1 Samuel 24:1-22 tells us how David, while taking refuge in a cave from King Saul, had the perfect opportunity to launch a surprise attack upon Saul and put an end to his life on the run. But despite encouragement from his men to do this, David resisted the temptation and refused to kill the Lord’s anointed King. Taking revenge is never the Lord’s way of achieving his will.

1 Samuel 23:16-29 tells how David, after escaping once more from King Saul, found a hideout in the desert, only to be betrayed by the local people and have to take flight again from Saul’s rage. However, in this difficult situation, David’s was ‘strengthened in God’ by a visit from his loyal friend Jonathan which encouraged him. The ministry of encouragement is vital and not beyond any seek to serve and build up the people of the Lord.

1 Samuel 23:1-15 tells us how, David, after taking refuge from King Saul in a forest in Israel, was faced with the dilemma of helping out some of his fellow country men fight the Philistines or remain in his safe place away from the mad King. David sought guidance from God and helped rescue the people of Keilah and then, again guided by God, fled from Saul to another safe place. The world is still ruled by men who act as unpredictably as Saul, but those who place themselves in the centre of God’s will shall always be kept by the Lord.

After taking flight from King Saul and being very much alone, in 1 Samuel 22:1-23, David soon found that some men came to him, some others greatly helped him and yet others died because of him. These ones who died were the priests of Nob who Saul had slaughtered for helping David whose actions had consequences far greater than he could imagine. Thankfully the Lord Jesus paid for all the sins of God’s people and even the consequences of those sins.

After taking flight from King Saul and beginning a life on the run, in 1 Samuel 21:1-15, David found himself very much alone, living life like a beggar, fleeing like a refugee and acting like a madman in the presence of the king of Gath. However, through all of these difficult times, David put his trust in God and proved that in the hardest of times, God does not abandon his own.

1 Samuel 20 records the depth of friendship and fellowship experienced by David and Saul’s son Jonathon. Because of their covenant commitment to each other based upon God’s covenant love for His people, they were able to forge a friendship in the midst of dangerous days for them both. This friendship ultimately points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved His own and paid for them by His blood out of his wonderful grace, thus proving to be the greatest Friend.

1 Samuel 17:55-19:24 records how after David’s surprise victory over Goliath, instant fame placed him in the limelight. However, this upward rise soon had its downward side and David found himself in the untenable position of being in King Saul’s employment when the King tried more than once to kill him. To make matters worse David soon became the King’s son-in-law and then Saul’s own children had to help David escape from Saul’s wrath. Through all this, David found that his security could only be in the Lord and Him alone.

1 Samuel 17:41-54 tells us that when David finally went out to fight Goliath it was the ultimate mismatch. However with some stones and a sling and his ‘secret weapon’ of trust in the Lord, David was able to gain the victory, proving that victory does not always go to the strong, but to those whose trust is in the Lord. Those who belong to Christ also share in His victory over sin and death and Satan and so are ‘overcomers’ in Him.

In 1 Samuel 17:28-40 it is evident that there can be no doubt that David was different to the rest of the Israelite army and even the members of his own family. His sight was different in that he could see that God was bigger than Goliath. His motives were different even though his brother, Eliab, was critical of his intent. And his strategy too was different. Saul’s armour did not fit and was the wrong kind. Again David is a ‘type’ of Jesus who was to come and who was different in every sense but did not allow anything or anyone to deter him from the goal of saving His people

The story of David and Goliath is usually misunderstood to be a description of a clash between a champion and an underdog, but the story itself has far more meaning than that. It is true to say that Goliath was big and David was small, but because David is a ‘type’ of Jesus who was to come, the beginning of the story in 1 Samuel 17:28-37 emphasizes how David heard all of Goliath’s taunts and was willing to step into the breach for God’s people – something that the Lord Jesus did for God’s people to a greatest degree.