David's Battle with a bully

DAVID AND GOLIATH

This story is a little different from the rest. I used it in a children’s setting, but if you are daring it might work with adults too. The idea is that the audience listens for certain key words (in this case the words are all characters) and yells something out or has a certain reaction. The hardest part of telling this story for me is remembering to pause and let the audience respond.

Synopsis

This is the story of David and Goliath most of the text comes directly from the NIV version of the story from 1 Samuel.

Spiritual Points

Well, pretty much everything that normally goes with the David can Goliath theme. It is a good way to retell this familiar story and a great jumping off point to a discussion on how God will take care of us through hard times.

How it Works

Before you start go through the characters and actions that you see below. You may want to practice them a couple of times and make sure that everyone is ready. When you say the character name the audience should respond with the action on the right.

The Actions

Philistines Boo

Israelites Cheer

Goliath Stomp feet and make muscles

David Baa Baa (like sheep) (Explain that David was a Shepherd)

The Soldiers Act afraid.

Characters

David

Saul

Goliath

Israelites

Philistines

Davids brothers

The Story

When our story starts the Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

The Philistines had a champion named Goliath. Goliath was over nine feet tall (which is like one of you standing on my shoulders). He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing 125 pounds and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.

Goliath stood and shouted, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to beat me, we will become your servants; but if I beat him, you will become our servants and serve us.”

When they heard this the soldiers were terrified. They look at each other and quaked in their boots. The soldiers had no one in their ranks who was as big as Goliath and no one wanted to go and fight him. So he Goliath kept coming out and yelling and the soldiers kept shaking in fear.

Now David was a shepherd. He spent some time with King Saul at the palace, but most of the time he spent out in the field keeping his fathers sheep. Now David was also the youngest person in his family.

David’s older brothers were all in the army and they were on the hill looking at the Philistines and quaking in their boots.

So one day David’s father told him to take some food to his brothers. He went to them, and when he got there he saw the Philistine army lined up on the hill, and the soldiers quaking in their boots, and he couldn’t understand why.

Then Goliath came out and begins to speak. Who will fight me? Are you not the soldiers of Saul? Will no one stand and fight me?

This made David mad. He turned to his brothers and said, we are not only the servants of Saul, we are the servants of God. If God is standing with us, then who can be against us. The he said, If all of you soldiers are too scared to fight him, then I will fight him because I know that God will protect me.

So David went to the king and asked to go and fight against Goliath.

But King Saul said, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy”

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

So David went to the river and chose 5 smooth stones. Then he walked to the front lines and waited for Goliath. When Goliath came out and asked if anyone would fight him David stepped forward.

When he saw how young and small David was Goliath laughed and made fun of him, and all of the Philistines laughed and made fun of him. But David said “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

As Goliath moved closer to attack, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

So David triumphed over Goliath with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down him down.

Suddenly the soldiers, no they weren’t afraid anymore, ran to attack the Philistines and it was the Philistines that ran away afraid, and David was more than just a shepherd, he was a hero and a legend all because he understood that while people may look at the outside God looks at the heart.

And while people seem to always want the biggest or the oldest or the strongest, God loves to use small and young people to accomplish his will. So when you are saying your prayers you want to go beyond just God bless mommy and God bless Daddy. Ask God what you can do for his kingdom today. Ask God what giants He wants you to defeat today.

End of Story