May 15

Boast in the Lord
1 Samuel 17

God chooses those who will serve him in the most spectacular ways:  he picks the unlikely person, in the most "coincidental" of ways, with the most unlikely method.  Consider David:

  • David is the "runt of the litter."  Jesse had eight sons;  David is the youngest.  In their time, that would make him the least.  Indeed, his father esteems him so small that he left him with the sheep when Samuel came to anoint a king.
  • Why is David at this camp at this time?  Because his father sent him up with some food from home for the three brothers who were with Saul.  He's not even in the army;  he's just visiting the camp!
  • By what method does David defeat Goliath?  Not by the ways of the world, though Saul gave him the best he had, the king's own armor.  David must use God's own method.
But God is not random;  he picks those who are after his own heart.  Consider David's preparation:
  • He has been faithful in the small matter of his father's sheep, even to the point of fighting a lion and a bear.
  • He does not neglect his preparations.  We often remember the sling that defeated Goliath.  We forget that David came armed with five stones, not just one.
  • David moved in faith.  He does not taunt Goliath with his own prowess (which he used before Saul) but rather with the living God.
For us, there are certain lessons in this.  God has provided many such instances of this, and in each of them we learn that God uses the foolish, the weak, the improbable of this world to astound the strong, the wise and the likely.  He does this for one reason:  that we may not boast of our own strength and wisdom, but rather of His.  "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."
Why does God do this?  No doubt the cure of our pride is difficult, and needs all the example we can get.  But consider:  if you want a real, personal relationship with the living God, you must know who He is.  He is so much greater than any of us that our logical, natural reaction  is worship.  If we boast in ourselves, how can we worship?  But if we boast in Him, how can we not worship?