When David left his sheep and went to the battlefield in I Samuel 17, he had no idea what he was going to see. He didn’t know the army would be standing quaking in their boots, while a hugely intimidating ogre stalked up and down on the other side, shaking his staff and ranting. He thought he was just going to take lunch to his brothers and as a bonus would be able to see the Israelites beat the tar out of the ungodly Philistines.

He hadn’t gotten “prayed up” for the face-off, because I’m telling you, he had no idea there was going to be a face-off.

David could have looked at what the other Israelites saw. He could have looked at the fearful giant and meditated on the size of his staff and the weight of his armor. “Yes, they’re right. No one can stand up against him.”

He could have looked at his own heart and meditated on his inabilities. “Yes, Eliab’s right. My heart is proud and wicked.”

He could have looked at his age and meditated on his youth. “Maybe King Saul’s right, maybe I’m too young.” He could have looked at the army and meditated on how quaking fear seemed, in such circumstances, to be the appropriate response.

But read that entire chapter, that amazing chapter, and tell me, was David afraid? Do you see a hint of fear anywhere in that chapter? On the contrary, his audacity is breathtaking. Never does he falter in the least. How did that happen?

David had spent most of his life in the field, tending sheep. During that time, two things had happened. He had experienced God’s presence. And he had experienced God’s power.

He experienced God’s presence through his meditation on the Scriptures, which at that time would have probably been the first six or so books of the Bible. From the Psalms we get the impression that during all those lonely hours he filled his mind with the truth and beauty of the Word of God.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things out of Thy Law!

The Voice of God through His Word brought David to a place where the Presence of God was more than just a static truth on paper. It was a vibrant, pulsing, experiential reality.

He experienced God’s power in his times of testing. When King Saul argued that David was too young to go up against a giant, David’s rejoinder was, essentially, I may be young, but I have been tested, and my God has proved faithful. I actually took the lamb out of the lion’s mouth. I seized the lion by the beard and killed him.

What did David see? He saw the quaking soldiers, he saw the fearful King Saul, he saw the fearsome Goliath. But David looked beyond the Screen.

What David saw was the living God.