Before He Killed the Giant

A Quick Look: I Samuel 16: 13 & 18
Really Read It: I Samuel 16

Little David lived an easy, lazy life. All day every day, he sat in the soft, green, grass and watched his Dad’s sheep. He was just a boy, so if something went wrong he went to get his dad or one of his big brothers. One day this boy David had a little bit harder job. His dad gave him a bunch of food and told him to take it to his big brothers. But his big brothers were in the army. When David got to the army camp, a huge giant named Goliath was yelling out for someone to fight him. Even though David had never done anything he decided to fight the giant and he won.

NO WAY, NO WAY, NO WAY

David was not a do-nothing, lazy shepherd before he fought Goliath. I found at least five huge things that David did before his meeting with the nine-foot pagan. Not just five things like he washed the dishes, mowed the grass, went to church, passed a spelling test, and played soccer. The five things I found on David’s list were all big deals. If you did any one of these things, you would be known for it for all of your life. And David did all of these hard things before he ever heard Goliath yell out, “Am I a dog that you come at me with a stick? Come over here and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals.”

1. David was a shepherd. But as a shepherd, he did not rely on his dad if it got hard. His dad was an old man. David made sure that the sheep and goats were safe. If a bear or a lion came to get a sheep while the animals were in David’s care, he chased it down and took his sheep from the killer’s mouth. If the bear or lion turned on him, then he killed it with a club. A normal guy watching the sheep would not chase a lion. If a lion came and took a sheep, he would be glad that the lion didn’t eat him and run home to tell his mommy.
2. David was a harp player. Some would put this on the lazy shepherd list, but I think David worked hard at it and practiced like some of the world’s best players we have today. The reason I think that David worked so hard at the harp is that he was good. He was really good. When the king wanted a harp player, the king’s servants found David. The king could have hired anyone in the country, and he picked David. To me, that says that David was the best harp player in the country, and that would only come with a lot of hard work.
3. David was a song writer and a worshipper. David wrote most of the psalms that we read in the Bible. We don’t know when they were written. Most likely they were written after Goliath. But David must have been writing songs and worshipping God as a boy and a young man. His very first song did not become the number one worship tune in the whole country. But he started young. He worked hard. He kept writing songs. He kept singing. And his worship words lasted for 3,000 years.
4. David was a brave warrior, a man of war, and a man of good judgment. We have to guess about this one a little. If might be that Goliath was the first man David ever fought in real battle, but maybe David fought before that. When the servants of King Saul told him about David (before Goliath) they said that David was a great harp player, a brave warrior, a man of war, and a man of good judgment. The Bible does not say what made these men believed David was a man of war. They were right. The Bible has a ton of war stories about David after Goliath. But before David took the giant-killing stones from the stream, he was called a brave warrior and a man of war.
5. David was King Saul’s armor bearer. King Saul first hired David as his harp player. But Saul liked David so much that he gave him the job of armor bearer too. David was the man who carried Saul’s fighting tools. He was close to the king in battle. The king trusted him.

Those are the five. Each one could be a big life success, but David did so much that these five are easy to forget. Before David cut off Goliath’s head, he was also anointed as king, known as a fine-looking young man, and the Lord is with him. But those are things that happened to David. My list is just stuff that David did. And it is a big deal if you ever want to do a big thing for God. Killing Goliath was a big thing for God. God did it through David. But when God picked David, he picked a guy who was already doing a lot for God. Eight-year-old David didn’t think that harp practice would change the world for God. Ten-year-old David didn’t think that sling, club, sword practice would glorify God. David practiced the harp and he practiced war, and God used those skills in great, amazing, awesome, miracle ways. But David practice some bigger stuff too. He practiced worshipping God. He practiced loving and trusting God. And God looked down at David and picked him to change the world forever.
What does God see when He looks down at you? Does he see a doer or a waiter?

Here is a church where people find the presence or God and lives are changed: World Revival Church

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