David made his reputation with the defeat of one giant, but he concludes it with the conquest of four. David did not coast out—he was still taking on great challenges near the end.
From David’s example, we can learn several lessons.
First, we must continue to take on challenges throughout life. In the self-assurance of youth, we may courageously take on all comers. In the timidity of age, we may think the greater value is in choosing our battles carefully and living to fight another day. To be sure, wisdom can be the better part of valor, but we must not shy away from a fight that needs a warrior. Christ has a place for experienced, battle-tested soldiers who can defeat enemies that that might overwhelm new recruits.
Second, David’s first experience in the field of battle was a giant; so, his last was against giants. It is the same in our spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:13–18). From our baptism until our coffin, we battle the great enemy of mankind, Satan (1 Peter 5:8). Paul wrote, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
Third, death is a Christian’s last “son of Anak” (1 Corinthians 15:26). He is a relentless, unstoppable, unbeatable enemy. Death pursues us. From the moment of birth, we start to die. For the first two or three decades of life, however, we never notice. We may attend a grandparent’s funeral or hear a sermon on the brevity of life (Psalm 90:10–12), but we make no personal connection to ourselves. We are growing and gaining—each year getting stronger, smarter, and more physically attractive. We are developing competence in job skills and social confidence.
Usually, sometime in our third or fourth decade, we get a first glimpse of the enemy pursuing us. He is not as far back nor as well hidden as before. This revelation may come at the loss of a long-time friend in a car accident or a person younger than we are who succumbs to cancer. We may spend time in a hospital ourselves for the first time or have a frightening brush with death. The person reflected in the mirror has some before unnoticed grey hairs or lines around the mouth and eyes.
In our seventh or eighth decade, usually, death will eventually deal us a harsh blow (unless Jesus comes), but we are confident in final victory—we will pass through death on to the resurrection of glory (1 Corinthians 15:54–58; John 5:28–29). Death cannot separate us from Christ’s love. Death just takes Christians home (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23–24; 2 Timothy 4:6–8). Paul writes of the death of death in 1 Corinthians 15.
How was death disarmed? How was its stinger removed? (1 Corinthians 15:57). Christ defeated death in His resurrection. The only real weapon death holds is a valid accusation of unforgiven sin. This is why many people are scared to die. It is not the unknown they fear; it is the known.
During this period between Christ’s resurrection and ours, death is disarmed but not yet destroyed. We need not fear death now any more than the allied soldiers needed to fear Hitler’s defeated army in the weeks after V-E Day (May 8, 1945) but before the Paris Peace Conference officially ended hostilities on February 10, 1947, or any more than Americans needed fear the English after the Revolution. It took three months after the British raised the white flag for their ships to leave New York harbor (November 25, 1783). Disarmament guaranteed victory, but it was delayed in each case.
There is much to learn from David as an old warrior. Keep fighting. Victory is assured.
