DAVID: A CHILD'S FAITH

Seeking the heart of God

A Man After God’s Own Heart

As I come to the end of my series on Men of Faith, I leave you with a child’s story. There are few people, Christian or otherwise, who are not familiar with the story of King David, a man after God’s own heart and his many victories through God’s favor over his enemies, especially King Saul. In my own opinion, it was not the victorious reign of David during his many years as king that defined him, but rather, his childhood faith in his Lord God that gave him the courage to face his adversities. Faith that enabled him to slay two of the most vicious of animals, a bear and a lion. Animals that would send a grown man fleeing for his life. We are not told how David came to obtain his incredible faith in God. Obviously this was not the lesson God intended for us to learn from his story. Perhaps the message is that his faith in the God he loves was indeed present in his youth and stayed with him throughout his lifetime.

Childhood Beliefs

As children, we believe in things like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy because our parents feel we have a need for these fictional characters in our playful imaginations. Only when we grow up do we realize how foolish these childhood beliefs are and hopefully realize that the only belief we really need or should have is in the Lord. For David to be able to grab hold of this truth at such a young age provided him with all the lifelong spiritual support and comfort that he would ever need throughout his adventurous life. It is how he became ‘a man after God’s own heart’. Another great love story between God and man.

The Fearless Giant

When the story of David and Goliath begins in Chapter 17 of 1 Samuel, we are given the frightful description of Goliath, the giant who stood nearly ten feet tall. Aside from his size, he is adorned with all sorts of protective gear for battle from head to toe. His spear head alone weighed six hundred shekels of iron (about fifteen pounds) and then even after all these protective measures, he still had a shield bearer to go before him.

The description of the fearless giant and the fear he instilled in the Israeli army is spread across eight verses from verse 4 to 11 intensifying the gravity of the situation. It is quite understandable how staring at such a stature of a man and all that he seemingly had going for him, could make the Israeli army so fearful. As adults, we make our biggest mistakes by focusing on our problems as opposed to focusing on God as our problem solver.

In The Eyes of A Child

Amazingly, when David looked at the giant, he didn’t see what the others saw. He didn’t see a well-protected overly adorned giant of war standing before him. He saw a man no different from any other man in God’s eyes. David’s bravery against Goliath wasn’t based on his youthful courage or overflowing confidence in his own abilities, but rather in his beliefs that with God he was undefeatable. When David heard the giant boasting and bragging, his first thought was 1 Samuel 17:26 - …”who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

David did not understand what all the hoopla was about, nor was he trying to figure it out. He simply did not understand their fear of the man. As a child he knew Who fought his battles with the lion and the bear, something the men of war had not quite grasped as of yet in their battle with the Philistines. As a child he knew that his strength came from the Lord, something else the adult men had not realized.

When the giant saw David and his small stature, he all but knew that victory was his as he taunted and boasted what he would do to David. But David never flinched at his words. Instead, He made a proclamation of his own in 1 Samuel 17:46 – “This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee…” 47- “And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.”

Know Who Fights Your Battles

What is the lesson in David’s story? Be courageous in the Lord. Don’t be afraid of your enemies. Face your problems head on without fear. Any or all of these could very well be the moral of his story. However, what I see in David’s story is know who really fights your battles. David may have physically defeated a lion and a bear. But he knew in his heart that it was God who did the fighting. He also knew it would be God who killed Goliath. So, when you find yourself faced with a problem you can’t stand against, a GIANT, know in your heart that God will fight your battle. 1 Samuel 17:47 – “the battle is the Lord’s”. As my series end, I must convey, these men I have highlighted are not the only faithful men of God in the bible. The list continues on through The New Testament. This is just a short list of my favorite stories. I encourage you to spend intimate time with God studying the word on your own to build your personal faithful relationship with Him.

Thank you for reading! Please come again!

We cannot live this life battle free, but we can live free of the battle when we let God do the fighting.

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