Samuel grieved over Saul, but God didn’t want Samuel to stay sad for long. “Go to Bethlehem,” the Lord said, “to the house of Jesse. The next king will come from his sons.”

When Samuel met Jesse and his sons, he was sure he could spot the next king. He looked at Eliab, the firstborn, and thought, “Wow! This fella is big and strong. I bet he’s the king all right.” But the Lord said, “Stop looking on the outside. The Lord looks at the heart. That’s what matters.” Then Jesse called the next son, and the next son, and the next son. Seven sons in all, and the Lord had not chosen any of them.

Samuel was confused. “Are all your sons here?” he asked. Jesse said, “I have one more, but he’s the youngest and he’s out keeping the sheep.” And you know what? That’s the one the Lord wanted—the one no one expected and the one who had practice being a good shepherd. So when the boy came home, Samuel anointed him as the next king of Israel. The boy’s name? You guessed it: David. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him so that he might do great things for the Lord.

In those days the Israelites were still at war with the Philistines. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath. He was not a football champion or a basketball champion or a chess champion. He was a champion at beating people up.

And anyone who saw him knew why. Some people think he was around seven feet tall. Some say he was over nine feet tall. Either way, Goliath was bigger and stronger than anyone else. Which is why Saul and all the men of Israel were afraid. No one dared fight Goliath. And as long as the Philistines had Goliath, the Israelites didn’t stand a chance.

Until little old David stood up. Actually, we don’t know if David was little, and he definitely wasn’t old. But he was an unlikely hero. Just the man God wanted for the occasion.

One morning David left his sheep to bring his brothers food at the front lines. While he was there, Goliath came out to taunt the Israelites. David said, “Enough is enough. This man should not make fun of us and our God.” So David got five smooth stones and, without any armor or sword, marched up to Goliath. Goliath thought this was funny: “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Then David put a stone in his sling, spun it around, and sent that rock right into the giant’s forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath fell down dead. David may not have had any fancy weapons with him, but God was with him. And that was much better.