I Samuel 9:2

And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

We see here the bible's description of Saul. The children of Israel wanted a king and were happy when Saul was presented to them for a variety of reasons. First off, he was handsome, Second, he was a big man, head and shoulders taller than anybody else in Israel. He was impressive and was someone who they would be willing to follow into battle.

You find in the following chapters that he was successful as he led the children of Israel into battle with the Ammonites and the Philistines. They won over both. Saul was a mighty warrior and I am sure that the Children of Israel were proud to have him as their king.

Then David is introduced. God had rejected Saul because although he had a lot of strength his heart wasn’t for God, and had chosen instead David. David was young and insignificant. Or it is at least safe to say that his family definitely didn’t think of him as king material.

When Samuel came and told Jesse that one of his children had been chosen as king he didn’t even think to have David there. He still didn’t think of David after all his other sons had passed before Samuel two times and still all had been rejected. Finally it took Samuel asking him “Are here all thy children?” before he thought of David, and even then Samuel had to tell him to send for him. The rest of course is history. David was chosen to be king and anointed king by Samuel that day.

All that was background. Lets look forward a bit to I Samuel 17. 

Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belonged to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Axekah, in Ephes-dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

So here we see Goliath. The children of Israel have followed King Saul to repel the invading Philistines and out steps this champion Goliath who is “six cubits and a span” in height. A cubit is 18” and a span is about 9” so he would have been 9’9” tall. His coat of mail would have weighed 126 pounds. In short he was one bad dude to mess with. 

So where was the mighty Saul? He was hiding in his tent sending out offers of reward for anybody who would kill Goliath. Now David was sent to bring some food for his brothers who were fighting and to bring back news of how things were going to his father. When he arrives Goliath comes out and issues his challenge, all the children of Israel run, and David wants to know “who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

We all know how this ends with David going out with a sling and five smooth stones and killing Goliath. But what can we learn from this. Why was this youth able to do with a sling what a seasoned warrior couldn’t do with armor and sword?

The question is where does your strength lie. Saul had within himself a lot of strength. He was head and shoulders taller than anybody in Israel. If you listen to today’s self help “experts,” they talk a lot about identifying and capitalizing on your strengths. The problem with this is that if your strength comes from within yourself, it is relative. You might be very smart but you only appear exceptional until you are around somebody smarter. A tall man will look short if he stands next to someone taller. You might be able to bench press 300 pounds and you will seem unbelievably strong as long as you are working out with high school students. If you go to a gym where some guy is benching 400 pounds you look weak.

Saul towered over everybody in his nation but when he met Goliath he was nothing because his strength came from within and thus was relative. David trusted God for his strength and so his was not relative. Even if it had been, when your strength comes from the one whose throne is heaven and the earth is his foot stool, some guy who is around ten feet tall is about as significant as an ant.

So if you want to be able to live your life without fear, and live as the bible says to “be careful for nothing,” trust God to be your strength. If your strength comes from within, there will come a time that it will fail you. Peace comes by knowing that your strength is absolute and not relative, because it comes from God Almighty rather than from within yourself.

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