“Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s. And he will give you into our hand.'”
– 1 Samuel 17:45–47
Thus David spoke before he struck down Goliath. And there is so much here in his words, in the way he describes the sin of Goliath daring to defy God. David knew that was the primary problem here. Goliath was defying the God of Israel, and David would not stand for it.
Oh, for that kind of zeal for the glory of God in our lives, that wherever, in any way, we see God not being honored and glorified, that we rise up, we say we want to change that, we want to see God honored and glorified. Isn’t this what leads us to pray? According to Jesus, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” That’s what drives us to pray. We want God’s name to be hallowed.
God will glorify himself among all the peoples of the earth.
1 Samuel 17:45–47 Reminds Us God Will Glorify Himself
And notice where this leads David to act, with trust in God, to go to this giant, Goliath, and to say, “This battle, for the glory of God, is not ultimately mine, it’s ultimately God’s. And he will glorify himself.”
This is Psalm 46:10, right? “Be still and know that I am God, and I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth.”
Oh, there’s so much here in 1 Samuel 17:45–47 and all over the Bible. God will glorify himself among all the peoples of the earth. There is a battle going on every single day and multitudes, countless multitudes of countless ways for the glory of God to be known and exalted. There’s an adversary at work in this world who is doing everything he can to keep God from being exalted in your life, in my life, among this people group, that people group, in this way or that way. And we are called to live day in and day out with zeal for the glory of God, trusting him in the battles we face to glorify himself.
1 Samuel 17:45–47 Prays for Us to Live Zealously
So we pray, God help us to live in this sense, as David lived, with zeal for your glory, zeal for your honor, zeal for the hallowing of your name. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. We pray for the exaltation of your name in our lives, for the exaltation of your name in our families, for the exaltation of your name in our churches. We pray for the hallowing, the exalting of your name in the cities where we live. God, we pray for the exalting, hallowing of your name among all the nations of the earth. We pray today for Moroccan Arabs. God, we pray that your name would be hallowed among Moroccan Arabs.
God, we pray that you would spend our lives toward this end. Toward the hallowing of your name. That we might live in a way that glorifies your name in everything we say and think and do, in the way we love, the way we care for others, in the way we reflect your character. May your name be hallowed in us. Help us to do good works, that people may see us and glorify your name in heaven. Make us salt and light like that in this world.
This Verse Reminds Us There is a Battle Waging
And God, we pray knowing that there is a battle going on for glory all around us. There is an adversary who is doing everything he can to keep you from being glorified. God, help us, as we walk through those battles. Daily battles with temptation, battles amidst trials, in all kinds of ways. God, help us to trust in you, that this battle belongs to you.
Help us to be still and know that you are God. You will be exalted among the nations. You will be exalted in all the earth. And you will work on behalf of all who trust in you, stand for you, fight these battles with you. For your name’s sake. So God, spend us maximally for your name’s sake. In our lives, our families, our churches, the places where we live. Among the nations, we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
