A Brave Heart

"Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
1 Samuel 17:36&37 

I love the story of David and Goliath. Many have heard this story from early days in Sunday school. We pick up the story as David is talking to king Saul. The armies of Israel had cowered in fear, afraid to face the nine foot tall giant. The Philistines would often send out one man to fight one man on the opposing side to the death. Whoever won the hand to hand battle would bring victory to that particular side without much loss of life. Of course the Philistines had the giant, but Israel had no one who had the courage to face him...until one day when David showed up, bringing food for his brothers. David volunteered to fight the Philistine and had absolutely no fear in doing so.
    David had already learned about fighting enemies. His responsibility as the youngest in the family, was to watch the sheep. In the course of this, he killed both a lion and a bear that had threatened the flock. He knew he could defeat the enemy. For him, the lion and bear were only practice for this day when he would run headlong into battle against a giant. David knew that God would strengthen him to defeat the enemy in the same way he did when he fought the lion and bear. He did not fear for his life because he had seen God protect him before. He may have been inexperienced in battle, but he was experienced in trusting God. 
    David saw the enemy for who he really was, an enemy of the armies of God. I like David's attitude. He saw Goliath as only someone who was defying the armies of God. Fear would not stop him from engaging the enemy. He didn't need a lot of fancy weaponry. He went with what he knew how to use, a sling and some stones. He took five stones, but it only took one. He was skilled, he was confident, and he won the battle. 
    We can learn some things from David. First, we have to know that we have nothing to fear when God is on our side. We need the courage that David had. When he saw an enemy coming against the army of God, he engaged him in battle. We need the skill that David had. Each of us have been given particular skills and unique places in the kingdom of God. It is not necessary for us to take spiritual weapons that belong to someone else. We are already equipped by God. Whatever our place is in the kingdom is ours alone. We use what God has given us to defeat the enemy. We should be skilled with the spiritual weapons we have. Let's be skillful in prayer, skillful in the Word of God, skillful in discernment, and skillful as servants of God himself. We are not fearful, we are brave and ready for the battle. Let the army of God arise!