Message: In 1 Samuel 17 David showed up at the battle where Goliath was challenging Israel by defying God. The army of Israel was stuck because they were intimidated and paralyzed with fear. When David showed up and started asking questions his brothers were angry, they accused him of being prideful and they belittled him. David was undeterred and he got done what nobody else was willing to do. His years of being a shepherd prepared him for the fight and the disrespectful speech of a “gentile giant” motivated him. As I read this I thought of the many messages I’ve heard from this story over the years and many different angles. I’ve definitely heard some powerful messages but today as I read this I thought about the attitudes of everyone around David. We all want to put ourselves in the position of David and think about all of the evil people that didn’t believe in him. Today I challenged myself to see myself from the perspective of all of the naysayers. David brought provisions to his brothers under the instruction of his father and his brothers didn’t seem to have any issues with him until he started asking questions. The questions he was asking provoked them because he was motivated and they were paralyzed in their fear. They weren’t moving and they were about to be shown up by their little brother. Belittling David probably made them feel better about the fact that they were not doing anything. They needed to be believe in was an impossible fight in order to save their pride and justify their refusal to move. This made me think about some of the areas of my life that I have gotten stuck and refused to move in. The lies I have chosen to believe in order to support my lack of movement, and my attitude towards other people who have chosen to look past the appearance of impossibility. When we are unproductive we become critical towards productive people because our hearts are convicted and we are left without a real excuse. If we belittle or criticize the motivation of others it appeases the apathy in ourselves. I have definitely related to David plenty of times, but today I want to challenge myself in the areas where I have acted more like his brothers.
