Sermon 63: 1 Samuel 17:38-45

38. And Saul clothed David with his garments, and put a bronze helmet on his head, and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39. And David girded his sword over his garments, and began to try whether he could walk armed, for he had no practice; and David said to Saul: I cannot walk in this way, because I have no experience, and he laid them aside. 40. And he took his staff which he always had in his hands, and chose for himself five very smooth stones from the stream, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had with him, and took a sling in his hand: and advanced against the Philistine. 41. The Philistine also went, and his armor-bearer before him. 42. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him. For he was a ruddy youth, and handsome in appearance. 43. And the Philistine said to David: Am I a dog, that you come to me with a staff? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44. And he said to David: Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 45. But David said to the Philistine: You come to me with a sword and spear and shield: but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

In yesterday's sermon we began to teach how David, attributing nothing to himself nor to his own strength or valor, rested in the goodness of God alone and was safe in his protection. And thus the apostle Paul teaches us by his own example to trust not in our own strength, but in the power of him who can do all things: For, he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Thus David, taught by the experience of past things, could surely promise himself that divine help would be present at the opportune time: for since the experience of many days had shown him God's benevolence toward him, he not unreasonably hoped for the same in so holy a matter. And without doubt this is the highest wisdom, when in difficult and trying circumstances, and in our afflictions, we are able to recall to memory God's former benefits. For, I ask, what is the reason why we often fail, and are struck with such great terror by enemies surrounding us on every side, that we cannot even call upon God, nor implore help from his mercy, except that whatever benefits we received from him lie half-buried? On the contrary, David also professes that when placed in the greatest difficulties he recalled to memory the ancient days: and therefore not only thought about what he himself had experienced of God's power and goodness toward him as long as he lived, but also recalled to memory the ancient histories of God's benefits toward his people, so that he might apply what is written to his own use. And indeed, when we are commanded to place our hope in God, his benefits should not be restricted to those which we already know from experience: but must be extended further: so that we may recognize that God has preserved his people from every age and brought them help in difficult circumstances. For this reason God willed that the histories of the ancient fathers should be recorded in writings and collected in sacred Scripture, not only so that we might know that Abraham, Moses, David, and other patriarchs were preserved by God's grace and aided by divine help in difficult circumstances, but so that we might turn those deliverances to our own use and benefit. But if for the confirmation of our faith we ought to recall to memory whatever benefits God has conferred on his church, how great will be the ingratitude, and how great the stupor, not to remember what each person has received from God as benefits, and to be confirmed from them in the expectation of divine goodness? For who, from his earliest youth, who, I say, has not already from the womb felt how good God is toward him, how powerful, how munificent toward those who flee to him and rest in him alone: and therefore should not be persuaded that the faithful who flee to God will never be disappointed in their hope? Thus David strengthened his faith by the memory of that notable divine benefit toward him, by which he not only escaped the claws and jaws of the lion and the bear, but killed them: of which the proof is found especially in his conclusion with these words: The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion, and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. By which we are taught that God's benefits toward us should be referred to the future. For God is always the same as himself, and his power never diminishes: and he is merciful to those who call upon him and ready to help them. Since therefore God's goodness and power and might are perpetual, and his will is unchangeable, we can easily conclude that just as he has helped us thus far in our difficulties and trying circumstances, he will show himself the same toward us to the end. Indeed, if God were similar to created things, we would rightly doubt his constancy and faithfulness, and would always remain doubtful and wavering, just as it is uncertain whether he who was powerful yesterday will be the same today. For he who was powerful yesterday is endowed with the same power today: he who is good, with the same goodness: therefore he who in his goodwill toward us chose to have mercy on us can never change, but always retains the same faithfulness and constancy. From the recollection of these things, therefore, we easily conclude that God's help will never fail us: but just as he helped in past times, he will also help in the present, provided we ourselves are not an impediment. Indeed, thus it befits us to apply sacred Scripture to our use, and to take God's past benefits as confirmation of future ones. For that firm foundation is laid in the sacred writings, that God never leaves the work of his hands incomplete: but brings what he once began to its end. Therefore it is certain that those once received into his patronage and care he will never abandon, and those once and again rescued from dangers he will never forsake, but will always guard and defend them until he has at last brought them safely to eternal salvation. From this therefore it appears from where that distrust arises in us, when we are pressed by dangers on this side and that, when we are surrounded by the most savage enemies, when we are beset by rumors, when finally we are struck with fear of impending destruction, namely from the forgetfulness of divine benefits with which we were previously favored, but which immediately slipped away. For they are as it were trampled underfoot by us. If we thought seriously about them, as is fitting, it is certain that we would conclude with David's verdict that God who was present to help us before in difficult circumstances will also be present in adverse times, will snatch us from dangers, will draw us back from the mire and filth itself; and will fight against our enemies, and covered by the shield of his grace will miraculously snatch us from their very jaws. For he is the one who soothes the bitterness of afflictions with his sweetness, since he is good, and his goodness toward his own endures. Therefore let us learn so to meditate on the good things we have received from God's hand that we do not doubt that if we exercise ourselves in them, and place all our effort there, we will be fortified and armed with true confidence joined with true consolation against whatever dangers may assail us, expecting certain help from him, and having as it were a way already paved for calling upon him, so that we may not hesitate to address him with prayers, uncertain whether he will hear us or not. Surely I confess we are not so hard and dull that we have put off all feeling: for if we were affected by no dangers, our trust in God would be nothing, but we would stand like trunks and stumps. But when we know and feel the extreme dangers that press us, and roused by them flee to God, then we have sufficiently ample material for consolation by which we may resist all temptations. Moreover, if we have experienced God's goodness in some part, let us hope that it will not be lacking in another: and let us be persuaded that God who snatched us from that danger will also snatch us from this one. For God holds supreme dominion over all created things: and therefore has the power to bring help against whatever has caused us fear: which he will undoubtedly exert when called upon by us: provided we acknowledge and pray to him as father and savior: since it is most certain that he seeks only the benefit and advantage of his children. Therefore, although we may not have experienced God's excellent goodwill toward us in every way, let it suffice us and let us be firmly persuaded that if we have felt his help on the right hand, we will also feel it on the left, and will be rescued from all dangers both earthly and aerial.

Next follows: And Saul clothed David with his garments, and put a bronze helmet on his head, and clothed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword over his garments, and began to try whether he could walk armed, for he had no practice; and David said to Saul: I cannot walk in this way, because I have no experience, and he laid them aside. And he took his staff which he always had in his hands, and chose for himself five very smooth stones from the stream: and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had with him, and took a sling in his hand: and advanced against the Philistine. Here first it is asked how Saul's armor could be fitted to David, since Saul was, as was said at the beginning of this history, of enormous stature: and David still a young man and far smaller. Therefore there was no correspondence between the two bodies. But what prevents the armor of those times, being rough and crude, from being able to fit a man of smaller stature, but nevertheless no less strong and robust? David therefore, though shorter in stature than Saul, could nonetheless bear his helmet and the rest of the armament. Nevertheless David cast aside all that armament as useless and rather an impediment: and like a rustic, with a staff, sling, and stones he advanced against that monstrous giant. Surely there is no doubt that God's Spirit impelled him and willed him to be stripped of all those arms, lest the victory be attributed to the strength of men, but be recognized as the work of God alone, as we shall say more fully below. David therefore, having cast aside Saul's arms, goes forth to battle content with his pastoral staff, sling, and stones. But if anyone here seeks allegories and a more subtle exposition, such as that those five stones signify the five books of Moses, that is, the law, and that David was armed with faith alone, and that the stones placed in the bag signify the conscience as a repository: he would act ridiculously, and would detract just as much from the authority of sacred Scripture. For we must not play thus with sacred things, which are to be explained with simplicity and reverence. Surely those who have delicate ears are delighted by such expositions, which however we ought to flee as a deadly plague. Therefore let it suffice us here to learn that God saved his people without human effort, so that his glory would be far more celebrated, and all occasion for men to boast and proclaim their own praises would be removed: which we shall hear David himself proclaiming next. Although sometimes God employs external means by which we may be helped in dangers, yet he reduces us to such straits that, destitute of all human help, we seem closest to death, and although we look in every direction, no help from men appears. But why does God cast his own into such straits? Namely, so that this firm foundation may be maintained, that the salvation of the church comes from the Lord's hand alone, which he wills to preserve in wondrous and miraculous ways. Surely no one denies that a besieged city, not captured by enemies, ought to attribute its liberation to divine benefit. And that a victorious prince, triumphing over his enemies, owes the victory to God, even though the soldiers' outstanding valor and courage contributed, is certain. But as God usually administers earthly affairs, so he wills that there should be certain special marks in the church by which it is distinguished from the remaining states of the world, and from all temporal ones. For even though God's providence extends to all created things, not only to men: nevertheless he takes singular care of his church, of which he is protector and defender: which doctrine is so frequent throughout all of Scripture that it is necessary for us to be thoroughly imbued with it. By extraordinary means therefore God preserves and protects his church, so that we may know that its salvation flows from his power alone: and he has confirmed this doctrine by many notable examples over many centuries: but what is set forth in this passage should not hold the last place among others. For we behold here the Israelite people trembling, not only at the sight of the numerous multitude and arms of the enemy, but even at the sight of this one man: when he hurled his monstrous threats, each one immediately fled to hiding places. Yet a remedy was being sought for so great and dangerous a disease, and therefore a far different preparation was required from the standpoint of human judgment than what presents itself here. For what did a rustic man and shepherd of sheep seem likely to accomplish, who had never been in a battle, who had never engaged hand to hand with an enemy? who had never left either the stables or his father's house? who, finally, unarmed, without helmet, without breastplate, without shield, armed only with a staff, was advancing against the enemy? Surely anyone who observed this preparation would rightly have said it was all over for the Israelite people, and that death was present without hope of help, unless God himself had laid his hand from heaven. David therefore, having overcome Goliath with this equipment, made it known that here there was no room left for human strength or skill, but that God used David as an instrument useless in itself: and reserved for himself alone the glory of the salvation which he then brought to his people. This therefore is to be observed first of all from the fact that David wished to be stripped of all arms. For he could easily have found in the whole army a helmet that fit him, and a breastplate and sword, so that he would not go completely unarmed into battle. But it was necessary for him to be thus exposed to the mockery of men. And moreover there is no doubt that a grave temptation assailed all those who beheld this equipment. But God wished to test their faith in this way. Therefore that they allowed David to advance against Goliath was done from a certain perturbation of mind: as we said yesterday that Saul was blinded when he let David go. But those who had any sense were undoubtedly unable to see that young man exposing himself to certain death without horror: but God confirmed them and raised them to good hope. In short, David does not prepare himself for battle by acquiring those arms with which men usually protect themselves: but the decision he has once fixed in his mind he maintains, that God will grant victory over the enemy without human aids: since God's power and might relies on no human aids: which is sufficient for itself, and does not need to borrow from elsewhere. Therefore let us carry away this benefit from the present history, that if we see the wretched church afflicted, and like a little bird fleeing before the hunter's snares, or like wretched and few sheep surrounded by a thousand wolves, laboring, and so pressed on every side that no place of escape appears, and no human aids present themselves, let us nevertheless hold fast that we have been received by God into the number of his own, and that therefore he takes singular care of us, and will easily overcome whatever forces the world may stir up against us: and will rescue us from a thousand dangers of death whenever he wishes. Nor is it without reason that God sometimes allows us to be deprived of all human aids, so that we may learn to rise up to him and depend on him alone, so that when we have experienced his help and the enemies have been routed, recognizing his miraculous power, we may not be ungrateful, nor fall into such depravity as to ascribe anything to our own strength, or to fortune, but lift up our hearts to God and renounce all these earthly things: for this reason, I say, God often allows us to be stripped of all human aids. Moreover, these things too ought to benefit us, that we may compare God's goodness toward us with that by which he regards the rest of the world. His goodness indeed extends even to the very beasts: and he makes his sun rise even upon the wicked: and unbelievers are nourished by his blessings and preserved by his power. But it is a special privilege and particular grace of God's children, and a fatherly love surpassing the affection with which he embraces the remaining part of the world. Therefore we ought to value highly that goodness and extol it with worthy praises: firmly persuaded that the efforts of all created things against us will be futile, and that we should regard as vain and empty and despise whatever may rise up against us; since it has pleased God to set us apart from the rest of the world: and he wills to protect his church, and indeed by extraordinary means: which manifold experience has more than sufficiently taught us.

Let us proceed to the remaining things and in turn inspect Goliath advancing against David. And so Goliath advanced arrogantly and haughtily against him and despised him, because he was not of the same quality as himself: and complains in these words: Am I a dog, that you come to me with a staff? He mocked David because he advanced with a pastoral staff or crook, as if against a dog, and so in his anger he says: Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. To whom David replies: You come to me with a sword, and spear, and shield: but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. As if to say, the God of Israel is the one in whom the strength of the whole people resides. You have despised this power and held it in mockery: therefore you yourself will feel God's help against you. From this it becomes more conspicuous what I have already touched upon, that God wished to save his people at that time in a certain extraordinary way, and one plainly ridiculous by human judgment: so that all the praise of the deliverance would be attributed to God alone: because men are inclined to contempt of God, and cheat him of the honor due to him. Meanwhile God blinds our enemies as well as his, when they look at our weakness and think the morsel is already prepared for their jaws, and therefore are most puffed up with pride, which hastens their destruction and ruin. In two ways therefore God's power and goodness is revealed: on the one hand he exposes our enemies to confusion: on the other hand he invites and draws us to himself, so that we may commit ourselves entirely to his care and protection: and he also prepares us so that we may give thanks for our salvation to him. Unbelievers indeed are always swollen with arrogance: for nothing humbles a man more than true faith and the knowledge of God. For in all men by nature the vice of pride is implanted, and the desire to rise above others: so that pride, arrogance, and rashness are an inseparable attribute of human nature: indeed they reside even in the innermost marrow. But nothing leads more to true humility than the knowledge of God, from which we learn that we are nothing, but that whatever we have flows from him, and is to be received as accepted from him. Nevertheless, although wicked and unbelieving men are swollen with arrogance and pride, they are not however carried away arrogantly except on some particular occasion. Therefore if a favorable wind blows their way and everything smiles on them, then they bear themselves insolently, exult, and conduct triumphs: hence it happens that they are no longer restrained by any barriers: but they trumpet themselves with full mouths, and pour forth blasphemous voices against God himself, attribute something divine to themselves, and make little of God. They imagine nothing arduous and difficult for themselves. Thus wicked and profane men become insolent in prosperity: and are so intoxicated with the honors and favor in which they flourish that no moderation remains in them, but they rave like madmen and frenzied people. But the more they are puffed up, the more grievous their fall will be. For if someone, for example, wished to fly in the air, he must be carried headlong: but if he leaps three or four feet high, he may fall, but cannot break his neck. Or if someone wishes to leap to the ground from a very high tower, surely he must perish a thousand deaths. The same happens to those who despise God. For being by nature proud and arrogant, if they receive some special benefit from God, and things succeed for them according to their wish, they become so insolent that no modesty restrains them: but they bear themselves insolently, and rage like drunken men: and when they seem about to ascend the very heavens, they then fall by a more grievous and horrible fall. Just as therefore it happens that when God permits us to be deprived of all human aid, the wicked and unbelievers flourish and become insolent in prosperity, but yet fall by a more grievous fall and break their necks, so it has now happened with Goliath. For seeing David unarmed he despised him, and even mocked him: Are you coming, he says, against me as against a dog? Who are you who dare to advance against me? In short, he cursed David by his gods. What and how great is the pride of a man holding in mockery whatever belongs to the living God? How blasphemous is that giant, cursing David by the idols which were worshipped by the Philistines? as if the idols of the gentiles could do anything against God. And with these threats that giant wished to terrify David: but he, on the contrary, takes from this a greater occasion for magnifying God: and is roused by the insults of the blasphemous man against God's majesty. Surely we saw him before placing all his hope in God, and establishing his strength in him: but yet hearing that impure man pouring out his venom with such great arrogance against God himself, as if pricked with spurs he is more stimulated to prayers, by which he both invoked God and magnificently proclaimed his power, expecting from the Lord the help in this contest which he had hoped for. For he himself well knew, namely that he was not only unarmed, but also unwarlike, and therefore, unless God himself helped, certain danger of death appeared, from which God alone could deliver him: which he also promises himself God will do. And therefore he is now meditating thanksgiving, as if he had already obtained the victory he was expecting. Therefore let us not be surprised, nor bear it ill, if God does not wish to deliver us from dangers with great pomp and a certain great display, but on the contrary leaves us as it were languishing in weakness, so that we are surrounded on all sides by enemies and seem ensnared in their snares, and about to come into their power and be oppressed by them, and finally that they devise everything against us, and with no one resisting fulfill their wicked will and overwhelm us with evils — let us not, I say, be surprised at these things. But why so? Namely, God blinds them and casts them headlong into approaching destruction: for he acts with them in permitting these things just as if someone were to supply abundant wine to a drunken and intemperate man, with which he is not satisfied until he is overwhelmed and either suffocated, or falls into stupor or frenzy. The same indeed is the way of unbelievers and wicked men swollen with pride and arrogance, by which they are so intoxicated that they turn into fury and rage as long as occasion is offered them to rage, and they think fortune smiles on them.

And thus far concerning them: but let us learn to imitate David's example, opposing those blasphemous voices of the giant with these words full of hope and faith: You come to me with a sword, and spear, and shield: but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. Surely David, taught by God, spoke thus, and indeed before the gift of prophecy appeared in him and he had reached that perfection which he afterward received from the Lord: but in that virtue he made progress and persevered. Truly this shepherd had not frequented schools, nor heard great teachers from whom he might learn knowledge, and yet he attained the highest wisdom and reached the summit of knowledge, which consists in this, that God alone is everything to us, and we place all our trust and hope in him and his goodness. Who then taught David this? Not the care of teachers whom he long frequented, but God's Spirit infused such lofty wisdom into him, far more perfectly than if he had frequented for many years the schools of the most learned men. But was he changed after he reached royal dignity? Not at all, but as king and notable prophet he retained the same mind and the same words, for thus he speaks in Psalm 33: There is no king saved by the multitude of an army, the mighty are not delivered by the multitude of strength: a horse is a vain thing for safety, and by the abundance of his strength he does not deliver his rider. Our soul waits for the Lord, our help and our shield. David therefore never wavered in mind, never changed: the same mind he had as a rustic and shepherd, and the same trust in God, the same he retained when made king and feared by enemies: nor was he puffed up by favorable and prosperous circumstances and intoxicated by temporal goods, nor inflated with pride when he was made king of so numerous a people: nor in difficult and almost desperate circumstances did he ever lose heart, nor when destitute of human protections and aid was his spirit broken. But why so, and from where such great strength of spirit in him? Namely, the name of God alone, he says, is sufficient to overthrow and break all chariots and horses of all enemies and whatever warlike preparations. Therefore when we see those who attack us promising themselves victory over us, and thinking so highly of themselves that they fear neither human nor any divine forces, and seem most strongly fortified and equipped with all human aids, in short, when nothing seems lacking to satisfy their rage, let us oppose to all those phantoms the name of God as a most safe shield: since called upon by us he will never fail, and will bring present help to those who flee to him, since he has sufficient strength to protect his own and to break and overthrow enemies. For what and how great are mortals before God, whom he can scatter with a single breath, and overthrow all their plans and devices? Surely if heaven and earth and all the elements should conspire against us with them, and at their sight all things were shaken with terror, yet at God's command by a single word, every height must be brought low and vanish into the air. This indeed David felt was divine help, reproaching the giant for the sword and spear with which he boasted he would pierce David, but with vain boasting. Indeed I acknowledge that God, whenever it shall seem so, also helps his faithful servants by human strength, supplying his own with warlike, bold, and brave men, who, well equipped with arms and horses and other things necessary for war, do not fear even to pour out their lives for the defense of the church: by these means, I say, it is certain that God often protects and defends his own. But when he wishes us to be content with his name alone, and with the trust in his promises alone, when all other human aids fail, and the world rises up against us, and the wicked conspire, so that wherever we turn our eyes everything threatens immediate death, and beasts surround us on every side by which we are about to be torn apart, let us know that this does not happen by chance, but is done by God so that we may learn to rise up to him, and ascribe to him alone all praise of our salvation: and so that the world may recognize that we are dear and precious to God: and therefore have greater material for invoking him and proclaiming his goodness and mercy. For if some hope of salvation shines from somewhere from men, suddenly the sharpness of the mind is so dulled that we forget God. Hence we become more negligent in invoking him, and despisers of his name. On the contrary, however, if we are inferior in strength, we suddenly flee, and at every hour we are anxious with prayers and vows: since he alone can save those hoping in him and snatch them from the jaws of death. But hope must be placed in God alone, and we must persevere in his fear, and never depart from his worship prescribed in his word, which on the contrary must be retained with the highest zeal and reverence. For if this has been done by us, then he will stretch out his arm to protect us: provided we also recall to memory his former benefits toward us and others, and be not lifted up nor kick against him on whom our life depends: but as much in adverse as in prosperous circumstances, as much in calm as in disturbed ones, glory in God's name alone, rest in him alone, and place all confidence in him. Therefore let us not think that what we read here happened only once, and that this singular history is narrated, but that in it a sure document is given to the whole church of all ages of placing trust in God, confirmed by perpetual promises of God, which pertain not to the Jews alone but to the universal church, concerning protecting and preserving it in adverse circumstances. For that vision of the prophet Zechariah, by which God promised that he would restore his church, fits the whole church and is to last to the end of the world. It was about the lampstand which was in the middle of the sanctuary, which he says is the highest joy and consolation of the church. The prophet, marveling and asking what this signified, received the response: that the church of God is defended and cherished not by the strength and power of men, but by God alone. There is no mention of David there, none of Goliath, none of the Israelite people, none, in short, of any wondrous deed performed by men: but God says he will be the protector of his church to the end of the ages after the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that there will be no need of any arms or human aids to effect the church's salvation: but it must be accomplished by the power and might of God alone. Therefore this doctrine must be diligently impressed on our minds, retained and meditated upon: which we may also apply to use when necessity demands, so that if in the difficulties of the church God grants some human aids, we may not be so affected by them and trust in them that we forget God: but on the contrary when we are destitute of all things, we may remember his name, and relying on this alone know that we will easily despise the strength and efforts of all our enemies: and if they devise terrible things against us, and we come into danger of death, nevertheless let us be content with God's promises, namely that God will protect and defend his church to the end of the world against any assaults of enemies: provided we rest in him alone, and attribute nothing to ourselves.

let us recall to memory God's former benefits toward us and others, and let us give him due thanks for them: so that day by day our hope may grow and be strengthened, until we stand unconquered, and remain undaunted against all temptations and resist bravely, while meanwhile those who provoke God and men against themselves, and promise themselves victory and prepare triumphs, draw nearer and nearer to certain ruin and destruction.

Now then, let us proceed, etc.

38. Then Saul clothed David with his own armor. He put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39. David strapped his sword over the armor and tried to walk, but he could not, for he was not used to them. So David said to Saul: I cannot go with these, for I am not used to them. And he took them off. 40. He took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's bag which he carried, and in his hand he took his sling; and he went toward the Philistine. 41. Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43. The Philistine said to David: Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44. The Philistine also said to David: Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field. 45. Then David said to the Philistine: You come to me with a sword, a spear, and 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 taunted.

In yesterday's sermon we began to teach how David, attributing nothing to himself or to his own strength and valor, rested in God's goodness alone and was safe in His protection. In the same way, Paul teaches us by his own example to trust not in our own strength but in the power of Him who can do all things: 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' In this way David, instructed by past experience, could reasonably expect divine help at the right moment. Since the experience of many days had shown him God's goodness toward him, he had every reason to hope for the same in so holy a matter. And without doubt this is the highest wisdom: in difficult and trying circumstances, in our afflictions, to be able to call to mind God's past benefits. For why is it that we so often fail, and are struck with such terror by enemies surrounding us on every side that we cannot even call upon God or implore His mercy? It is simply because the benefits we have received from Him lie buried and forgotten. David, on the contrary, confesses that when placed in the greatest difficulties he recalled the ancient days. He did not only think about what he personally had experienced of God's power and goodness throughout his own life — he also recalled the ancient histories of God's benefits to His people, so that he might apply what was written to his own situation. And indeed, when we are commanded to place our hope in God, we should not restrict that hope to benefits we have personally experienced. It must be extended further — to recognize that God has preserved His people in every age and brought them help in difficult circumstances. For this reason God willed that the histories of the ancient fathers should be recorded in writing and collected in sacred Scripture — not only so that we might know that Abraham, Moses, David, and the other patriarchs were preserved by God's grace and aided by divine help in difficult times, but so that we might turn those deliverances to our own use and benefit. And if for the strengthening of our faith we ought to recall all the benefits God has conferred on His church — how great will be the ingratitude, and how great the dullness, of anyone who fails to remember what God has given to him personally, and to draw from those memories confidence in God's future goodness? For who, from earliest youth — from the womb, I say — has not already felt how good God is toward him, how powerful, how generous toward those who flee to Him and rest in Him alone? Should this not persuade us that the faithful who flee to God will never be disappointed in their hope? So David strengthened his faith by remembering that notable divine benefit — by which he not only escaped the claws and jaws of the lion and the bear, but killed them. The proof of this is especially in his conclusion: 'The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.' By this we are taught that God's benefits to us should be carried forward into the future. For God is always the same, and His power never diminishes. He is merciful to those who call upon Him and ready to help them. Since God's goodness, power, and might are perpetual, and His will is unchangeable, we can easily conclude that just as He has helped us in our past difficulties and trials, He will show Himself the same toward us to the end. If God were like created things, we might rightly doubt His constancy and faithfulness, always remaining uncertain — just as it is uncertain whether one who was strong yesterday will be the same today. But He who was powerful yesterday is endowed with the same power today. He who is good, with the same goodness. He who in His love chose to have mercy on us cannot change — He always retains the same faithfulness and constancy. From this reflection, we can easily conclude that God's help will never fail us. Just as He helped in past times, He will also help in the present — provided we ourselves do not stand in the way. This is how we ought to apply sacred Scripture to our own situation — taking God's past benefits as confirmation of future ones. For that firm foundation is laid in the sacred writings: God never leaves the work of His hands incomplete, but brings what He once began to its completion. Therefore it is certain that those once received into His care and protection He will never abandon. Those He has rescued from danger once and again He will never forsake — but will always guard and defend them until He has at last brought them safely to eternal salvation. From this it becomes clear where our distrust comes from when we are pressed by dangers on every side, surrounded by fierce enemies, beset by alarming rumors, and struck with fear of coming destruction. It comes from having forgotten the divine benefits we previously received — benefits that slipped away almost immediately. We trample them underfoot, as it were. If we thought seriously about them as we ought, we would certainly arrive at David's conclusion — that God who was present to help us before in difficulty will also be present in adversity: He will snatch us from dangers, pull us out of the mud, fight against our enemies, and covered by the shield of His grace, He will rescue us from their very jaws in a miraculous way. For He is the One who sweetens the bitterness of affliction with His own goodness, since He is good and His goodness toward His own endures. So let us learn to meditate on the good things we have received from God's hand — so that if we exercise ourselves in them and direct all our attention there, we will be fortified and armed with genuine confidence joined with genuine comfort against whatever dangers assail us. We will expect certain help from Him, and have a clear path already laid for calling upon Him, no longer hesitating to approach Him with prayers or uncertain whether He will hear us. I acknowledge that we are not so hard and dull that we feel nothing. If we were untouched by any danger, trust in God would be meaningless — we would stand like stumps and dead trees. But when we truly know and feel the extreme dangers pressing upon us, and those dangers rouse us to flee to God — then we have more than enough material for consolation by which to resist every temptation. Moreover, if we have experienced God's goodness in some area, let us hope it will not be lacking in another. Let us be persuaded that the God who rescued us from that danger will also rescue us from this one. For God holds sovereign authority over all created things, and therefore has the power to bring help against whatever has caused us fear. He will undoubtedly exercise that power when we call upon Him — provided we acknowledge and pray to Him as Father and Savior, since it is absolutely certain that He seeks nothing but the benefit and welfare of His children. Therefore, even if we have not experienced God's great goodness toward us in every way, let it be enough — and let us be firmly persuaded that if we have felt His help on our right hand, we will also feel it on our left, and will be rescued from every danger, whether earthly or otherwise.

What follows next: Saul clothed David with his own armor, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in a coat of mail. David girded on the sword over the armor and tried to walk — but could not, for he was unaccustomed to it. So David said to Saul: I cannot walk with these, for I am not used to them. And he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the brook, put them in his shepherd's bag, and with his sling in hand went out to meet the Philistine. A question arises here: how could Saul's armor fit David, since Saul was, as we were told at the beginning of this history, of enormous stature — while David was still young and far smaller? There was no correspondence in their builds. But what prevents the armor of that era — rough and relatively unformed — from being adjusted to fit a man of smaller stature who was nonetheless strong and robust? David, though shorter than Saul, could still have worn the helmet and other pieces. Nevertheless David cast aside all that armor as useless — as an obstacle — and like a plain countryman, with his staff, sling, and stones, went out against that monstrous giant. There is no doubt that God's Spirit impelled him and willed him to be stripped of all those weapons, lest the victory be credited to human strength rather than recognized as God's work alone — as we will discuss more fully below. So David, having set aside Saul's armor, goes into battle content with his shepherd's staff, sling, and stones. If anyone here is looking for allegorical interpretations — such as that the five stones signify the five books of Moses, that David was armed with faith alone, or that the bag signifies the conscience as a repository of the law — he would be acting foolishly and diminishing the authority of sacred Scripture. We must not play games with sacred things, which are to be explained with simplicity and reverence. Such interpretations may delight those with a taste for cleverness, but we ought to flee them as a deadly plague. Let it suffice to learn from this that God saved His people without human effort, so that His glory would be made far more celebrated and every occasion for human boasting would be removed — which we will hear David himself proclaiming next. Although God sometimes uses outward means by which we are helped in danger, He also reduces us to such dire straits that, deprived of all human help, we seem nearest to death. We look in every direction and no human aid appears. But why does God put His own people in such straits? So that this firm foundation may be maintained: the salvation of the church comes from the Lord's hand alone — and He wills to preserve it by wonderful and miraculous means. No one denies that a besieged city, rescued from its enemies, ought to attribute its deliverance to God's blessing. And even a prince who triumphs over his enemies, though the soldiers' valor and courage played a part, owes the victory to God — that is certain. But just as God ordinarily governs earthly affairs, He also wills that the church have certain distinctive marks that set it apart from all other states and kingdoms of the world. For even though God's providence extends to all created things and not only to men, He takes singular care of His church, of which He is protector and defender. This teaching is so pervasive throughout all of Scripture that we must be thoroughly soaked in it. God preserves and protects His church by extraordinary means, so that we may know that its salvation flows from His power alone. He has confirmed this doctrine by many remarkable examples over many centuries — and what is set before us in this passage is among the most notable. Here we see the Israelite people trembling — not only at the sight of the large enemy army and its weapons, but at the sight of this one man. When he hurled his monstrous threats, each one immediately fled into hiding. A remedy was urgently needed for so great and dangerous a situation — and by human reckoning, a far different kind of preparation was required than what presents itself here. For what could a rustic shepherd of sheep be expected to accomplish — a man who had never been in battle, who had never fought hand to hand with an enemy? Who had never left the pastures or his father's house? Who advanced against the enemy unarmed — without helmet, without breastplate, without shield, armed only with a staff? Anyone watching this preparation would rightly have said it was all over for the Israelite people — that death was present with no hope of help, unless God Himself stretched out His hand from heaven. David, then, by defeating Goliath with this equipment, showed that there was no room here for human strength or skill — that God used David as an instrument useless in itself, and reserved for Himself alone the glory of the salvation He then brought to His people. That is the first thing to be observed from David's refusal of armor. He could easily have found in the whole army a helmet that fit him, and a breastplate and sword, so that he did not go entirely unarmed into battle. But it was necessary for him to be exposed to the mockery of men. And there is no doubt that everyone who saw this preparation was severely tempted. God wished to test their faith in this way. That they allowed David to advance against Goliath arose from a kind of stupefaction of mind — as we said yesterday that Saul was blinded when he let David go. Those with any perception at all could not have watched that young man walking toward certain death without horror. But God steadied them and raised them to good hope. In short, David does not prepare for battle by arming himself in the normal human way. He holds to the decision he has made: that God will grant victory over the enemy without human aids — since God's power and might rests on no human aids and is sufficient in itself, needing to borrow from nothing else. So let us take this lesson from the present history: if we see the poor church afflicted — like a little bird fleeing before a hunter's snares, or like a few wretched sheep surrounded by a thousand wolves, so pressed on every side that no way of escape appears and no human help presents itself — let us nonetheless hold fast that we have been received by God into the number of His own, and that He therefore takes singular care of us. He will easily overcome whatever forces the world stirs up against us, and will rescue us from a thousand mortal dangers whenever He chooses. And it is not without reason that God sometimes allows us to be stripped of all human aid — so that we may learn to rise up to Him and depend on Him alone, so that when we have experienced His help and the enemies have been routed, we may recognize His miraculous power and not be ungrateful, and may not fall into the depravity of attributing anything to our own strength or to fortune, but lift our hearts to God and renounce all these earthly things. For this reason, I say, God often allows us to be left without human aids. These things should also teach us to compare God's goodness toward us with the goodness He shows the rest of the world. His goodness extends even to the animals; He makes His sun rise on the wicked; unbelievers are nourished by His blessings and preserved by His power. But there is a special privilege and particular grace belonging to God's children — a fatherly love that surpasses the affection with which He embraces the rest of the world. We ought therefore to treasure that goodness and praise it with worthy praise, firmly persuaded that all the efforts of created things against us will be futile. Whatever rises up against us should be regarded as vain and empty and despised — for God has been pleased to set us apart from the rest of the world. He wills to protect His church, and indeed by extraordinary means, as manifold experience has more than sufficiently shown us.

Let us move to what follows and consider Goliath advancing against David. Goliath came arrogantly and haughtily and despised David because he was clearly not in his league. He complained: 'Am I a dog, that you come to me with a stick?' He mocked David for advancing with a shepherd's staff — as if he were approaching a dog — and in his rage said: 'Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.' David replies: 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and 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 taunted.' As if to say: the God of Israel is the one in whom the strength of all this people resides. You have despised that power and held it in contempt — therefore you will feel God's hand against you. From this what I already touched on becomes even more obvious: God wished to save His people at that time in a way that was, by every human standard, absurd — so that all the praise for the deliverance would be given to God alone, since men are naturally inclined to shortchange God and rob Him of the honor due to Him. In the meantime, God also blinds His enemies and ours. They look at our weakness and think the meal is already prepared for their jaws, and so swell with pride — which only hastens their own destruction and ruin. In two ways, therefore, God's power and goodness are revealed: on the one hand He exposes our enemies to confusion; on the other He draws us to Himself, so that we commit ourselves entirely to His care and protection — and He prepares us to give thanks to Him for our salvation. Unbelievers are always swollen with arrogance, for nothing humbles a person more than true faith and the knowledge of God. By nature, pride is planted in every human being — the desire to rise above others. Pride, arrogance, and rashness are an inseparable feature of human nature; they dwell in the very marrow. But nothing leads more directly to true humility than the knowledge of God, from which we learn that we are nothing, and that whatever we have flows from Him and must be received as a gift from Him. Nevertheless, even wicked and unbelieving people do not carry themselves arrogantly at all times — it takes a particular occasion. When a favorable wind blows and everything goes their way, then they become insolent, exulting and conducting triumphs. No barrier restrains them. They trumpet themselves at full volume, pour out blasphemous words against God Himself, attribute something divine to themselves, and make little of God. They imagine nothing is too hard or difficult for them. That is how the wicked and godless behave in prosperity — intoxicated by honors and success, they lose all restraint and rave like madmen. But the higher they are puffed up, the more terrible their fall will be. If someone tries to fly, he will be hurled headlong. If he leaps three or four feet off the ground, he may fall without breaking his neck. But if he leaps from the top of a high tower, he must perish a thousand deaths. The same happens to those who despise God. By nature proud and arrogant, when they receive some special benefit and things go according to their wishes, they become so insolent that no modesty restrains them. They bear themselves arrogantly and rage like drunkards. And just when they seem to be climbing into the very heavens, they fall — and the fall is more grievous and horrible for it. So it is now with Goliath. When he saw David unarmed, he despised him and mocked him: 'Are you coming against me as against a dog? Who are you to dare to advance against me?' In short, he cursed David by his gods. What enormous pride it is to mock and hold in contempt everything belonging to the living God! How blasphemous it is for that giant to curse David by the idols worshiped by the Philistines — as if those idols could do anything against God. With those threats the giant hoped to terrify David. But David, on the contrary, took from this a greater occasion to magnify God — roused by the insults that blasphemous man had hurled against God's majesty. We saw him before placing all his hope in God and establishing his strength in God's power. But now, hearing that profane man pour out his venom with such arrogance against God Himself, David is spurred on all the more urgently to prayer — both invoking God and magnificently proclaiming His power, expecting from the Lord the help in this contest for which he had hoped. He knew full well that he was not only unarmed but also inexperienced in warfare — so that unless God Himself helped, certain death stared him in the face. God alone could deliver him. And that is exactly what David promises himself God will do. And so he is already meditating a song of thanksgiving, as if the victory he expected had already been granted. Therefore let us not be surprised, nor grow resentful, if God does not choose to deliver us from dangers with great fanfare and spectacular display. On the contrary, He may leave us languishing in weakness — surrounded on all sides by enemies, as if trapped in their snares and about to fall into their hands. They may seem to devise everything against us, to fulfill their wicked will unopposed and overwhelm us with troubles. Let us not, I say, be surprised at this. But why not? Because God blinds them and drives them headlong toward their own destruction. He deals with them in permitting these things the way someone might deal with a drunkard by supplying him with more wine than he can handle — until he is overwhelmed, falls into stupor, or descends into frenzy. That is exactly how it goes with unbelievers and wicked people swollen with pride and arrogance. They are so intoxicated by their own pride that they turn to fury and rage as long as opportunity presents itself — imagining that fortune will smile on them forever.

So much for them. Let us now learn to imitate David's example, opposing those blasphemous words of the giant with David's own words, so full of hope and faith: 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.' David spoke this way because God had taught him — even before the gift of prophecy fully appeared in him and before he had reached the perfection he later received from the Lord. But in this virtue he made steady progress. This shepherd had not attended schools or sat under great teachers from whom he might learn knowledge — yet he attained the highest wisdom and reached the summit of understanding. And that understanding consists in this: God alone is everything to us, and we place all our trust and hope in Him and in His goodness. Who then taught David this? Not teachers whom he attended for years, but God's Spirit poured such high wisdom into him — more perfectly than years in the schools of the most learned men could have done. But did he change after he reached royal dignity? Not at all. As king and great prophet he retained the same mind and the same words. So he says in Psalm 33: 'A king is not saved by a mighty army; a warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.' David never wavered, never changed. The same trust in God he had as a rustic shepherd he retained when he became king, feared by his enemies. He was not puffed up by favorable circumstances or intoxicated by earthly success when he became king of so great a people. And in difficult and near-hopeless circumstances he never lost heart — his spirit was not broken even when stripped of all human protection and help. But why? Where did such great strength of spirit come from? He says: the name of God alone is sufficient to overthrow and break all the chariots and horses of all enemies and every other military preparation. So when we see those who attack us promising themselves victory over us — thinking so highly of themselves that they fear neither men nor God, fully equipped with every human resource, with nothing apparently lacking to satisfy their rage — let us oppose all those threats with the name of God as our safest shield. Called upon by us, He will never fail. He will bring immediate help to those who flee to Him, since He has more than enough strength to protect His own and to break and overthrow His enemies. For what are mortals before God — He who can scatter them with a single breath and overthrow all their plans and schemes? If heaven and earth and all the forces of creation conspired against us along with our enemies, and everything trembled at the sight, yet at God's command, with a single word, every height must be brought low and vanish into thin air. David felt the reality of this divine help — reproaching the giant for the sword and spear with which Goliath boasted he would run David through, but which were nothing but empty boasting. I acknowledge that God, when He sees fit, also helps His faithful servants through human strength, supplying His own with bold and brave fighting men who, well armed with weapons and horses and all that war requires, do not even fear to lay down their lives in defense of the church. By these means, I say, God often protects and defends His own. But when He wishes us to be content with His name alone, trusting in His promises alone — when all other human aids have failed, the world rises against us, and the wicked conspire, and everywhere we look, immediate death seems to threaten, and enemies surround us ready to tear us apart — let us know that this does not happen by chance. God does it so that we may learn to rise up to Him and give Him alone all the praise for our salvation — and so that the world may recognize that we are dear and precious to God. In this we have all the more material for calling upon Him and proclaiming His goodness and mercy. For when even a little human hope of deliverance shines from somewhere, our minds are suddenly so dulled that we forget God. We grow negligent in calling upon Him and become despisers of His name. On the contrary, when we are weak and powerless, we suddenly flee to God, and are urgent in prayers and requests every hour, knowing that He alone can save those who hope in Him and snatch them from the jaws of death. But hope must be placed in God alone. We must persevere in His fear and never depart from the worship He has prescribed in His Word — which must be held with the highest zeal and reverence. If we have done this, He will stretch out His arm to protect us — provided we also recall to memory His past benefits to us and to others, and are not lifted up or resistant toward the One on whom our lives depend. Both in adversity and in prosperity, both in calm and in storm, we must glory in God's name alone, rest in Him alone, and place all our confidence in Him. Therefore let us not think that what we read here happened only once and that a singular history is being told. Rather, in it a sure lesson is given to the whole church of all ages on placing trust in God — confirmed by God's perpetual promises, which apply not only to the Jews but to the universal church, concerning how He will protect and preserve it in every adverse circumstance. For that vision of the prophet Zechariah, in which God promised to restore His church, applies to the whole church and extends to the end of the world. It was the vision of the lampstand in the middle of the sanctuary — the prophet says this is the highest joy and consolation of the church. The prophet, wondering at this and asking what it meant, received the reply: that the church of God is defended and sustained not by the strength and power of men, but by God alone. There is no mention of David there, no mention of Goliath, no mention of the Israelite people — no wondrous deed performed by men. God says He will be the protector of His church to the end of the ages, after the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that no human arms or human aids will be needed to accomplish the church's salvation. It must be accomplished by the power and might of God alone. Let this teaching therefore be deeply stamped on our minds, retained and meditated upon — and applied when necessity demands. If in the church's difficulties God grants some human help, let us not be so taken with it and trust in it so much that we forget God. On the contrary, when we are stripped of everything, let us remember His name — and resting on that alone, know that we can easily despise the strength and efforts of all our enemies. And if they devise terrible things against us and we come into mortal danger, let us still be content with God's promises: that He will protect and defend His church to the end of the world against every assault — provided we rest in Him alone and attribute nothing to ourselves.

Let us recall to mind God's past benefits to us and to others, and give Him the thanks He is due for them. In this way our hope will grow and be strengthened day by day, until we stand firm and unshaken against every temptation — while those who provoke God and man against themselves, and promise themselves victory and prepare their triumphs, draw closer and closer to certain ruin and destruction.

Now then, let us proceed, etc.