David and Goliath.. Go Hard or Go Home!

David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." 1 Samuel 17: 45-47

So finally we have arrived at the famous story of David and Goliath. You can read the whole story here but here’s the summary:

Israel has been at war with the Philistines for many years. There is a battle going on and this time the Philistines have a warrior named Goliath. Goliath was nine feet tall, super strong, and trained from birth to be a warrior.

Goliath was a bad bad man…

For forty days Goliath came out in front of the whole army of Israel and dared one of them to challenge him. If he was defeated the whole Philistine army would surrender. But if he was victorious then Israel would have to surrender. Obviously, there were no eager volunteers.

But enter David stage left…

David went to the battlefield with food for his brothers and he over heard the Israeli troops talking about Goliath in complete fear. David, the brash youngster that he was, stepped up to the challenge. He had already slain lions and bears with his bare hands… one man would be no problem.

Umm… I guess he was pretty qualified for the task, though animals don’t have spears and swords.

So David pics up five stones and walks to the battlefield. And then, we arrive at the verses above and you know what happens next. David puts him down with one snap of his sling shot.

Smack!

Ok what’s the message here?

When it comes to getting those miracles in life it’s like E-40 says… Go hard or go home. It’s as simple as that.

So you may not be ready to slay the Goliaths in your path; that’s ok. On the way to your purpose you will get practice slaying the lions and bears that that come first along the way. They may be in your own mind like this guy.

You might even stumble when you are first faced with a Goliath sized challenge. That’s ok too. That’s why David picked up five stones. He might have missed with the first one… we’ve gotta give ourselves the opportunity to try again if we fail.

But in the end, if you keep slinging your rocks of faith at the obstacles in your path, you will overcome. Your Goliaths will fall and you will prevail.

And the more practice you have at slaying your Goliaths, the fewer stones you will need to bring them down.

Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 17-18: Luke 11:1-28