- What you see publicly was built privately. The killing of Goliath was the big moment where David, so to speak, stepped up onto the stage. But David's confidence to defeat Goliath started years earlier in the seclusion of a field by himself when the other animals would come to attack the flock that he was charged with. There is something in his character that was developed when he was faithful to do what his dad, Jesse, had asked him to do.
- David lived and he fought battles for the Lord, not himself. David did not forget his source. He did not forget the one who called him.
- Satan has a game plan to bring us down. Part of Satan's game plan is to derail distract, to steal the joy of whatever God's plan and path is for your unique life. One way he does that is with overwhelming adversity where life just gets incredibly difficult and hard. The second one is overwhelming prosperity, where life is incredibly good. where we become comfortable to the point where we’re not willing to make the changes that are necessary to experience everything God does long to do in us and through us.
- Jealousy will kill. The Bible says when David defeated Goliath, all the women were coming out with their tambourines and their cymbals and they were dancing. 1 Samuel 18:6-7 “When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. As they sang, ‘Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands.’”
Something changed in Saul at that exact moment. And it says Saul kept a jealous eye on David. Every moment from that day forward. There was jealousy.
Proverbs 14 says, “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body. Jealousy is like a cancer in the bones.” There's another translation that says Jealousy will rot you from the inside out. The word used in the original language. It's not envy. It's not even mild jealousy. It's translated as jealousy in our English Bibles. But a better translation would be Saul was galled. Jealousy prevents you from enjoying other people's success. It robs you of your own success. - David understood the relationship between circumstances in God's favor and God's presence. Although David is called by God, he's living a pretty miserable life. He's being chased by people. The king tried to kill him twice. And David recognize that the circumstances of his life were not an indicator of God's hand of favor or God's presence. Because in this stretch of the journey, David is doing everything right. He's not doing anything wrong. And he's being oppressed by the enemy on all sides. But God helped them. God enabled him to be strong and to be faithful.
Later on, we're going to see there's another section where David suffered in his relationships, and David suffered in the circumstances. The reason that he suffered is that he had made some poor, sinful choices, and the consequences caught up to him. That's the reason you need what's called spiritual discernment. We need a small group of trusted friends who know us and love us, and we share with them, “Hey, here's what's happening in my life. I'm just trying to do the right thing and I'm just trying to serve. And from your understanding and my understanding of Scripture and God's plan and God's will for our life. Am I on track or is there something I should be doing differently here?”
In spiritual wisdom and spiritual discernment is the thing that happens that says, No, stay the course, don't change. Continue to love, continue to trust. And sometimes spiritual discernment is the thing that says, you know what, it's time to make a change.
Next Steps
In your life and in your relationships, where do you need to stay the course? Stay faithful. Stay steady. Keep plugging along. Trust God for the results. Here comes the hard part. Trust God with the unanswered questions of why. Know that our God is faithful and our God is in control.