And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 1 Samuel 17:32
On my last post, I began the account of David and his legendary fight with the Philistine Goliath. We know that the armies of the Philistines and of Israel are head to head and Goliath is going out morning and night calling for a man brave enough to fight him. The victor of the duel will be the victor of the war. But the men of Israel were scared and none answered Goliath's call. Yet one day, a young man named David entered the battlefield to bring his brothers substance and this young man decided to stand against him. Why? Because he knew of the covenant he had with God.
I want to continue the tale in this post.
Because of the knowledge of his covenant with God, David had his mind made up that he was going to go fight that giant and he asked around for the prize should he be victorious. The answer was, ". . .the king will enrich him [the man who kills Goliath] with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel." Well, David's brother, Eliab, heard David speaking to these men and the Bible says "Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle." David answered, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"
I want to point something out here. We already know that David went there by his father's order, not to be a spy. This is just an example to what people will say when we make a statement of faith. David's faith was mistaken for arrogance. Do you see that? David was confident in God, and in what God would do for him, he wasn't arrogant. But Eliab didn't understand David's relationship with God and so he mistook David's faith for arrogance. That still happens today. When someone says that a certain thing is going to happen to them, for example, they're healed of a sickness that's been plaguing them because God loves them, He wants them to be healed, and Jesus bought and paid for it with the shedding of His blood, some will think that's arrogance because they don't understand it. But it's not. It's confidence in God and living by faith.
David's words and inquisition got to the king's ears eventually, and King Saul called David to speak with him. The young man told the king that he would fight Goliath. Now you must remember that David is young, like still a teenager, and a shepherd boy at that. He didn't have any traditional arm's training. Goliath was a man of war, and he was BIG. Saul said to David, "Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."
Listen to how David replies. Beginning at verse 34.
"Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philisitine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee."
We can get a few things from these passages.
First, the time David spent as a shepherd keeping his father's sheep was his training period. In this time, he grew close to God and learned how to trust Him. Though David didn't have any traditional combat training, God taught him how to defend himself against that bear and lion. If you don't remember, a few chapters back, David was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next king of Israel. And if he was going to be king, he had to be trained. His shepherding was his training. I believe that we all have our own times of training. It may seem like not a whole lot is going on, but if we use these times in our lives to seek God and allow Him to mold us into what He wants, we'll be prepared for whatever it is He wants us to do and become.
Second, in David's training period, he learned that God was faithful to His covenant, which allowed him to be faith-full, or full of faith.
Lastly, David gave God the glory of victory before he even stepped on the battlefield to face Goliath. He said, The Lord delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the bear, and he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philsitine.
David wasn't arrogant or conceited. He was completely and utterly confident in his God's ability. He was full of faith! He understood that it wouldn't be by his own might or power that Goliath would be slain. He knew that he could only come out the victor by the hand of God. Search your own heart today. Have you been thinking it's by your own ability that you're successful? Allow me to say that it's only by the power and anointing of God that we amount to anything. Give the glory to God and allow others to see that you're living a blessed and victorious life because of Him and Jesus.
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