1 Samuel 16:6-13
Two things to take from that:
Your looks don’t qualify you. Your birth order doesn’t qualify you. Your training and background aren’t the things that qualify you. Your age doesn’t qualify you. Your gender doesn’t qualify you. THE LORD qualifies you.
And THE LORD doesn’t look at the outward appearance, THE LORD looks at the heart.
When THE LORD qualifies you, he also equips you.
He gave David HIS SPIRIT. Powerfully, the text says.
But we don’t have to wonder what the spirit empowered David to do...we have SO MUCH information about David’s life to learn from. Most people think that the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is just a NT thing...but we see it all over the OT too. It’s not readily accessible to just everyone, like it is today because of Jesus, but we get glimpses and examples like David’s that we can learn from too.
1 Samuel 17:1-51
A little more gruesome than you remember that Sunday School story as a kid??
Were there some other surprises too?
How we think faith works:
We think of something impossible, that would be nice to do...and just because we’ve thought of it, God must have given it to us as an assignment, and he’s asking us to pull it off. And it’s a little scary, but also would make us look good, so it must be God! Let’s start getting people on board, and see what happens.
How faith actually works:
You are placed in an impossible situation (like David’s bear and lion), and you have 2 options: run, or whisper a prayer...and fight.
And if you didn’t run, make it through that fight, then they’ll be another one. And again, you could run, or whisper a prayer...and fight.
And before you know it, you’ve made it through 2 fights...and now you’re thanking God, but you’ve also proved to yourself just how much you can accomplish, when you put your mind to it, and you whisper that prayer….
Now, because you got through those two fights...you have the faith for the 3rd.
Faith is BUILT--not just mustered.
David was able to step up to Goliath and save his nation because of two things:
He had built his faith over time.
The Holy Spirit was with him.
The Holy Spirit and real faith was how a young boy stepped up and became the solution for his scared friends, family, and nation.