1 Samuel 17 Step 1 Pray & Step 2 Survey

1 Samuel 17 Step 1 Pray & Step 2 Survey

by | Mar 31, 2026 | 1 Samuel 17, David and Goliath, DISO studies

NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.

Hello, Friends. I hope you have plans to celebrate Easter this coming Sunday! It’s my favorite holiday because it commemorates the one miracle that sets Jesus apart from all the other would-be first-century messiahs. All the others had birthdays, but as far as I know, only Jesus has a rebirthday!

Of course, the real purpose for this post is to share my prayer and what the Spirit revealed to me in 1 Samuel 17 this past week, so I’ll get right to that…

Last Week’s Work

MY PRAYER
Thank You, Father God, for Your Word and what it reveals about Your character. As I study this story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, help me see, hear, and understand the lessons You have for me. Allow me to guide others through this study so we can faithfully represent You to all we meet. In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.

HUH? and WOW! MOMENTS
This might be a record! I noticed eight Wow!s and four Huh?s as I read through this passage:

  • WOW! Pretty high stakes in the battle between David and Goliath: whoever survives their contest wins, and conquers all the loser’s people, too!
  • WOW! All Israel’s men fled from Goliath and were much afraid… even when the king promised wealth and his daughter in marriage to the victor. Some warriors they were (vv24-25)!
  • WOW! Much bravado on David’s part, “[I’ll] fight with this Philistine” (v32)!
  • WOW! Okay, maybe it’s faith: David was sure he’d beat Goliath because the giant had “defied the armies of the living God (v36).”
  • WOW! More evidence of David’s faith in vv37 and 46 where he reveals his battle plans!!
  • WOW! David approached Goliath with his [shepherd’s?] staff [reminds me of Psalm 23:3!], five smooth stones, and his sling (v40); while Goliath brought a sword, a spear, and a javelin (v45). They each brought three items, but David also brought the LORD (v45)!
  • WOW! “… all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s… (v47)”
  • WOW! David ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine (v48). I would never be eager to fight someone bigger, stronger, and better equipped than I am!
  • HUH? Who are the armies (plural) of the living God mentioned in v36? Same as the armies of Israel mentioned in v45? But in v21, Israel’s defense is described as [one] army…? Maybe Israel plus a supernatural army?
  • HUH? what’s the difference between a spear and a javelin (v45)?
  • HUH? What does he mean by the name “the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel (v45).”
  • HUH? V50 indicates David … with a stone… struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.” But then v51 says “David… took [the Philistine’s] sword… and killed him…? Did Goliath die by the stone or a sword?

Dig-In Challenges

If you’re doing your own study, listen to the Spirit’s guidance this week and choose your own topic (your personal treasure)from 1 Samuel 17 to dig more deeply into. It can be anything you noticed in your survey of the text that raises a question or resonates with you, or you can use one of my responses above if you like. This personal treasure will help us narrow the focus of our study as it progresses.

  1. PRAY for the Spirit to direct your focus for the remainder of this study. In your journal, record the personal treasure He identifies, along with any verse(s) relating to it from the study text.
  2. MINE: Read 1 Samuel 17, focusing on three factors setting the stage in this text: note anything the Spirit emphasizes about the characters involved, any locations mentioned, and any timeframes discussed.

I’m looking forward to sharing my notes with you next week!

GO TO WEEK 3 >

1 Samuel 17 Step 1 Pray & Step 2 Survey

1 Samuel 17 DISO Study Introduction

by | Mar 24, 2026 | 1 Samuel 17, David and Goliath, DISO studies, Introduction

Hello! Thank you for joining me for this new eight-week study! I’m doing something a little different this time, studying three excerpts from 1 Samuel 17 about David’s battle with Goliath and focusing on the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel (1 Sam 17:45).

This is the second study in my new series, God Who?, and my goal for this series is to learn as much as I can about the many names of God found in Scripture. I can’t wait to see what the Holy Spirit has planned for me to discover in the next eight weeks. 

Let’s Study 1 Samuel 17! 

This week, I’ll begin by praying and surveying 1 Samuel 17. If you want to study on your own with me, here’s what I recommend you have ready:

  1. A copy of 1 Samuel 17.
    I like to refer often to the text I’m studying and sometimes make notes on it, so I copy the passage from blueletterbible.org, paste it into a word processing program like Google docs or MS Word, change the formatting to suit my preferences, and print it out. If you want to use the ESV translation, here’s a pdf of my Scripture study sheet with lots of room for doodles and notes.
    NOTE: My study sheet does NOT contain the whole chapter, it’s verses 19-27, 31-37, and 40-51, limiting our focus to the specific aspects of the battle in those verses. If this is your first time studying this story, be sure to read the entire chapter at least a few times so you don’t take anything out of context (we’ll discuss this more in Week Six.
  2. A study journal.
    We’ll spend the next seven weeks immersed in and learning about 1 Samuel 17. Since the work we’ll do each week builds on what came before, plan to record at least some highlights from your work over the coming weeks. I’m old-school and like the pen-and-paper method for journaling my studies, but it’s okay if that doesn’t work for you. If you don’t have time to write out or type your notes, consider dictating them into a notes app, or recording audio files, instead.

Or, you may decide to just read the entries posted here, and that’s great, too. You’ll get familiar with the process and see how the Spirit speaks to my situation. Either way, I appreciate you checking in with me, even if you can’t dig into 1 Samuel 17 yourself this time.

Dig-In Challenges

So, here’s how I’ll be studying this week:

  1. PRAY: I’ll be creating a prayer with which I’ll start each of my weekly study sessions. If you’ve studied with me before, you know I usually just adapt a previous prayer. Though I’ve pretty much memorized my prayer, I still write it in my study journal as a reminder to pray each time I start studying.
  2. SURVEY: Then I’ll read my excerpts from 1 Samuel 17, noting anything that makes me say, “huh?” (as in, “I wonder what that means?”) or “wow” (as in, “that is so awesome!”). I’ll record these and later ask the Spirit to direct me to the one I should dig into right now.

If you’d like more information about these steps, check out this printable summary of the process I’ll be using here. Or, you can always reach out to me with your questions through my contact page or at [email protected].

I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover in this process with you, and I hope you’ll make a habit of checking in with me each week!

GO TO WEEK 2 >