Gathering

Which best describes how you handle a situation, or task, when everyone believes that you will lose before you even begin?

  1. Disconnect, numb out or distract yourself from the situation.
  2. Make every effort or attempt to prove them wrong.
  3. Become overwhelmed by thinking about it too much.
  4. Run toward the situation with unwavering confidence in who you are.
  5. Other

 

Backstory

This battle story introduces us to David’s family system, roles, and character traits that would promote him to become Israel’s king, replacing Saul. At this point in that 15-year path to becoming king, David is but a 15-year-old cocky kid. David was known to be handsome, a keeper of sheep, a killer of lions and bears, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, and a musician in Saul’s royal court. David tended to everyone’s needs—Saul with soothing music, his brothers with comforting food, his fellow soldiers with encouraging words. God chose David as the next king and the one to take on Goliath for reasons based not on appearance or status, but on his heart for God. But no one else gave this shepherd boy a chance against the 9-foot-tall Goliath. In this one-on-one duel, whoever toppled the other champion, his nation would win the battle.

 

God’s Story

Have one person read 1 Samuel 17:12-44 seated while the remainder of the group stands, representing David’s smaller or inadequate characteristics to his critics. Then have this same person read 1 Samuel 17: 45-50, but this time switch posture with the reader standing, while the remainder of the group sits.

 

Finding My Story within God’s Story

Growing up, how would you have been described by others in your family or community?

  1. Caring and kind—just wanted everyone to get along
  2. Strong and competitive—someone who got things done
  3. Clever or smart—someone who figured things out
  4. Isolated, introvert—someone who stayed above the fray
  5. Some combination of the above options, or Other ________________

 

Do you think their perceptions were accurate?

 

How are those roles playing out for you today?

 

David confidently and quickly approached the fully armored Philistine giant whom everyone else feared. What was the basis of David’s courage and tactical approach?

  1. His confidence was not in his abilities or weapons but in the Lord.
  2. He smartly approached from the side, where the giant lacked peripheral vision.
  3. David wanted to remove the national disgrace from Israel, give all glory to God.
  4. Sticks and stones can break the bones of Goliath, but his taunting words would never hurt David.
  5. Other _________________.

 

Compared to his brothers, King Saul, or Goliath, what did David know that they did not?

  1. If God could deliver David from a lion or bear, he could deliver him from Goliath.
  2. The God of Israel is mightier than the gods of the Philistines.
  3. The bigger they are, the harder they fall; then the domino effect takes over.
  4. The pen of David the poet is mightier than the sword of Goliath the giant.
  5. Other ________________.

 

Our Story

Is there a giant in your life that needs to be defeated by God along with your willingness and courage to show up and say, “Here I am”?

  1. If so, name your “giant” to the group—there is power in naming.
  2. If not, what stands out for you, as you experience David and Goliath today?

 

When the Lord looks at your heart, as he did David’s, what do you think he sees?

 

Ask the men to pray for you, your heart, your “giant,” your fears, your naysayers, and anything else that may have risen to the surface during this Bible study.