“YOUR SERVANT USED TO KEEP SHEEP!”

 1 Samuel 17:31-37                                              (ESV)

“31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him.

32 And David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him (Goliath). Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."

33 And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth."

34 But David said to Saul, "YOUR SERVANT USED TO KEEP SHEEP” for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,

35 I went after him and STRUCK HIM and DELIVERED IT OUT OF HIS MOUTH. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and STRUCK HIM and KILLED HIM.

36 YOUR SERVANT HAS STRUCK DOWN BOTH LIONS AND BEARS, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for HE HAS DEFIED the armies of THE LIVING GOD."

37 And David said, "The LORD WHO delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"”

Searching through Scriptures for a nugget, something that has been there for two thousand years or longer but has escaped my awareness until now, is what I found myself doing recently.   Then I came across the passage of Scripture above and I was intrigued by a 16 to 19 year old shepherd boy who practically insisted that, with the guidance of GOD ALMIGHTY, he would DELIVER a 9 foot 6 inch Goliath to Saul, the king of Israel.  On top of that, he refused to wear any of the kings armor, saying that he hadn’t tested it.  That makes NO SENSE at all!  

David was the youngest son of Jesse.  His older brothers were in the Israeli army and had been listening to Goliath and the Philistine army berating them because the size and appearance of Goliath struck FEAR in their hearts!  David had been “groomed” by the LORD by slaying a lion and a bear when “YOUR SERVANT USED TO KEEP SHEEP” for his father.   David KNEW that the things he had experienced prior to the meeting with Goliath had prepared him for SUCH A TIME AS THIS (Esther 4:14).  

GOD doesn’t work in chance or circumstance, HE HAS A PLAN that Glorifies HIS NAME!  David was being PREPARED for this long before he had any indication that Goliath even existed, and FEAR never entered his mind, for he KNEW that GOD would deliver him.  David killed a lion without a lot of fanfare.  He also killed a bear without much celebration.  Then he killed a MANSTER , a bigger than life enemy, all with guidance of THE LIVING GOD!  He KNEW there was nothing that GOD was unable to overcome.  

Yet, David KNEW that the same GOD WHO slew the lion, the bear, and even Goliath, would be answered to when he saw Bathsheba bathing from the palace.  Still, he yielded to temptation and the rest, as they say, is history.  How could a man who had been “groomed” so magnificently by THE CREATOR not KNOW that GOD was able to catch him in his sin?   

At times we become so comfortable in our existence and surroundings that we lose sight of WHO has “groomed” us for our future, and what we were CREATED for in the first place.  GOD uses our weaknesses to Glorify HIS NAME, and weaknesses are something that I seem to be getting rather fluent with. After all, “YOUR SERVANT USED TO KEEP SHEEP” might be an accurate depiction of yours truly.  David was known as a man after GOD’s OWN HEART, but before that he had the lowliest of assignments, “YOUR SERVANT USED TO KEEP SHEEP”!!!