v 45. David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
Saul tried to bolster David’s chances of victory by wrapping him in chain mail and a massive helmet, after all that’s what soldiers do isn’t it? Just read again about Goliath’s weaponry (vv 5-6) and Saul’s attempt to match that (vv 38-39). David’s repeated response is different; ‘The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!’ (v 37) and ‘Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head.’ David had deep-rooted confidence in God, but also knew that he was going to have to do some of the messy work himself. the Lord will conquer you,… I will kill you (v 46). He was not one to shirk delivering the vital blow, but he depended on God alone for getting him to that point.
Perhaps here is David’s secret – his way of facing fearful difficulties. He saw himself as working with God to achieve that desirable outcome.
Difficult circumstances are not always overcome by simply leaving it to God. That may be the way forward sometimes, but I suspect that more often than not God takes us by the hand and says, ‘We’re going to do this together. Pick up some stones, load your sling, take aim, and shoot.‘ Confidence grows as we experience God sealing the victory.
If fear grips us for whatever reason look at it as an opportunity to work and walk more closely with God; together, the difficulty can be conquered. Faith grows as fear turns to trust.