Narrative

What do you do with a narrative like 1Samuel 17:1-54? Do you tell people that it means that they can slay the giants in their lives? Do you take it to mean that you can kill the big sins in your life?

That may be true, but I don't think that is what the author intended. The author intended to tell a story about God's faithfulness and how we should be faithful. It also continues some of the themes from Hannah's song in 1Samuel 2:1-10. It also shows the downfall of Saul and the rise of David.

What I learned is that we need to be careful about giving out specific applications when we teach passages. We don't necessarily want to simply teach the text and let the Holy Spirit give the application, but we also don't want to put words in the authors' mouths either.