As He Was

 DEVOTION

1^ST SAMUEL

AS HE WAS

1 Samuel 17:28-40

28 When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle." 29 "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?" 30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him." 33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 34 But 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, 35 I 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. 36 Your 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. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." 38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David 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. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

NIV

The boastfulness of that big brother, thinking David was only worthy of tending sheep. Eliab was rejected by Samuel, even though he was a strong fighting man, and anointed David, the tender of the sheep, as king over all Israel. He must have been infuriated as well as the other brothers who were rejected to be the king who would replace Saul. Now three of them are fighting in the army of Saul against the Philistines. But day after day, they run in fear of this Goliath, with no one able to take up the challenge to face him one-on-one. Eliab hears David talking to other soldiers about the reward for killing Goliath. But David goes back to asking once more as to the reward. Someone told Saul about what David said about this uncircumcised Philistine, and now we are at the point in the story where Saul wants David to wear armor, thinking that would make him capable of warfare against the enemy. But David tried, and as he was not used to it, he only wanted his sling and some smooth stones. This points lead us to an important truth. David had to be who he was and face Goliath with his familiar method of striking the lion and the bear to protect his father’s sheep. We cannot be anyone other than who we are. That sounds so simple, as of course, we are only who we are, but do we look at others who might be bigger, stronger, more spiritual, more knowledgeable, more successful, both by the world’s standards, and within the church, and think we should be more like them? They may be exactly how God designed them, and that is alright, but if we think we should emulate their ways, that we might be better than we are, we are wrong. The fact is God designed us just as we are, even if we are weak, uneducated, unsuccessful as others, both in the world and in the church. What matters is that the Lord is with us. David knew he could face Goliath because the Lord had anointed him and was with him, as well as had prompted him with the reward so that he would do what he was meant to do: defeat Goliath and win the victory for Israel. We have to be who we are and face whatever task the Lord has prompted us to do, head-on, without fear, for we know the Lord is with us, and he will make sure we win the battle. However, instead of a sling, we do have a sword, the word of God, and he has given us the power of the Spirit who dwells within to wheel that sword, defeating the forces of evil that stand against us. David did not wait for the Philistine, but he approached him. David took the fight straight on because he knew the Lord was with him, and that he would fight just as he was, a shepherd defending the sheep, and the name of the Living God. Let us always take our stand and stand firm, just as we are.