Ragamuffin: David

Where did David get such courage?

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avid in 1 Samuel 17:32-37 remembers a time when he faced danger. It has implications for David’s life in the encounter with Goliath. That experience of the lion and the bear helped to groom him for the day when he would face a Goliath-sized problem.

Someone said, “The choices we make, make us”. This is so evident in the life of David. Whether these choices are good or bad they tend to affect our character and identity. Most people know – or have casually heard – the story of David and Goliath. The portion of David’s life concerning the lion and the bear may not be so well known yet it is important to the formation of the person we come to admire as David. The formation of David came from his experience as a youth.

In 1 Samuel 17:32-37 we find the informative account of the lion and the bear. Here is David, standing by Saul, as a giant Goliath stomps across the countryside. The scripture states something like this: Saul says, “Who are you?” and David replies: “I’m David.” Then Saul says, “Where have you been?” and David responds “With my father’s sheep.” 
Then Saul declares, “You can’t fight this big Philistine. You’re just a small teenager.” 
Despite the fact that that David is “only a teenager”, David answers without wavering:

“I was tending my father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and grabbed a lamb from the flock, I went out after that animal and attacked him, and rescued the lamb from it’s mouth; and when he came up against me, I held him by his beard and clobbered him and killed him.” (1 Samuel 17:34—35 my paraphrase)

When David was tending his father’s sheep he often experience solitude, obscurity and probably at times monotony. In those times of isolation he had time for thinking, meditating and prayer. It could have been a strengthening of his inner soul. When a lion or a bear came and grabbed the lamb from the flock he experienced the reality of life and death. There is the reality of fear and faith. There is the reality of who he was and what he was made of as a person. David states that he went out after the beast and attacked the lion or bear. He then rescued it from the vicious animal. What a sense of accomplishment he must have had. What a sense of fulfillment. What a sense of discovery about himself. (1 Samuel 17:34–35)

Where did David get such courage to face a Goliath? He had discovered it all alone before God against a vicious animal that threatened his family’s livelihood. What kind of person is David? He is a man of confidence. He’s a man who continued to be a responsible person in the face of danger.

Goliath was no major concern. Why? It was because David had been killing lions and bears. Maybe no one knew about David’s past exploits facing a dangerous lion or bear. Maybe they underestimated him because of lack of information.  David had been facing the reality of peril long before he stood in front of Goliath. David may have lived many centuries ago, but the things we can learn from him are as current as this morning’s newspaper.

Chuck Swindoll relates that it was in the little things and in the lonely places that David demonstrated his potential of bigger things. In counseling we need to know the persons past achievements as well as failures too often predict future victories or losses. It can be an asset to helping prevent a catastrophe or encourage a future success. To be a person with a larger vision, we must cultivate the habit of doing the little things well. The Bible mentions the blessing of being “faithful in the little things”. It also gives a caution that it is the “little foxes that spoil the moral fiber vines”. It can be that faithfulness in the small things where God develops power in our feeble frame.

It is true that in my impatience I want to be an instantly mature believer but when God develops our inner character, he’s never in a hurry. When God develops a person’s makeup, he works on it during a lifetime. He’s not in a hurry.

Ragamuffin appears every Monday on theRubicon. Find past Ragamuffin posts and a bio of Capt. Jay Davis here.

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