So there I was, face-to-face with the tallest, largest man I had ever seen. Some say he was ten feet tall, but next to me he looked more like twenty. He had long, straggly hair and a dirty-looking beard. He wore thick armour made of bronze and on his head was a fearsome-looking helmet with a strange-looking nose-guard. That in itself made him look cruel and savage, but when he spoke; no, when he bellowed, the armies of Israel cowered in their tents. He could have used a bath; I know this for sure because I was standing downwind of him. My father's sheep pens were in cleaner condition than the giant who stood before me.

My job was to take this man down and save the armies of Israel. So there I stood, a small shepherd boy, barely five feet tall and a hundred pounds soaking wet. This man (I found out his name was Goliath) held a sword that could have chopped down the cedars of Lebanon. I had a sling and five small river-stones.

My name is David.

Let me retrace my steps and tell you how I ended up in this situation. It was a beautiful, bright sunny day and I was tending my father's sheep. That's what I did. That's all I had ever done. I am the youngest of eight boys. My father is Jesse from Bethlehem. My three oldest brothers, Eliab, Abinadab, and Shimea are full-time soldiers in Saul's army and were now on the front-lines in a battle against the Philistines. I was too young to join; besides, my father needed me to tend sheep, as he was quite elderly and found it too hard to do it himself. I would often travel back and forth bringing encouragement to my brothers and taking news back to my father, letting him know how the battle was going. My father worried about my brothers, and the bits of news I would bring from the battlefield would cheer him up and help him not to worry so much.

So it was no surprise when Father summoned me and asked me to take some roasted grain and bread to my brothers, some cheese to their captain and in exchange receive some, hopefully, encouraging news of their welfare.

A friend of mine said he would watch the sheep for me, so I took the provisions and went to find my brothers. I entered the Israelite camp just as they were starting the march to the battle-front. Leaving the bread and cheese with a Supply Officer, I ran to find my brothers among the ranks. It was an exciting time. Everyone was talking about the war and the Philistines, especially about the one they called Goliath. Oh, how I wished that I could fight the battle with them. It's lousy being the youngest kid.

Soon we were overlooking a deep valley, with the Philistine army on the opposite hill, looking back at us. Then he was there; Goliath. The embodiment of the name that was on everyone's lips. Goliath; the name that struck fear into the bravest of warriors. Goliath; the name that was feared by King Saul himself. A strange, eerie silence fell upon each soldier, and it seemed as if they were afraid even to look in his direction. He stood there staring, as if he were looking into the very souls of men. Then he broke the silence.

What a mouth on that guy. Such language I had never heard in my life. He spoke blasphemies that should have been answered by a bolt of lightning. He cursed the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He cursed the armies of Israel. He cursed and he taunted; taunted and cursed. I couldn't believe what I was hearing; and the worst part? - the brave men of Saul's army started running for their lives. This was no way for an army to act, especially the army of God. Where was their faith? Had they forgotten the stories of how God had rescued our fathers from the Egyptian Pharaoh and how Pharaoh's army had drowned in the sea? How the armies of Pharaoh were defeated without the people of Israel even lifting a finger in battle? Did they think these stories were only folklore and fables?

I stood there in disbelief. My anger was mounting and I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do something - anything. I may have only been a small shepherd boy, but I serve a God who is greater than any Philistine army or even their great hero, Goliath. I know this from experience, for when a lion or bear would come to steal a lamb from my father's flock, I would go after it with a club and rescue the lamb. If the animal would turn on me I would catch it by the jaw and club it to death. This was my experience with the wild animals that would endanger my father's flocks and I was determined to do the same thing to this pagan Philistine who was defiling the armies of the living God.

And Saul, the one who was supposed to be our leader; our king - what was he doing? Well, it seems the best idea he could come up with was to offer a reward of one of his daughters in marriage to the man who could defeat Goliath in a one-on-one fight. He even upped the ante by exempting that man's entire family from paying taxes. Now I'm totally in favour of the idea of not paying taxes, but really - is this what this was all about? Did it not bother him or anyone else for that matter that the God we serve was being blasphemed and cursed? Was there no honour left in the camp? Was small personal gain more important than worship and obedience to the God who rescued His people out of Egypt?

So I went to see King Saul about the problem and about my own idea. I'm surprised that he even gave me an audience, but I guess he was getting desperate for a solution. He didn't think my idea of picking a personal fight with Goliath was very good. In fact, he told me it was a ridiculous idea. I told him about my experiences with the lion and the bear. I told him that if the Lord could rescue me from these, He could surely rescue me from this Philistine. I don't know if this convinced him or if he was just more desperate than I had thought, but he finally consented to my offer.

You should have seen me trying to put on Saul's armour - yea, that's right, Saul actually offered me his own personal armour. Well, it wasn't doing him any good. He was in his tent shaking in his boots. He certainly had no intention of using it. I tried putting it on, but Saul was a pretty tall guy. In fact, I think he was the tallest person in the Israelite army. I tried taking a few steps in it, but didn't get far. Not wanting to offend the king, I told him I couldn't use it because I had never worn armour before and didn't know how to use it properly. I certainly couldn't tell him that offering oversized armour to a pipsqueak like me was an even more ridiculous idea than me fighting Goliath.

Well anyway, there I was. I had made the offer to fight, but I had no weapons and I was extremely undersized and under-trained for such an exhibition. All I had was my sling and five small, smooth stones I had collected from a nearby stream. At least that's all the weaponry people could see. My real weapon was the power of the Almighty God, whose army Goliath was defying.

That man was about to learn a tough lesson.

With sling in hand and a short prayer, I started across the valley floor. It seemed like a very long walk. What on earth was I doing? Did I really have the faith that I thought I had? Would God really do the fighting for me? I had talked a good game, but what if I was wrong? What if I lost the battle? I wasn't afraid of dying, but the armies of Israel would be ridiculed by the Philistines even more than before. The whole Philistine army would converge on Saul's army and would defeat them. Not only would they be defeated, but they would be slaughtered while running in retreat. This would be a terrible blow to my people's honour. It would mean defeat for the king and more than likely put my people into slavery to the Philistine nation.

But I couldn't think that way. Too much was at stake. I had told Saul that the Lord would rescue me and I knew He would. I believed it; I had to believe it. The faith of the nation was at stake. I knew God was on our side; I knew He wouldn't let us down.

Confident in my God, yet shaking on the inside, I walked up to Goliath and tried to stare him down. That's not easy when you're five feet tall and your opponent is ten feet tall. I couldn't exactly look down to him, but I sure wanted to. Goliath was insulted by my presence and shouted, "Am I a dog that you come at me with a stick? Come over here, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals." At that moment I felt a strength rising in me that that I can't describe. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the victory would be mine. I felt at that moment that the battle was already won. I shouted back in a voice that I did not recognize as my own, "You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven's Armies - the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord's battle, and he will give you to us."

And then it was over, almost before it began.

The rest of what happened is rather hazy in my memory, but I do remember putting one of those small stones in my sling and spinning the sling 'round and 'round and 'round. My whole concentration was on that small spot in the middle of Goliath's forehead. I remember letting the stone fly and watching as it travelled upwards. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion as the stone found its mark. Then I heard a low moan and saw a giant crash to the earth.

That was many, many years ago. I am no longer known as David the Shepherd Boy. These days I am known as David, King of Israel. I have fought many battles since that day. Some say that Saul slew his thousands, while I slew my tens of thousands. That may be true; I don't know. What I do know is that every battle, whether great or small, is already won when God in on our side.

by David Ronald Bruce Pekrul