David and Goliath, For Adults

David and Goliath: the story of a teenage boy defeating the odds and saving the day by taking out the enemy’s champion with a slingshot, right?

Yes and no.

Yes, David defeated a man who had terrorized the entire Israelite army for over a month; no, he didn’t go to the battlefield with a slingshot as his only weapon.

If you back up in the story, you will find that the writer mentions David having spent time in the wilderness tending to his father’s sheep… and why is that important? Because that, in a manner of speaking, was God’s ‘basic training’ for him; proof of this is found in David’s dialogue with King Saul and the soldiers of the Israelite army. David told Saul about his escapades with wild animals during his time in the wilderness, and in his conversation with the soldiers, he compared Goliath to these wild animals that he had killed with God’s help.  The wilderness had not only taught David to fight the elements, it had taught him to trust God; when David refused Saul’s personal armor it wasn’t because of his superior ability with a slingshot, it was because he had learned to trust in God, and when he turned down the king’s weapons, he was proclaiming this to every person watching him.

Every one of us spends time in life’s ‘wildernesses’; we all experience times when there is no clear direction or any end in sight to the season of life we are in, but it is during times like these when we can either draw close to God of pull away from Him. There are seasons of life, and while I may not particularly like where I am at any given point in time, God is just getting me ready for the next thing He has for me. God will not throw me into the battle and give me giants to fight without first preparing me, and what truly makes all the difference during the battle is when I allow Him to be there with me.