Come Follow Me | June 15-21 | “The battle is the Lord’s.” —1 Samuel 17:47

There are seasons in life when the challenge standing before us seems larger than our faith, stronger than our resolve, and better equipped than anything we possess. We may know the language of faith, remember the promises of scripture, and sincerely believe that God is with us, yet the giant still appears to dominate the valley. It calls attention to our weakness, rehearses our failures, magnifies our fears, and confidently predicts our defeat.

For one person, that giant may be addiction or the relentless temptation to return to an old way of living. For another, it may be grief, rejection, loneliness, financial uncertainty, family conflict, shame, resentment, or the lingering consequences of decisions that cannot be undone. Some giants appear suddenly, while others have occupied the valley for years, issuing the same challenge every morning and evening until fear begins to feel like the natural condition of life.

The Come, Follow Me lesson for June 15–21, covering 1 Samuel 17–18; 24–26 and 2 Samuel 5–7, invites us to look again at David’s story and hear his declaration that “the battle is the Lord’s.” That declaration does not mean our participation is unnecessary, nor does it promise that discipleship will protect us from every difficulty. David still walked into the valley, selected the stones, prepared his sling, and confronted the enemy. What he refused to do was accept the assumption that the outcome depended entirely upon his own size, strength, resources, or experience.

David understood that he was participating in a battle whose final authority belonged to God.

That same truth can transform the way we approach our spiritual battles today. We do not have to pretend that our giants are small. We do not have to deny the pain, complexity, or danger of what stands before us. Faith does not require us to minimize reality; it teaches us to see reality within the greater reality of God’s power, covenant faithfulness, and redemptive purposes.

The Giant in the Valley

Goliath was not merely a large man. He represented an entire system of intimidation. He was armored, experienced, loud, and apparently undefeatable. His presence had reduced the army of Israel to fearful spectators who listened to his threats but could not imagine a faithful response.

The Israelites measured the situation by what they could see. They saw Goliath’s height, armor, weapons, and military experience. They saw their own limitations and concluded that retreat was reasonable. David saw the same giant, but he interpreted the situation through the memory of God’s previous deliverance.

David remembered the lion. He remembered the bear. He remembered the Lord who had strengthened him in private places long before anyone knew his name. His confidence did not emerge from youthful optimism or blind self-belief. It came from a history with God.

This is one of the most important principles in the story. David did not wait until he reached the battlefield to begin trusting the Lord. His public courage had been formed through private faithfulness.

Our own lions and bears may not initially seem significant. They may be quiet moments when we choose honesty over secrecy, prayer over panic, a recovery meeting over isolation, scripture over compulsive distraction, or repentance over defensiveness. These decisions may happen without recognition or applause, but they become part of our spiritual memory. When the larger battle arrives, we can remember that the God who met us in the wilderness has not abandoned us in the valley.

The question is not simply, “How large is the giant before me?” A more faithful question is, “How has the Lord already sustained, delivered, corrected, strengthened, and carried me?”

What Goliath Stands Between You and Your Joy?

The giants in our lives often attempt to control more than our circumstances. They seek to define our identities and shape the stories we tell about ourselves.

Addiction says that we will always be enslaved to our appetites. Shame says that our worst decision is the truest thing about us. Fear says that movement is dangerous and hiding is wisdom. Grief says that joy has permanently departed. Rejection says that another person’s inability to value us proves we are without value. Resentment says that peace cannot return until the person who hurt us suffers or apologizes.

Every giant speaks with authority it does not truly possess.

Goliath believed he could determine Israel’s future because he had successfully controlled its attention. The more Israel listened to him, the larger he appeared. The more the soldiers rehearsed their limitations, the more impossible obedience seemed.

This does not mean that every spiritual struggle can be resolved by positive thinking or a dramatic declaration. Some battles require professional care, accountability, medical treatment, wise boundaries, sustained recovery work, and the support of a healthy community. Trusting God is not a substitute for using the resources He provides. David’s faith did not keep him from gathering stones, practicing with his sling, or taking practical action.

Faith changes the authority we give the giant. It allows us to acknowledge the challenge without worshipping its power.

President Camille N. Johnson invited disciples of Jesus Christ to let the Savior become the Author and Finisher of their stories. That invitation is particularly meaningful when we are facing something that appears capable of writing the final chapter for us. Christ knows our beginning, our present struggle, and the redemptive possibilities we cannot yet see. When we place the story in His hands, our giant no longer gets to determine the ending.

The giant may occupy a chapter, but Jesus Christ remains the Author.

Five Smooth Stones for Our Spiritual Battles

David selected five smooth stones from the brook before approaching Goliath. He ultimately used one stone, but he entered the battle prepared with five. Sister Andrea M. Spannaus used these stones as symbols of spiritual strengths that help us remain faithful while living in a fallen world.

Her five stones are love for God, faith in Jesus Christ, knowledge of our true identity, daily repentance, and access to God’s power. These are not lucky charms or formulas that guarantee an easy life. They are covenant resources that prepare us to remain spiritually grounded when adversity, temptation, opposition, and discouragement confront us.

The First Stone: Love for God

Love for God reorders our desires. When our relationship with Heavenly Father becomes the governing influence of our lives, many decisions become clearer. We begin asking not merely what is convenient, pleasurable, or immediately relieving, but what draws us toward Christ and protects our covenant relationship with Him.

This is especially important in recovery. Compulsive behavior promises immediate relief while quietly demanding long-term bondage. Love for God helps us tolerate temporary discomfort because we value communion with Him more than the false comfort offered by the addiction, resentment, fantasy, or destructive habit.

Loving God does not mean that temptation disappears. It means we are developing a stronger reason to choose freedom.

David’s confidence was rooted in more than his hatred of Goliath. He loved the Lord and cared about the honor of God’s name. His focus was not simply upon escaping danger or proving himself to his brothers. He wanted Israel to remember that the living God had not surrendered His people.

When love for God becomes greater than our fear of the giant, obedience becomes possible even while our knees are still shaking.

The Second Stone: Faith in Jesus Christ

Faith in Jesus Christ means trusting His wisdom, timing, love, and redeeming power. It does not require us to understand every detail of the battle or predict exactly how deliverance will arrive.

David knew that the Lord could deliver him, but he did not possess a detailed explanation of how the confrontation would unfold. He stepped forward with the light he had, using the skill he had developed, while trusting God with the outcome.

Faith sometimes brings immediate deliverance, but more often it provides the strength to continue through a process. Recovery may involve one decisive surrender followed by thousands of daily decisions. Forgiveness may begin with a willingness to release vengeance and continue through repeated invitations to place the wound in Christ’s hands. Grief may soften slowly as the Savior walks with us through memories, anniversaries, and unexpected waves of sorrow.

Jesus Christ does not merely observe these battles from a distance. Through His Atonement, He entered the full landscape of human suffering, temptation, weakness, pain, grief, betrayal, and death. He knows how to succor His people because He has carried what we could never carry alone.

The strength of our faith does not rest in our ability to remain emotionally fearless. It rests in the Savior’s ability to remain faithful.

The Third Stone: Knowledge of Our True Identity

Goliath attempted to define David according to outward appearance. Saul considered him inexperienced. Eliab questioned his motives. Goliath mocked his youth and physical size. Each voice offered David an identity based upon limitation, suspicion, or contempt.

David refused to enter the battle wearing those definitions.

He knew he was a servant of the living God. That identity mattered more than the opinions surrounding him.

Spiritual battles frequently become identity battles. The adversary does not simply tempt us to make a destructive choice; he attempts to convince us that destruction reflects who we truly are. He takes a failure and turns it into a name. He takes a wound and turns it into an identity. He takes a season of struggle and presents it as a permanent verdict.

The gospel of Jesus Christ speaks a different word. We are children of God, children of the covenant, and disciples of Jesus Christ. We are not the sum of our cravings, wounds, failures, labels, diagnoses, or regrets. These realities may influence our present experience, but they do not possess divine authority to define our eternal identity.

Recovery requires more than putting down a substance or abandoning a destructive behavior. It involves learning to live from a restored identity. We stop asking, “What does my old life expect me to do?” and begin asking, “How does a disciple of Jesus Christ respond in this moment?”

When we remember who we are, the giant loses one of its most effective weapons.

The Fourth Stone: Daily Repentance

Repentance is not divine humiliation. It is the gracious process through which Jesus Christ frees us from sin and redirects our lives toward God.

David’s story teaches us why daily repentance remains necessary even after a dramatic spiritual victory. Defeating one Goliath does not make a disciple spiritually invulnerable. The young man who stood faithfully in the valley would later make devastating decisions when he failed to guard his heart, honor covenant boundaries, and turn from temptation.

Yesterday’s courage cannot replace today’s obedience.

This is a vital recovery principle. A person may experience a powerful awakening, survive a crisis, complete treatment, celebrate years of sobriety, or become a respected leader, yet still need daily spiritual inventory and repentance. Past deliverance should inspire gratitude, but it must never become an excuse for complacency.

Daily repentance asks us to remain teachable. It allows the Spirit to reveal resentment before it becomes revenge, pride before it becomes isolation, temptation before it becomes action, and dishonesty before it becomes a hidden life.

We do not repent because Christ has grown tired of us. We repent because He continues to call us toward greater freedom.

The Fifth Stone: Access to God’s Power

The fifth stone is our access to God’s power through Jesus Christ and the covenants we make with Him. Covenants are not merely promises we remember during formal worship. They establish a living relationship through which God strengthens, corrects, guides, and transforms His people.

We sometimes imagine spiritual strength as an individual achievement. We believe that if we were disciplined enough, intelligent enough, emotionally stable enough, or religious enough, we would no longer struggle. The gospel teaches something more hopeful: strength flows through connection.

A house survives the storm because it is firmly connected to the rock. In the same way, disciples endure spiritual pressure because they remain connected to Jesus Christ.

This connection is renewed through prayer, scripture study, repentance, worship, the sacrament, temple covenants, service, and fellowship with faithful people. None of these practices earns the Savior’s love. They position our hearts to receive what He is already willing to give.

The goal is not to become an impressive stone thrower who no longer needs God. The goal is to become a covenant disciple whose confidence remains anchored in Christ.

Do Not Wear Armor That Was Never Made for You

Before David entered the valley, Saul attempted to dress him in the king’s armor. It was respectable equipment, and it probably represented the best protection Israel could provide. David nevertheless recognized that he could not move freely in it because he had not proved it.

This moment offers an important lesson about comparison. We often assume that victory requires us to become someone else. We look at another person’s personality, testimony, ministry, recovery story, family, spiritual gifts, or communication style and conclude that their armor must be the secret to faithfulness.

God did not need David to become Saul in order to defeat Goliath.

The Lord had already trained David through the work of a shepherd. The sling that appeared insignificant to a soldier was familiar in David’s hands. The private discipline developed while guarding sheep became useful in a public battle.

God can use the experiences, wounds, gifts, limitations, training, and testimony that belong to our own story. This does not mean we should reject wise counsel or refuse to learn from others. It means that discipleship is not imitation of another person’s outward form. It is the consecration of our actual lives to Jesus Christ.

You do not need someone else’s armor to obey what God is asking of you. You need faithfulness with what He has placed in your hands.

Covenant Relationships Help Us Survive the Battle

The story does not end when Goliath falls. In 1 Samuel 18, David enters a covenant friendship with Jonathan. Their souls are described as being knit together, and Jonathan supports David even though David’s rise could have been viewed as a threat to Jonathan’s own future.

Jonathan’s response stands in sharp contrast to Saul’s jealousy. Saul saw David’s success and became threatened. Jonathan saw David’s calling and chose loyalty.

Healthy covenant relationships do not compete with the purposes of God in another person’s life. They do not manipulate, diminish, or sabotage another person because their gifts awaken insecurity. They rejoice in truth, protect what is sacred, and offer support when the path becomes dangerous.

This has direct application to recovery and discipleship. Isolation tells us that we should handle our battles privately and reveal ourselves only after we have become strong. Covenant community teaches us that strength often develops through honest connection.

We need people who remind us who we are when shame becomes loud. We need friends who can celebrate our progress without becoming threatened by it. We need wise people who will tell us the truth when our thinking has become distorted. We need relationships that are not built upon shared dysfunction but upon shared devotion to Jesus Christ.

Even David, the courageous giant-slayer, needed Jonathan.

Some Battles Are Won by Refusing to Strike Back

David’s greatest spiritual victories were not all achieved with a sling. In 1 Samuel 24 and 26, he had opportunities to kill Saul, the man who was unjustly pursuing him. David’s companions interpreted these opportunities as providential permission to take revenge, but David exercised restraint.

This was a different kind of battlefield. Goliath had been an obvious enemy standing in open opposition. Saul was more complicated. He was the king, the Lord’s anointed, David’s former leader, and a man consumed by jealousy. David had legitimate reasons to feel angry and threatened, yet he refused to become the kind of man Saul’s behavior invited him to become.

Elder Mark A. Bragg describes spiritual poise as the capacity to remain calm and focused upon what matters most while under pressure. Christlike poise does not mean emotional numbness or passive acceptance of abuse. It is the disciplined refusal to let pressure choose our character for us.

There will be moments when our giant is not the person who hurt us but the anger rising within us. The battle may be won when we refuse to send the message, spread the accusation, retaliate, manipulate, or rehearse the injury until resentment becomes our identity.

Restraint is not weakness. It is strength submitted to God.

Jesus Christ demonstrated perfect spiritual poise in Gethsemane and throughout His arrest, suffering, and Crucifixion. He was not powerless, yet He refused to use power contrary to the Father’s will. When we remain connected to Him, we can respond from covenant identity rather than emotional impulse.

Abigail and the Healing Path of Forgiveness

First Samuel 25 introduces another spiritual crisis. After Nabal insults David and refuses to provide assistance, David prepares to respond with violence. Abigail intervenes with humility, wisdom, and courage, preventing David from taking vengeance into his own hands.

Sister Kristin M. Yee presents Abigail as a powerful symbol of Jesus Christ. Abigail stepped into the space between offense and retaliation, offering peace and preventing David from carrying the burden of a “warring heart.”

Jesus Christ meets us in that same space.

Forgiveness is among the most difficult forms of spiritual surrender because the injury may be real, the consequences may remain, and the person responsible may never repent or acknowledge the damage. Forgiveness does not declare that the offense was harmless, nor does it require us to restore unsafe access to someone who continues to cause harm.

Forgiveness releases our claim to vengeance and places judgment in the hands of God. It allows Christ’s healing power to enter the deep crevasses of the heart.

This is especially important for those healing from family dysfunction, betrayal, abuse, abandonment, or addiction-related wounds. Unresolved resentment can become a continuing relationship with the person or event that harmed us. We may be physically separated from the source of pain while remaining emotionally governed by it.

Jesus Christ does not command forgiveness because the wound is insignificant. He invites us to forgive because He desires to free us from carrying the poison of the offense forever.

Boundaries and forgiveness can exist together. We can release vengeance while maintaining distance. We can pray for healing without pretending trust has been restored. We can surrender the judgment to God while still telling the truth about what occurred.

Forgiveness is not always a single emotional event. It may be a repeated covenant decision to place the wound back into the Savior’s hands whenever it returns.

After the Giant Falls, Keep Asking for Direction

By the time we reach 2 Samuel 5, David is no longer the unknown shepherd standing before Goliath. He is king over Israel. He has experience, influence, authority, and a history of victory.

Nevertheless, when the Philistines return, David inquires of the Lord.

He does not assume that yesterday’s strategy should automatically become today’s plan. In one encounter, the Lord directs him to go forward. In another, the Lord gives different instructions. David’s responsibility is not simply to remember what worked before but to remain receptive to present revelation.

This principle protects us from confusing experience with infallibility. Spiritual maturity does not mean we no longer need guidance. The more responsibility we receive, the more carefully we should seek the Lord.

In recovery, what sustained us during one season may need to be adjusted in another. A boundary that was sufficient before may need strengthening. A spiritual routine may need renewed intention. A familiar trigger may appear in a new form. We cannot rely entirely upon yesterday’s revelation when God is inviting us into today’s conversation.

Prayer is not merely asking God to bless the decision we have already made. It is creating enough inner stillness to receive direction that may challenge our assumptions.

Before moving, David inquired of the Lord. Before responding, retaliating, accepting an opportunity, ending a relationship, beginning a ministry, or returning to an old environment, we should learn to do the same.

Revelation is not an accessory to discipleship. It is our battle strategy.

The Battle Points Us to the True King

Second Samuel 7 brings David’s story into a larger covenant perspective. David desires to build a house for the Lord, but the Lord promises instead to establish David’s house and kingdom.

The earthly kingdom of David would not remain politically unbroken forever. The deeper fulfillment of the promise comes through Jesus Christ, the descendant of David and the Eternal King whose reign has no end.

This matters because the final message of David’s story is not that we should become heroic enough to save ourselves. David’s victories were real, but David was not the perfect king. His later failures remind us that even courageous and anointed people remain dependent upon grace.

Jesus Christ is the greater Son of David. He is the true Champion who entered the battlefield on behalf of His people. Where David defeated a physical enemy, Christ defeated sin and death. Where David’s earthly reign eventually ended, Christ’s kingdom remains forever. Where David sometimes lost his spiritual poise, Christ remained perfectly faithful to the Father.

Every deliverance ultimately points beyond David to Jesus Christ.

Our hope is therefore greater than the hope that one particular giant will fall. Our deepest confidence rests in the truth that Christ has already secured the final victory. Because He lives, addiction does not possess the last word. Shame does not possess the last word. Grief, betrayal, failure, sickness, injustice, and death do not possess the last word.

Jesus Christ reigns, and the battle belongs to Him.

What Is in Your Hand?

When David approached Goliath, he did not possess what conventional wisdom considered necessary. He had a staff, a sling, five stones, remembered deliverance, and faith in the living God.

The Lord often begins with what appears insufficient.

Perhaps what you have today is a willingness to pray after months of spiritual silence. Perhaps it is the courage to attend a meeting, make an appointment, confess a hidden struggle, establish a boundary, open the scriptures, contact a trusted friend, or return to worship. Perhaps all you can presently offer is the honest admission that you are tired of fighting in your own strength.

Place that willingness in the hands of Christ.

You do not have to defeat every giant in a single afternoon. You do not have to know how the entire story will unfold. You are responsible for the next faithful action: selecting the stone, preparing the sling, entering the valley, refusing Saul’s armor, listening for revelation, or releasing the sword of revenge.

The battle belongs to the Lord, but He still invites us to participate with courage, humility, repentance, preparation, and covenant faithfulness.

Reflection and Personal Application

As you study 1 Samuel 17–18; 24–26 and 2 Samuel 5–7, consider what the Lord may be revealing about your present spiritual battles.

What giant has occupied too much of your attention and begun to influence the way you see yourself? How has the Lord delivered or sustained you during earlier seasons of adversity? Which of the five stones—love for God, faith in Jesus Christ, knowledge of your identity, daily repentance, or access to covenant power—needs greater attention in your life?

Consider also the people surrounding your battle. Who has been a Jonathan to you, offering covenant loyalty rather than competition? Is the Lord inviting you to become that kind of friend for someone else? Is there a Saul whom you must resist becoming, especially when another person succeeds? Is there an Abigail whom God has sent to interrupt your anger and redirect you toward peace?

Finally, ask whether you have continued to inquire of the Lord. Have experience, pain, urgency, or pride caused you to move ahead without revelation? What might change if you paused long enough to ask, listen, and follow the direction God provides?

A Final Word of Encouragement

Your Goliath may be real, imposing, and well-armored. The valley may feel lonely, and the voices around you may question whether you possess what is necessary. None of those realities changes the character of God.

The Lord who strengthened David in the wilderness remained with him in the valley. The Savior who carried you through previous battles has not abandoned the story He is writing with you. He is still able to strengthen your hands, steady your heart, correct your course, heal your wounds, and give you wisdom for the next faithful step.

Gather the stones God has provided. Remember your divine identity. Stay connected to Christ. Receive the support of covenant relationships. Refuse the armor of comparison and the sword of revenge. Inquire of the Lord before you move, and place the outcome in His hands.

Then step forward with faithful confidence, not because you are stronger than every giant, but because Jesus Christ is Lord over every battlefield.

The giant does not determine the ending.

The battle is the Lord’s.