Are you ready to face your Goliath?
1 Samuel 17 Verses 34-49
34But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." 38Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.
King David was a man after Gods own heart. But he was also an ordinary man like you and me. He had qualities which we could use when we face our personal Goliath's, in terms of our challenges. These qualities were:
Bravery
David was a brave man. In 1 Samuel 17 verses 34 to 36 he states his qualifications to fight Goliath. His acts of bravery and his wins. I would like to know of a single man or woman today, who would fight a hungry lion to save his sheep. In this world of 8 bn people I know of no one, except one (to be discussed later). David was bravery personified. A man to acclaim and laud.
Humility
David knew he was brave, but he also knew his bravery came from knowing that he would not be harmed by the lions because his God was with him. And in verse 37 he gives all credit, all 100 percent of it, to God. He humbled himself before his God.
Faith
David's bravery also stemmed from faith. In ver 37 he states that God would protect him from Goliath as He protected him against the wild animals. His faith in God to fight Goliath came because he had known that his God protected him.
Complete dependence
When he was going out to fight, Saul covered him in his own amour, with sword and shield. But David did not know those and he could not manage. Instead, he depended on what he knew: God alone could protect him and grant him victory.
Like David, we too face our own Goliaths. They maybe situations or people, or even our own habits. How do we overcome? By being like David. Completely dependent only on God for our bravery and our victory. But first, like David, we need to be humble, have complete faith and dependence on God.
And that's the hard part. Not the battle.
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