in the spiritual life, and if you go back to the
wilderness and keep your father’s sheep, you are not wasting any time. Moses did not
waste any time as a shepherd; John the Baptist wasted no time in the wilderness; the
apostle Paul wasted no time in his years of preparation after his conversion - there is a
storing up of experimental knowledge and of spiritual strength, David says: “The Lord
has helped me so many times in the little things of life, that I am strong for this great
occasion.”
Beloved, that is where we are to get our faith, walking humbly with God day by
day! We think: some day, when we have a great task, we will send a prayer to heaven for
a great faith, and that suddenly, overnight, we will become a hero. Nothing of the kind!
Heroes are not made that way. It may be that a man suddenly appears to be a hero, but
behind all that there are years and years of patient toil, and quiet walking with God, and
the storing up of spiritual strength, that makes the man at last to say: “The Lord is on my
side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (Ps. 118:6).
Boys and girls, fathers and mothers, are you getting your preparation? Listen to
David’s testimony: “The Lord Who delivered me out of the paws of the lion, and out of
the paws of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine!”
The time had now come for action. Stepping forward towards the armies of the
Philistines, David took his shepherd’s staff in one hand and his sling in the other. Very
soon he found himself alone in that place where none had dared to go. His own people
were behind his back; the enemy was in front. But David was not alone, for the Lord was
by his side. It was not long before he came to the brook and for a moment he was lost to
view as he bent down and chose five smooth stones to put in his little bag or “scrip” that
was tied around his waist. Climbing up the bank of the stream on the other side, David
found himself in the enemy’s land, and he knew that there was no going back. He was
heading straight for the army of the Philistines.
Rev. J. Overduin - 1 Samuel 17:34a, 37
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By the way, somebody might ask: “Why did David choose five smooth stones
from the brook?” Well, Dr. Shields tells a story of a Farmer in South Africa who was an
expert marksman - as they are reputed to be - going duck-shooting, and the friend who
accompanied him noticed that he had just two cartridges. “Why,” said he, “you have only
got two cartridges!” “Well,” he replied, “I want only two ducks!” He made no
provisions for missing anything. David belonged to that company of men who could
sling a stone to a hair’s breadth, and not miss. But... remember: it was not done without
much practice. When he was still a boy he had practiced with that sling, day after day,
and hour after hour until he could put the stone dead on the mark every time. He knew
that no boy (or girl) can do anything really well without much work and practice.
David might not have known how to handle a great sword, or a great shield, but
he knew how to handle that sling. He was confident of that in his heart. He took his five
stones, and he was unmoved by the boastful and scornful challenge of the Philistine, even
though he laughed at him...and boys do not like to be laughed at. When a boy can stand
to be laughed at, he has got the makings of a man in him; and when a girl can stand up
against the laughter of her friends, she has the qualities that will distinguish her in the
future. There are a great number of people who can fight and withstand almost anything,
but they cannot fight a laugh. The giant laughed at David, disdained him, cursed him by
his heathen gods, and said: “Am I a dog, that you come to knock me down with a stick? I
will soon make an end of you. Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the
air, and to the beasts of the field!”
O, beloved, we may find inspiration in David’s glorious reply: “You come to me
with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to you in the name of the
Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom you have defied!” You know the
rest of the story: he used only one stone - only one. Around his head he whirled it, and
the stone was speeding towards the giant before he knew what was happening. The stone
was dead on its mark. It hit Goliath on his forehead between the eyes. It sank straight
into the giant’s head, and his great body fell to the ground face downwards. Smitten by
David? No! By Almighty God, through a boy who had given himself to God. That is
how it was done. Nothing is impossible to a boy or a girl, a man or a woman, whom God
chooses to use. He will use any of us, if we yield ourselves to the Lord. He will do the
same miracles today by the working of His Holy Spirit in our hearts, if we come - no, it is
not because of our coming, but I say, if we come and submit to Him and say with Isaiah:
“O, Lord, here I am; send me.”
There was no sword in the hand of David, so we read, but David now ran forward
once again, and, standing on the giant’s back grasped his great sword, drew it out of its
sheath, and cut off the giant’s head. Goliath was so sure of getting the victory that he had
not even withdrawn his sword from its sheath. He probably thought that one blow from
his great spear would be enough to lay David low on the ground. The giant made the
same mistake that the enemies of God often make when they despise the people of God.
He felt so strong in himself and thought God’s people to be so weak, that he reckoned the
battle to be as good as won. But the battle was not Goliath’s. No, not even David’s. The
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battle was the Lord’s. That is what David cried out when he ran toward the giant: “The
battle is the Lord’s!”
“It was Israel’s God and King
Sent David to the fight,
Who gave him strength to sling
And skill to aim aright.
Ye fearful saints, your strength endures
Because young David’s God is yours!”
So, as I come to a close, I repeat what I said in the beginning of this sermon: it is
absolutely necessary that every boy and every girl, yea, all men, should come to know
God early and to know Christ early! I mentioned it already. David was a type of Christ.
Christ is called the Son of David. He came to accept the challenge of the giant of all
giants, even Beelzebub himself, the prince of darkness.
“Send me a man to fight with me.” You remember how Christ, the Anointed of
the Lord, accepted the challenge. The Lord Jesus came into the world, and at the place
called Calvary He met him, He defeated him, and put His conquering heel upon the neck
of man’s worst enemy. “For this purpose,” says John, “for this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil!” So He did and so He is
still doing! In Christ Who slew the father of all the giants, Who met the host of hell and
defeated the prince of this world - in Christ we may be victorious for time and for
eternity.
Beloved, each and everyone of you, have you already given yourself up unto Him?
“Delay not, lest His anger rise,
And you should perish in your way;
Lo, all that put their trust in Him
Are blest indeed, and blest for aye!”
AMEN