I’ve been watching the news recently, heart thumping in horror at the indescribably evil events in Nice, Dallas, Germany and all around the world.   Sometimes it’s hard to witness such mind-numbing cruelty and not lose focus or hope.

I was thinking and praying about it today and was reminded of another epic tale of evil (and good!); the story of David and Goliath.

Goliath was a philistine and measuring in at over 9ft, 9 inches tall, he was not to be messed with. The Bible says that his armour alone weighed around 57kgs (that’s about 9 stone…the weight of a small person) and his shield was so huge, he required a small soldier to walk in front of him to carry it. History records that he was about 30 years old and by all accounts, a violent, blood-thirsty killer.

Every day, he lumbered his huge frame to the top of a hill, overlooking the Israelite camp and thundered (in the way that only a giant can);

You SERIOUSLY think you can defeat ME? Go on you pathetic self-righteous filthy dogs, send out your best fighting man and watch how I’ll rip his head off and crush him alive…’

And he did this every day for more than a month, his rage and threats of violence growing in intensity as each day passed

But, God still had a plan and the plan this time looked like a skinny little 17 year old, who among other things liked to write lovely songs and play the harp. Not exactly an obvious choice.

You may know the rest of the story but reading it again, I was struck by David’s response when confronted by this evil spectre of a man.

Goliath: (laughing) “Nice little stick and bag of stones you’ve got there Davey? What am I now, the family pet? Are you going to play fetch with me?”

Dave: (to quote the CEV version)

“You’ve come out to fight me with a sword and a spear and a dagger. But I’ve come out to fight YOU in the name of the Lord All-Powerful.”

And in that moment, everyone within earshot learned that battles are often not won (not truly won, anyway) with swords and spears and drones and tanks and nuclear warheads. There may be a place for all of those things, but epic battles between good and evil are won when God’s people take hold of the power and authority they’ve really got access to. But let’s be honest, how many of us really know it or use it?

David was just a kid, a raggy looking shepherd, not even a man, but he knew whose power he was tapping into. And that gave him courage and a steely determination to stand up to evil.  On that day, God used him to smash a blood-crazed murderer.  He did it with a little sling and shot and a whole heap of extraordinary, supernatural strength from the almighty.

“You’ve come out to fight me with a sword and a spear and a dagger. But I’ve come out to fight YOU in the name of the Lord All-Powerful.”

As believers, we look to our leaders and governments for answers, for more security, more intelligence, but as we face wars and battles all around us, it makes me wonder if we’re missing something? We’ve all got opinions on how to politically fight the war we’re facing, but maybe it’s time for Christians, like David to start fighting this one with a different set of weapons; our unseen, spiritual ones.

If we believe the news and everything we read on Twitter, it may appear as though evil is winning.

But the battle isn’t over yet.

It’s time to start praying.