The Preparing Place

David—a shepherd boy—once went before the current King of Israel, Saul, and told him that he’d be willing to fight a giant on behalf of the nation of Israel because no one else would.

 Saul’s response isn’t particularly inspiring,

1 Samuel 17:33 says,

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.”

Saul’s pretty explicit. The answer is no.

David is repeatedly told no.

Have you ever felt like you’ve received a constant “no” in life?

No to your dreams, your desires, your calling?

So did David, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Look at David’s incredible response. Pay special attention to the humility in his response beginning in 1 Samuel 17:34,

But David said to Saul, “Your servant (not your king, your warrior, or your leader) has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 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. 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. 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.”

What an incredible exchange.

Saul is so inspired that even he reverses course and says, “go!”

Most of you probably know the rest of the story, but if you don’t: David goes out, strikes this giant warrior, Goliath, in the head with a stone from his slingshot, kills him, and uses this victory as the springboard which propels him into one of the greatest kings/leaders/warriors to ever walk the Earth.

It’s an incredible story of what many would view as an overnight success.

One slingshot, one throw, one victory, that changed David’s life forever.

However, I can’t help but think how much tension was placed into that springboard through the consistent, faithful actions David exhibited leading up to that moment.

See, it was consistent faithfulness that led to confident execution.

David stepped into his moment against Goliath knowing that God would see him through because God saw him through a secret anointing, He saw him through repeated attacks by a lion and a bear, and He saw him through the slaying of a giant.

“Consistent faithfulness leads to confident execution.”

David was born to be a king! But he was prepared as a shepherd, sharpened as a warrior, and groomed as a commander before ever setting that crown on his head for the first time.

Perhaps God has anointed you to be a king or queen in this life. And yet, you find yourself in a season of life as a shepherd, warrior, or commander. Something inside you continues to scream, “there’s more to this life than this!” And you’re probably right.

But, what if God has you positioned exactly where he wants you to fulfill a role only you can for such a time as this?

Are you willing to trust that God is who He says He is in the future but perhaps more difficulty, in the present?

The future belongs to the bold, but the present belongs to the faithful.

Let us be a faithful remnant in the culture surrounding us.