David and Goliath

“David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.’” 1 Samuel 17:45
The account of David and Goliath is one of the most famous in the Bible, even making its way into the secular vernacular. But we should not let its familiarity rob us of the spiritual insights that can be gained.
The important thing to note here is David’s attitude. The world, when using this analogy - for instance, to support a sports team that is the obvious underdog, will say that you can overcome by having the self-determination to do so. You may be small, but that makes you more agile; and as for the giant, well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. But this was not David’s attitude at all.
David, like every man standing on the Israelite’s hill that day, knew that no-one could defeat Goliath in his own strength. But David, unlike the others, had complete faith in God’s power. He didn’t think he could defeat Goliath – he was certain that God could.
David had his eyes on God, not Goliath. Where the Israelite armies were saying, ‘Look at this man coming out to defy the armies of Israel. He’s so huge!’, David was saying, ‘Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ (1 Sam. 17:36). He went to fight Goliath, not because he wanted to be famous, or show the other men how it was done, but because he was standing up for the name of the Lord.