Slaying Goliath: Having Confidence in Battles Like David

In the Living My Best Life post I mentioned that many of the people I admire are wholly self- aware and that I aspire to reach that level of self-actualization. They are confident, assured, and assertive. Even in their weaknesses, flaws, and failures, they remain certain and unhinged about their core abilities. They humbly acknowledge faults and rise to the challenge. This type of confidence is bewildering. How can one remain this way despite facing insurmountable odds and obstacles?

This questioning lead me to a character study of David in the Bible. How did David have the gall to volunteer to be the one to defeat the giant?  By all intents and purposes, David was not capable or qualified to take on such a challenge. Not only was he young, small in stature and build but he also had no prior experience in combat. No wonder the soldiers and Saul were thrown when he spoke up to kill Goliath. However, David was the one perplexed. He couldn’t understand why they were so shook when they served a living God. David’s faith in God was the confidence booster.

1 Samuel 17:33-37

33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”34 But David said to Saul,  “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 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. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

David confidently went to battle because his faith allowed him to. He was able to draw on his experience shepherding and protecting his flock as a precourse of what God has done for him. God protected and provided David with strength in previous battles with a lion and bear. Because God had a track record of seeing David through when he needed him David was unruffled by Goliath’s presence. Strong faith is all we really need and should rely on when battling our own giants. Not strong resumes, references, material possessions, but trust and faith in a living God. God is with us at all times. Just as David did, we can always count on him to be our strength when we need him. Our past testimonies bear witness to His miracles in our lives and through the lives of others. Not only did he make a way out of no way once, but he did it over and over again. He is good and faithful and won’t allow the worst thing to happen to us. So next time you’re faced with an obstacle that seems too big to defeat refer to David’s story. I promise you God has the right weapon to knock down any giant.