Part of a daily devotional series at Words of Hope (https://woh.org/word/devotionals/2013/03/12) looking at how people in the Bible handled tough situations:
Read 1 Samuel 17:17-52
In the 2001 movie “Monsters, Inc.,” the top monster Sully isn’t all that scary when you get to know him. But the monster young David faced really was. Goliath stood nine feet tall. His bronze helmet and armor weighed one hundred and twenty- five pounds. He had a mammoth spear, a bronze sword strapped to his back, and a shield so big it required another man to carry it. He strolled out in front of Israel’s army every day to insult them and their God. Everyone was scared.
Then David came into camp with food for his brothers. While there he heard and saw the monster. What would you have done? This giant Philistine was not going away on his own.
Sometimes monsters come into our lives and shake the foundations of our faith. How do you face the threatening giant—the sin, the disease, the adverse circumstance? David did it by remembering God’s protection in the past. Those memories assured him he would be victorious against this threat too. Then David picked up his weapons and advanced in the Lord’s name. St. Paul, using a military metaphor in Ephesians 6, urges us to put on the armor of God, including the breastplate of righteousness and the sword of the Spirit (God’s Word). A sword like that will kill many a monster.
Rich Rockwood, Christian Author 