1 Samuel 17:32-50
New International Version (NIV)
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 young man, and he has been a warrior 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 rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you."
I read this passage recently, and though it is a familiar passage, I learnt something new. The Bible does that very often. Every time you read a passage, even if you have read it a hundred times, it will still bring out something new, if we are open to it. I guess that's why they call it the "Living Word".
Here we see a confident and firmly resolved youth speaking to his king and asking permission to fight a menace that the whole nation was challenged with. We see throughout history and throughout the great stories of heroes from the ancient times right up to the modern age. We see them time and again failing to meet their "destinies" and moving away from responsibility. It has been a favourite theme for many a writer throughout time. In contrast here we see a kid, a "youth" as described here, asking the king to meet an adversary that the strongest of his people wasn't ready to face.
A wise man once pointed out to me how the ways of the world are different from the ways of God and His people. How the normal will look wrong and vice versa. This is what we see here too. We see how a youth is so confident to realise who he is and what he is capable of. He speaks of his earlier victories in the battles in his life and gives glory to God through them. How many of us can do that openly? Most think twice when they have to clap or raise their hands or sing or even pray. How many of us think twice when forwarding a message that was from the Bible? Yet, we are called to be confident in who we are. How is this possible?
This is a question that many of us face daily. Our identities come into question everyday. How are we? What is our purpose here? What are we here for? Why were we put here? Are these the question that define who you are and determine your future?
Look at what David says. He brings out how he has faced troubles in the past and also how he has overcome them - by the hand of God. He says, "The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine." Look where his confidence lies. Not in his ability, but in God's. He brings up his past experiences and equates them to this "huge" (literally, as well) problem that not only him, but his whole nation was faced with. We often tend to look at our problems and not at the solution that is right in front of us. Someone once told me that we should stop holding our magnifying glass towards the problems we face, but towards God. That is the way we can get some perspective of the issue at hand and deal with it as believers.
David's confidence we see isn't not just from understanding his abilities, but to know how and when to use those abilities. He knew his strengths and weaknesses. It's important for us as believers to take some time and analyse our SWOT's. When we know our weaknesses, we also know where we need to work on and ask God's help in making us better humans. But the real question here that must be looked into is, who are we?
Casting Crowns, a band, put it in the most amazing way possible. They quoted scripture in a song of theirs and wrote this:
"Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Here we see a confident and firmly resolved youth speaking to his king and asking permission to fight a menace that the whole nation was challenged with. We see throughout history and throughout the great stories of heroes from the ancient times right up to the modern age. We see them time and again failing to meet their "destinies" and moving away from responsibility. It has been a favourite theme for many a writer throughout time. In contrast here we see a kid, a "youth" as described here, asking the king to meet an adversary that the strongest of his people wasn't ready to face.
A wise man once pointed out to me how the ways of the world are different from the ways of God and His people. How the normal will look wrong and vice versa. This is what we see here too. We see how a youth is so confident to realise who he is and what he is capable of. He speaks of his earlier victories in the battles in his life and gives glory to God through them. How many of us can do that openly? Most think twice when they have to clap or raise their hands or sing or even pray. How many of us think twice when forwarding a message that was from the Bible? Yet, we are called to be confident in who we are. How is this possible?
This is a question that many of us face daily. Our identities come into question everyday. How are we? What is our purpose here? What are we here for? Why were we put here? Are these the question that define who you are and determine your future?
Look at what David says. He brings out how he has faced troubles in the past and also how he has overcome them - by the hand of God. He says, "The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine." Look where his confidence lies. Not in his ability, but in God's. He brings up his past experiences and equates them to this "huge" (literally, as well) problem that not only him, but his whole nation was faced with. We often tend to look at our problems and not at the solution that is right in front of us. Someone once told me that we should stop holding our magnifying glass towards the problems we face, but towards God. That is the way we can get some perspective of the issue at hand and deal with it as believers.
David's confidence we see isn't not just from understanding his abilities, but to know how and when to use those abilities. He knew his strengths and weaknesses. It's important for us as believers to take some time and analyse our SWOT's. When we know our weaknesses, we also know where we need to work on and ask God's help in making us better humans. But the real question here that must be looked into is, who are we?
Casting Crowns, a band, put it in the most amazing way possible. They quoted scripture in a song of theirs and wrote this:
"Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart?
Who am I, that the Eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again?
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me?"
He answers this questions and puts it beautifully.
He answers this questions and puts it beautifully.
"Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours."
Until we realise who we are in Christ and what we are capable of, we don't really know who we are! It is in Him that we are made whole. He is the Author and Perfecter for our faith and our lives. We need to learn to stand tall and embrace who we are. I once read the definition of humility in an amazing book. It read, "You stooping down and letting others walk over you is not being humble. That's fishing for compliments. True humility is when you stand at your tallest, realising your full potential and abilities and then seeing yourself as next to God. Realising that the best you are is nothing but rag-cloth in His sight."
So I invite you to come and realise who you are in your fullest potential and like David to know what your abilities are, but also to realise who you are in God and next to Him.
Who are you?
Until we realise who we are in Christ and what we are capable of, we don't really know who we are! It is in Him that we are made whole. He is the Author and Perfecter for our faith and our lives. We need to learn to stand tall and embrace who we are. I once read the definition of humility in an amazing book. It read, "You stooping down and letting others walk over you is not being humble. That's fishing for compliments. True humility is when you stand at your tallest, realising your full potential and abilities and then seeing yourself as next to God. Realising that the best you are is nothing but rag-cloth in His sight."
So I invite you to come and realise who you are in your fullest potential and like David to know what your abilities are, but also to realise who you are in God and next to Him.
Who are you?
