David and Goliath
He was young, but he was brave. He knew that God
protected him from the bears and lions that tried to steal the sheep he
was guarding. One time he killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands.
Although Goliath had a suit of armor, all David had was a slingshot and five
smooth stones and his shepherd staff. King Saul tried to get David to wear
armor to protect him, but it was very heavy and David had never tried to
fight with it on before. So he left it behind and trusted God: he will
deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine.
When Goliath saw that the Israelites sent a boy to fight, he made fun of
them some more. Then he told David he was going to rip him apart and feed
him to the birds and beasts. David answered bravely and told him God would
get the glory. Wow! David gave a testimony right on the battlefield
in front of everybody. In 1 Samuel 17:47 it says And all this assembly shall
know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the
Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.
Now David didn't have a slingshot like you may think. It wasn't a
Y-shaped stick with a rubber band between it. It was a rope with a small
pouch on the end and you would wave it around in a circle to get the speed
you needed to release the stone. When Goliath came at David, he didn't get
scared and run away. He went straight at Goliath. He took out
a smooth stone from his shepherds bag and placed it in the sling. Then
he slung it at the giant and hit him squarely in the forehead. The stone had
been a mighty weapon after all. It went into his skull and killed Goliath.
Then David went and took Goliath's sword and cut off his head. That scared
the Philistines so badly that they ran away in fear and were chased by the
Israelites out of the land.
