I rock and hold my kids when they wake up from a bad dream, reassuring them they are safe and loved, giving them the reassurance it’s ok to go back to sleep. Going to Sunday school for the first time all by themselves, riding their bike without training wheels, anything that requires them to do something scary, hard, or both requires me to teach them what I like to call, “the David mindset”.
It’s likely you know the story, but just in case you don’t, there was a boy name David who was a shepherd to his fathers sheep. He would have to fend off bears, wolves, and lions to protect himself and his sheep. David got pretty good with his sling and his stones, able to ward off the most vicious predators. During the time David served as a shepherd some people called the Philistines came and taunted the Israelite’s. Even sending their largest warrior, a huge gigantic man named Goliath. None of the Israelite’s jumped at the chance to fight this warrior. David had a few brothers at the front lines of this stand still battle, his father, Jesse, sent David to the front lines with provisions for David’s older brothers. When David got to the fight and realized no one would take this giant on, he didn’t even think twice about it, he went to King Saul and volunteered himself. The king, David’s brothers, and I’m sure others tried to talk David out of it, but David wouldn’t hear of it. There was a big ole giant calling his God and his people names and he wasn’t going to stand for it. But, let it be known that David did not go with confidence in himself, no his confidence was in His God, Yahweh, Jehovah. The one true God would fight and win this battle! David fought Goliath and he killed that giant! The victory belonged to the Lord and the Israelite’s were saved.
This is a story I feel strongly that I must teach my children. It says so much about our God and how well he equips us for the things he has in store for us!! First, David’s first training was in doing the everyday, mundane, boring things of tending the sheep. David had to learn how to herd the sheep, how to get the sheep to trust his voice, and it was dirty, hard work. David had to learn how to defend what was given to him to protect. David faced bears, wolves, and lions. God gave David a gift of a poet and ability to put the words to song. A gift King Saul would call upon to bring him comfort. Before David fought Goliath he had been trained in how to fight and how to win. He had already had a relationship so to speak with King Saul playing music for him, this would allow him to approach King Saul. Which I imagine like any King or royalty it’s not easy to get close to the King. I remind my kids that it is the daily, mundane, and sometimes boring things that God uses to mold us into the amazing story he has for our lives. What seems boring, what seems mundane is actually God at work.
Another way I use this story is when my kids face big tasks before them. It can be a long math assignment, it can be cleaning the toy room when all the bins have been dumped out, it can be eating a meal they don’t like and would rather not eat. These moments, these circumstances, I refer to as “the Goliath in their lives”. Goliath is not always a big scary man, sometimes Goliath is something big in our lives we’d rather not face. Something we are wondering if we can tackle at all. This is what I call a “David moment”. This is when we must call on the name of the Lord, we must cry out to him, and ask his blessing and favor. We also need to pick up our sling and our stones and be willing to tackle the task set before us. We must realize that God has made us strong and courageous to tackle the task at hand. We must trust that either God has already given to us what we need to tackle “Goliath” or he is in the process of teaching us something that will allow us to tackle “Goliath”. When my kid have finished tackling their “Goliath” they are often able to see what they learned through their experience. It can be as simple as getting peace of mind because their room is clean, it can be learning the value of organization, it can be finally understanding how to add double digits, or it can be that God will give them courage and strength to stay in Sunday school by themselves and that God, Mommy, and Daddy believe in him to do hard things.
I need this lesson even more as an adult tackling life’s hard “Goliath” issues that come up and I too need to remember that he is either teaching me something or has already prepared me for the task at hand. Either way, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. I, like David, can also call on the name off the Lord.
Lord give us courage and strength for the Goliath’s ahead of us!