If you feel like you’ve gotten yourself into something you didn’t plan on today, take heart. Yeah, I know David and Goliath is a classic underdog story. It’s admittedly encouraging to know the weaker or smaller person can win. But, there’s a lesson in the tale about adaptability and taking on challenges you didn’t plan for, too. So, today I want you to back up a bit. Look at what happened before David flung his stone out of his slingshot, because there’s a lot more to the story than just big versus small.
David and Goliath started out as a grain and cheese delivery…
David was just being David. Helping out his dad. Tending the flock at home. His dad, being a dad, wanted to know if his sons who were following Saul were OK on the front lines at the Valley of Elah. So his dad shoves food in his face and tells him to go deliver it. David’s like, “Cool. I am ON it.”
All he had in mind to do was deliver food. To obey his dad and bring back some reassurance that his brothers were OK.
But then…
THEN David hears people being wussies because of Goliath. He hears they are scared despite being God’s people. His brain breaks. He’s like, “Wait a minute. This makes ZERO sense…”
David’s brother, Eliab, gripes at him and accuses him of being conceited and having bad motives for having come to the valley. But David knows better. And now, he’s forgotten all about his grain and cheese. That’s not the mission anymore. All of a sudden, the kid who started out with the grain and cheese is in front of the king telling him he’ll fight when no one else has the you-know-what to.
We all know how the story ends. One giant, a little less top-heavy.
You might not plan your giants, but you can still beat them
Most people, especially professionals, like careful planning. We like battles we see coming and know we can win. We enjoy strategizing ahead of the fight. But sometimes, you’re going to set out to do one thing and need to handle something else.
You don’t have to be anxious in those moments. You just have to let go of the previous plan, know what’s right, and let God show you which stone to pick up.
From experience, trust
One thing I think people miss in David’s story is that, when he talks to Saul before battle, he convinces the king to let him go fight by explaining how many other times God has protected him. David has faith he can beat Goliath because God already has saved David’s life many times. David wasn’t used to fighting in war. But he was used to constantly responding in the moment to his father’s sheep in trouble.
When David met Goliath, the response to the immediate need was the same. Only now, the sheep weren’t sheep, but the people of Israel. The thought in his head likely was, “If God saved me from all those lions and bears, what reason do I have to expect He would not save me also from this?”
Although David had never fought a Philistine, God had been training him to do it his entire life.
When your giants come, see how many times you’ve already fought and won because of God. Those battles were not accidents. Know the path of future battles will not change. Lion? Bear? Philistine? Meh. All are just variations on things that are hairy. David looked back at his experience and knew that, no matter what he’d had to punch in the nose, God had provided rescue and victory. He trusted God because of what he’d lived, felt, and already done.
There is evidence of what is possible if you only look
In your life, there is evidence of saving.
In your life, there is evidence of protection.
In your life, you have had training.
Look for it. Trust it. Thank God for all the bears and lions He’s already tackled with you. They are what give you an understanding of how the next battle will end. Remember that, through God, you’ve done it before. Through God, you can do it again. Then pick up your stone, because God has no reason at all to stop His oversight of you.