God is showing off the preparation of David, not the giant; but Saul the king like the other nations, sees war with the eyes of the world: “You can’t face the giant because he has been preparing for battle for years. You haven’t had any preparation at all.” [Duh. Refer to previous posts about “How God Prepares You to Face Giants.”]
Consider that David enters the valley fully prepared to fight, but without ammunition. He carries a shepherd’s bag, but no smooth stones. Surely an expert with the sling would have the fullest understanding that the sling isn’t to be used to whip the giant up the side of the head, right? No! The sling needs some ammo to make it lethal. Yet, David carries no smooth stones.
The point of David’s preparation is to recognize excellent ammo when he sees it. He seems aware that a giant-killing smooth stone is available in the valley of the giant waiting for a champion to find it! He goes to the brook before he runs toward the giant.
David says, “There’s a giant-killing stone in this valley!”
As we learned earlier, no one in the entire army of Israel has a sword or spear – no weapon at all! – except Saul and his son, Jonathan. So, the entire army of Israel stands before the champion of their enemies with a shovel or rake in their hands. There is no one in Israel prepared to use a giant-killing stone! There is no one in Israel to even recognize a giant-killing stone when they see one! That stone has been waiting there in the brook for years, washed over by the rippling waters, nudged by minnows, pelted by rains, bleach by drought exposure. It would remain there for a very long time if God hadn’t prepared David to find and use it.
People who curse their preparation won’t recognize the giant-killing stone that is waiting in their valley. They will wait for decades for God to send them the ammunition they require to be champions, despising the sling and the shepherding assignment, they will not become expert with the weapon they now possess or invest passion in the assignment of their preparation for the throne. And, they will skip over the smooth stones to find a flat one they can skip over the water!
David picks up five smooth stones but selects one. All kinds of things have been said and written about the five smooth stones. One more thing: David intends to finish the job. He fills the empty shepherd’s bag with more than enough. He isn’t thinking that the army will run away, but that he will need to fight some more after the giant falls. After all, the giant does have an armor bearing assistant standing there beside him. David doesn’t seem to consider that he will need help! Having killed lion and bear, he considers what he will need to do to quarantine the valley of Philistines! He has quarantined his valley of lions and bears…
