David Part 2

God sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. People in Saul's court knew of David's musical ability and suggested that he play for Saul to calm his demons. This gave David access to Saul's court early on.

The next part of the time line talks about the famous "David and Goliath" story. While most people know the basic story, I think there are leadership lessons that can be learned from David.

1. "Understand your identity" - the Israelite army forgot who they were. These were God's people, and they were cowering because they were afraid of one man. While Goliath was huge, he was still only one man.

2. "Age does not necessarily mean wisdom". It took David, a 15yr old boy, to point out the problem with the situation. The king of God's people did not even have the wisdom to know that God would be with them.

3. "Pull from your past experience to build confidence". David had killed a bear and a lion while guarding his flock. David reasoned that if God was with him in that situation, he would be with him here. David went into the battle, knowing he had been successful in the past in beating larger foes.

4. "Be yourself". Saul tried to give David his sword and his armor to take into battle. David knew right away that he would be unable to fight in this bulky attire. He reasoned that he didn't need all of that to kill the bear and the lion, so why would he need it now. So often as leaders progress, they begin to act how others think they should. How often, have you seen someone get a position of power, and begin to act differently than they did before the power was theirs? Is it any wonder that they struggle?

5. " Don't be intimidated". David was facing a proven warrior who towered over the tallest men. The entire weight of the Israelite army was on David's shoulders. Additionally, he had Goliath talking trash to him before they got started. David realized that none of that impacted his performance, unless he let it. Delivering our best performance is totally up to us, yet how often do we let things around us impact the outcome.

6. "Trust in God". In this case, David trusted God with a big decision, but the size of the decision should not impact the level that we rely on God. We all need to practice leaning on God in small decisions. As we build trust in the small decisions, the large ones will just seem natural.

7. "Don't let your success go to you head". After David killed Goliath, he carried his head around with him throughout the day. As I read the scripture, it almost seemed like it was his trophy. Yet even with his recent victory, and the fact that he had been playing music for Saul, the king still did not know him by name. No matter how big our victory, we still need to remain humble.

In all of our lives we face a Goliath that is keeping us from reaching our goals. Do we attack the situation with the confidence that God is with us and has prepared us to face what he has put in our path? Or do we marvel at the size of our enemy as we cower and wait for someone else to step up and save the day?