Tags
How many times have you seen someone and thought, “that person looks interesting”, then once you meet them you are disappointed? We tend to make our first impressions of people based on outward appearance. Thankfully, God bases importance on the heart and what is inside the person. If God had based David’s potential on his appearance as a boy, he never would have become the greatest king the Israelites ever had. 1 Samuel 16:7 shows what God thinks is important, But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” For me, this is very encouraging. Knowing that God does not judge for my outward appearance gives me hope for what God can still do through me. He can continue to make me righteous on the inside and still use me for many great things with the remainder of my life.
Daily Devotion 
A couple of things hit me.
When David comes to the camp to inquire as to what is going on, he’s the only one who mentions whose they are. He’s the only one who recognizes their identity.
26 David asked some soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and stopping him from insulting our people? Who does that worthless Philistine think he is? He’s making fun of the army of the living God!” He’s the only one who recognizes true identify of the army for which he fights. It seems the rest of the leaders got too caught up in staring at their enemy and forgot their identity. How often do we do that?
We also tend to have this idea that David was just a gangly, teenage boy. Yes, he was young, but apparently he was rather buff. And again, he remembers whose he is.
Your Majesty, I take care of my father’s sheep. And when one of them is dragged off by a lion or a bear, 35 I go after it and beat the wild animal until it lets the sheep go. If the wild animal turns and attacks me, I grab it by the throat and kill it.
36 Sir, I have killed lions and bears that way, and I can kill this worthless Philistine. He shouldn’t have made fun of the army of the living God! 37 The Lord has rescued me from the claws of lions and bears, and he will keep me safe from the hands of this Philistine.
And finally, Saul tries to strap him up with all the normal military garb to keep him safe because that was the norm. That’s what was understood as how to obtain success. David puts it all on, but it’s encumbering his movement. So he takes it all off and goes to fight the battle with the skill set and the training God has given him. How often do we see what others have done and think to ourselves, “Oh, I have to do it that way. That’s the way to success”. I do it constantly. But here is a beautiful example of David realizing immediately, “Hey, this is not my training. This is not my skill. This does not fit. God has given me this other set of skills. He has given me the other training. And he’s seen fit to send me to this battle, so apparently; I have the right skill set.” That is almost a daily conversation for me.