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Strength Through Faith
1 Samuel 17:40-50
August 31, 2025
The Bible says God has not given us the spirit of fear but one of power, love and of sound mind. That’s what I’m going to be talking about tonight.
It’s incredible how quickly life can change. Five years ago, the world was rocked by a pandemic that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Today, we live in a time where change is constant—and often unsettling.
Everywhere we look, there’s uncertainty. Wars are raging. The global economy feels like it’s teetering. Technology—once a promise—is now a source of fear and it has touched our local community in a big way. People wonder about artificial intelligence, privacy, deepfakes, and what truth even is anymore. Crime and division fill our headlines. The National Guard is patrolling some of our cities. Many are asking, “What will tomorrow hold?”
In times like these, we don’t just need “a little” faith—we need the faith of a spiritual giant.
Proverbs 18:10, The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
The righteous runs into it and is safe.
That’s exactly the kind of refuge David found when he faced Goliath. And if there’s ever been a time to learn from David’s faith—it’s now. But I suggest that though the Philistine by the name of Goliath was physically a giant, spiritually nothing in this biblical account. David was spiritually a giant. We need that kind of faith right now, in times like these.
Look at the story of David and understand what it means to strengthen faith in a time of trouble. We need greater faith. These are days of great uncertainty and people are concerned.
God will strengthen faith when we look to Him. That’s the lesson from this story.
David was just a youth. Israel was in a conflict with the Philistines. The armies were standing opposite each other with the Valley of Elah between them.
David’s older brothers were in the army of Israel and his father Jesse sent David to check on their well-being. When he arrived, he heard the Philistine giant, Goliath, taunting the armies of Israel to send out a man to fight, but all Israel was afraid, and no one was willing to face the Philistine. When David heard the giant taunting Israel, he became incensed, saying, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”
David’s faith is the key to this story. When David was sent to face the Philistine, he was sending a spiritual giant. The lessons from the story are lessons about faith.
I. The Lord is My Strength
When David heard Goliath mocking God’s people, he didn’t shrink back like everyone else. He didn’t analyze the odds or negotiate terms. He said:
“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
David saw something everyone else missed: This wasn’t about human strength—it was about God’s power. In other words, if God is with you, who can be against you?
A. A heart made new
David wasn’t born with this kind of faith. None of us are.
Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
Somewhere along the way, David’s heart was changed—transformed by God’s presence. Men are not just born with a heart after God. It’s quite the opposite, man is born with a heart that is wicked. And this year, when fear, anger, and self-preservation dominate our culture, we need the same transformation.
Illustration –If you’ve raised kids at all you know one thing for certain, you don’t have to teach children how to be selfish. They’re born that way; it’s natural. They come out of the womb that way. They were born with the nature of man.
Something must happen between the moment when a child is born and when that child grows up and becomes spiritually strong. There must be spiritual revival. That’s the foundation for spiritual change. There are no spiritual giants without a heart after God.
Ezekiel 36:26, Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
If you want giant-slaying faith, it begins by letting God shape your heart through relationship with Him. That’s where spiritual revival starts. The key is that the heart must be changed.
Illustration – Macau China marriage conference.
It’s why today, when I tell a struggling couple, God is able or we serve a big God, they are not just words; I’ve seen Him do amazing things in marriages who have faith to make changes in their lives.
We are living in times that people are searching for hope. The answer is found in God; he is the anchor in the storm.
Hebrews 6:18-19, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,
B. God forges faith in the small battles
Before David faced Goliath, he fought lions and bears while caring for his father’s sheep. He didn’t see those moments as “unimportant.” They were God’s training ground. God was preparing David for the challenges ahead.
Luke 16:10, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Maybe today your “lion” is financial stress. Or your “bear” is a family conflict. Or your “sheep” is an unseen act of faithfulness God is asking you to protect.
David would give an account for those lambs and was concerned for every one of them. That’s why he would make a good king.
God uses today’s struggles to prepare you for tomorrow’s giants.
C. Blessed are those who love Him
David didn’t just fight battles—he worshiped. Out in the fields, he wrote psalms—not for an audience, but for God alone.
When David was watching the sheep, he would play his harp and write psalms to the Lord. What beautiful, personal, heartfelt moments. David didn’t write the Psalms because he thought they would make him famous one day. He wasn’t planning on submitting these to a publisher. He was simply writing psalms because he loved his Lord with all his heart. And God loved him for it.
Psalm 23:1, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Psalm 8:3-4,9, When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained. What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!
Psalm 19:14, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
It was this private devotion that fueled his public courage. For us, when distractions are everywhere, we must protect that private place of worship.
It was David’s heart that God saw in him and that was what God was searching for in the man who would lead Israel.
2 Chronicles 16:9, For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.”
II. God is a Very Present Help
This is the key to faith; knowing that God will never leave you, nor will He ever forsake you…
Psalm 46:1-2, 10, God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; (10) Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
You don’t have to scroll far to see the “giants” in our world—economic instability, wars, social unrest, political divisions, moral decay, a medical condition or losing your job. It could be alcohol or drugs taking hold of your life, or problems in your marriage that seem insurmountable. They’re loud. They’re intimidating. And like Goliath, they seem to grow larger every day.
A. By faith we overcome
For 40 days, Goliath’s voice dominated the valley. That’s what fear does—it wears you down. But David knew where to go to be built up.
1 Samuel 30:6, Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
When facing troubles; begin right there. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. Draw near to Him; turn your heart toward Him…
Today, you might need to turn off the noise of fear—news, social media, constant outrage—and tune your ear to the voice of God.
This is what spiritual giants do.
Psalm 121:1-2, I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
B. The battle belongs to the Lord
David didn’t fight Goliath in his own strength. He said:
“I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts.”
David made it clear in verse 37 that it was the Lord who had delivered him from the lion and from the bear and it would be the Lord who would deliver him from the hand of the Philistine that day.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
Illus – When David slung that stone, would you agree it was divinely directed by the Spirit of God. There was nowhere else in the world it was going to go but into Goliath’s forehead.
That’s still the key today. The problems of this world aren’t going to be solved by human ingenuity alone. Political solutions, technology, and self-help have limits.
2 Chronicles 20:15, and he said, “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.
When you face your own giants—be they fear, sin, doubt, or uncertainty—remember that God’s power, not yours, is what brings victory.
We live in a time of fear, but we are called to live with faith like David’s—faith that sees God’s power as bigger than the problems around us. The giants today may look different, but the God who empowers His people has not changed. He is still the strong tower. He is still the anchor in the storm. And when you stand in His name—you stand in the faith of a giant.
1 Samuel 17:40-50 NASB
40 He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.
41 Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”
48 Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.
50 Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand.
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