This week I'd like to share a post written some time back.It is the familiar David and Goliath story.Here are some life lessons we can learn from it that God has revealed to me. Hope it encourages you today!
Living in an imperfect world, we all face our own Goliaths in life. What is the giant in your life today? Is it debt, unemployment, sickness, rejection, relationship failure, loneliness ? Whether we admit it or not, we have all been there. Many times we just stood like the tiny shepherd boy David in front of the 9 feet tall Goliath in our life; knowing with every fiber of our being that we don’t stand a chance of success. The easy thing is to stay where we are, wishing that somehow the giant would just disappear from our lives. Instead, the giant just comes back like Goliath did, again and again for forty days (1 Sam 17:8, 16) challenging you to fight him.
How did David (an inexperienced and young shepherd boy) who was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons even end up in the place of battle? That was no place for a teenager like David. I’d say he was way out of league and even got reprimanded by his oldest brother Eliab for that (1 Sam 17:28). David could have taken offence then and there, shrugged his shoulders and walked away. However, that is not what he did. He knew that he had not done anything wrong. He had come to the battlefield in obedience to his father who had asked him to take food for his brothers and to bring back assurance that they were well (1 Sam 17:17,18).He was in no way ‘conceited or wicked in heart’ as accused by his brother, instead he was obedient and faithful, doing what he had been instructed to do by his father. He didn’t go out looking for an opportunity to be a leader or a hero, God placed him where He could use him. Yet he was misunderstood. Often in life, we may be wrongly accused and may wonder about the injustice. It is easy to take offense and to walk away hurt, but in the process, we walk away from the blessing too. We have to stay right where we are and finish what we have started. In vs. 30 we see that David turns and asks someone else for information and is so persistent that he is finally brought before King Saul who tells him clearly that he has no military experience and reminds him of Goliath’s military career. Many times in life we may come across occasions when we may not be qualified or experienced enough for the task. Others may question us, try to talk us out of our dream, remind us of the million reasons why we may not be suitable. If however, God has put a dream in our heart, we can trust that He can make it happen. “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.” It is important not to give up our dream which actually is the key to our destiny!
The next lesson we can learn from this passage is we have got to recognize what is in our hand. God always blesses us when we use what we have. There is no person on planet earth who God cannot use. It is up to us to first of all recognize and then use the gift or talent that He has given us in the best way that we can. Our mistake is that often we wait for something big to happen before even starting. Instead, we must use the many little opportunities available around us. That is what David did as a shepherd boy. When reminded of his inexperience, he tells King Saul about his past experiences of killing a lion and bear in the name of the Living God. He used what little he had and God honored him. The secret was that David knew that even those incredible successes were not his (a young, inexperienced, little shepherd boy) and so what difference does it make if the opponent is a lion or a bear or giant Goliath? The battle was not David’s, so the opponent didn’t really matter to him. His confidence was in the Lord and he confesses it in vs. 37.
He convinces the King that he is the one to fight Goliath; which in itself is amazing! Saul blesses him but wants to prepare David for the battle. In vs. 38 we read that Saul dresses David in his own tunic (which probably is the best in town), gives him a coat of armor and bronze helmet as well. Poor David couldn’t even walk with all this heavy artillery and so he wisely takes it all off. The lesson we can learn here is that we needn’t try to fight the battles in our strength. If we use our worldly logic and reasoning (weaponry), we will fall off balance just like little David did with all the heavy war clothes. He just used what he knew best to use (a sling and five smooth stones).He knew the victory was already his because the battle was the Lord’s.
We see that in vs42-44, Goliath despises David and even makes fun of his modus operandi. Yet another lesson to learn. When we are on the battlefront just before the fight there will be a taunting, a mockery reminding us of the sheer ridiculousness of what we are doing and how we are doing it. Our response should be the response David had. In vs. 47 he declares aloud that God didn’t need his sword or spear or strength to defeat Goliath. He would give Goliath into the hands of the Israelites for His glory.
An important lesson to learn here is that God used David (the youngest of eight boys) to defeat the 9 ft Philistine warrior who taunted the Israelite army. We can never tell of what God can do with someone who is totally surrendered to Him. As we can see in 1 Corin1:27-29: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him”-NIV
Thus, let us courageously face the Goliaths in our life by surrendering totally to Him, knowing that the victory is ours when the battle is the Lord’s!
Have a blessed week!
Sparky laurie
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