Preparation for the Work 02:20:09

1SA 17:34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,

v35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

v36  "Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God."

v37 And David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you."

A story we all know very well.

Even people who don't claim to be Believers in Christ, know this story.

We will get to the end of it in a little bit, but first, we need to see something in David's statement to King Saul.

David, probably around 14 years old at this time, how they know that, I haven't a clue, is upset because Goliath, the giant, is cursing God, and making fun of the army of Israel.

All the army is sitting around afraid of him.

Bob and I were talking Monday, during our old man practice, about how so few people are able to control a large crowd.

Like the terrorists who held an entire cruise ship hostage.

The ship Pam and I were on 8 years ago, had 3600 people on board, including staff.

You mean a few bad guys making a lot of noise, were able to hold that many people at bay?

Even if they had automatic weapons, how many can they kill, before they are simply over powered?

The same goes for the highjackers.

Those 4 guys held all those people in terror, while they flew the planes into the Trade Towers?

I don't get it.

Out of 4 planes, only 1 group took matters into their own hands.

So, it is easy for us to sit around, and scoff at the Israelites for being afraid of 1 giant, but we do the same thing today.

I have always wondered, even as a kid, why they army didn't just rush down the mountain, and crush that bad boy.

So what if he was 9 feet tall, how many could he actually kill, before they just ran him down?

Here comes little David, a kid, not even old enough to be in the army, and he's ticked off at the whole scene.

Did you know that the modern Israeli army has a smallish mounted gun called something like the Davidka?

It means Little David.

Anyway, David comes along, and says he can take out Goliath.

How on earth could a punk, to young to be a soldier think he could do this?

It must be a death wish.

No, look at our opening verses.

David, at this young age, had already killed a lion, and a bear, when they tried to kill his sheep.

Plus, look how he killed them.

He killed them with his bear hands.

Hokey smokes, I certainly wouldn't go after a bear or a lion, even a mountain lion with my bear hands.

Not even a baby bear.

Not even Booboo.

Yet we see that David, had killed both of these beasts with his hands.

I think I know how he did it too.

He wasn't a karate black belt, but I bet he just took off after those animals with a prayer on his lips.

In the movie Saving Private Ryan, there is a Christian soldier, who goes into battle praying scriptures.

I thought that was very cool!

I know, that's exactly what I'd be doing, if I had to do that.

The point I am trying to make tonight is, David didn't come out of nowhere, and bravely run up to the giant, and kill him with a stone.

No, he had been preparing for this moment for some time.

He'd spent many long days out in the pastures with a bunch of dumb sheep, and twice, predators had come after his flock, and he'd gone after them with his hands, and beaten them.

So, when the trial of Goliath came along, he was able to draw from his experiences, and knew the power of God, and what the Lord could, and would do through him, and was able to defeat the giant.

We too are going through our training.

Our experiences in life, are building on each other, and mounting up.

What is it they say? What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

David went on to do amazing things.

He was chased by Saul trying to kill him.

He was chased by the Philistines, and all sorts of other things.

He ended up king too.

You see, Saul was picked out of the crowd, and made king.

In fact, he was hiding, and didn't want to be king.

He was picked to be king, because he was taller than the other guys, and nice looking.

Not because he was prepared, or leadership material.

Sound familiar?

By the time David was made king, he'd been through an awful lot of trials, many of them life threatening, and had prevailed in every one.

JAM 1:2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

v3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

v4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We want that part that says, “so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

But we don't want what goes before it.

The trials, the endurance, the testing of our faith.

I don't like it either!

However, we aren't going to grow, if we don't push against the gravity.

Winners lose a lot, but they win the important things.

We need to accept the trials in our lives, and not complain about them.

It isn't easy, believe me!

I am preaching at myself here.

Let's determine, in our own minds, to not bow before our trials, but to rise above them, and beat them.

We can't do this in our own power, of course we can't.

David didn't kill the bear, lion and Goliath with his own strength.

He put to use what the Lord had taught him, his physical skills, and the power of the Spirit of God, and whipped them all.

We can too!

Let's pray.