I absolutely love David. It doesn’t
matter if we are talking about the shepherd boy, entertainer of King Saul,
soldier, or King, I just love reading about his progression through both his
faith and his life. I would go so far as to say he is one of my spiritual
heroes (minus the whole adultery/murder part). God himself found David as a man
after His heart. “But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God
said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do
everything I want him to do.’” Acts 13:22 (NLT). What an amazing statement.
I pray that even through my own mistakes and lapses of judgement, God sees me
as someone after His own heart and that will do His will.
I think that as Christians (myself
included), we often believe that if we just do what’s right, everything should
be smooth sailing. We think that life should be comfortable and easy if we just
say and do the right things. The American Christian church is especially guilty
of this. We have grown accustom to ease and comfort, so we feel like we must
put on a façade of perfection. Social media only fuels this fire because we can
portray ourselves any way we want. What a travesty! No one has a perfect life,
nor will we. Honestly, I am thankful that things aren’t perfect because if they
were we would miss seeing the blessings through our struggles.
The very thought of an easy life
actually goes completely against the teachings of Jesus himself. He did say “take
up your cross and follow me” (see Matthew 16:24-26). That phrase has become
somewhat cliché in our modern society. He was literally saying “take up your
instrument of extreme torture and death and follow me”. This wasn’t some cute cross to hang on the wall.
He was essentially saying “be ready for a rough ride but I’m right here beside
you”.
If you look at the life of David,
that is essentially what he did. He believed that God was with him no matter
what he was experiencing. He had a bold faith that he was not afraid to share.
So many Christians live incognito in this world. We believe in God but don’t
want to be perceived as “different”, so we sacrifice some of our beliefs on the
altar of fitting in. David didn’t care about that. Even in the darkest moments
of his life when he was literally running for his life, he chose to praise God.
He was never afraid to go into danger, because he knew God was with him.
I love the story of David and
Goliath for many reasons (see 1 Samuel 17). First, I love when God uses
unexpected people to advance His kingdom. I also love that He uses unqualified
people to achieve incredible victories. David was a teenage shepherd who had
never been near a battlefield, much less encountered a soldier with the skills
and stature of Goliath. However, he trusted God so much that he chose to go to
battle with the only weapon he knew how to use: a slingshot. He passed up using
the King’s own armor because it was far too heavy and he wasn’t used to it. Instead,
he went and found 5 smooth stones from a stream and went to battle. Here is
what I love that I never thought about until this week; David grabbed 5 stones,
God gave him the victory with only 1. Wow! Not only was David underqualified, underage, and under skilled, he was also underprepared
with only 5 pieces of ammo. However, God gave the victory to a young man
with a willing heart and only needed 1 stone to do it. All David had to do was
obey.
So, what is God asking you to do?
Even if you feel like David and are underqualified, underage, under skilled, and
underprepared, God can use whatever stone you bring to the table. All you have
to do is bring it!
