Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” 1 Samuel 17:28
And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” 1 Sam. 17:33
So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” 1 Sam. 17:43-44
Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 1 Sam. 17:33
Ever looked closely at what David was up against when he faced Goliath? If you’re anything like the rest of us, maybe your focus was on this gargantuan giant David faced. But please don’t miss this. It may be something you’ve faced before, you’re facing right now, or maybe will face in the future. Or all three. And It’s something we need to be mightily careful about.
It’s discouragement that comes from the enemy and from the people around us. David didn’t just face discouragement in a little way. He faced it in a big way. And he faced it from all sides. From his enemy. And from people. Even from the people one would have expected would have loved and supported him. Sound familiar?
Please read the scriptures above, and the story of David and Goliath in its entirety in the Bible in 1 Samuel 17, to carefully study just how his enemy and people tried to discourage him – and to see just how David secured victory in the battle he faced. Because the same can be true for us. Not just that the devil, our arch enemy, and the people around us, including those we would expect to love and support us, may try to discourage us, but that we, too, can have the victory if we do what David did.
This is a message we all need, isn’t it? For EVEN WHEN THE LORD HAS TOLD US TO DO SOMETHING, and we are certain of this, and we have sought His Spirit and His Word to make sure it is truly from Him, and have sought godly counsel from Christ followers if and as needed to ensure we have in fact heard from the Lord as far as what we have set out to do or will set out to do, we may still face discouragement coming at us even from well-meaning loved ones. The devil himself may well try to discourage us from trusting and following God in whatever God is calling us to do, and the people around us may try to discourage us, too.
So what should we do? How should we handle this?
- We should refuse to let anyone or anything stop us from doing what God calls us to do
- We should pray continually and seek the Lord continually and be diligent in spending time with Him daily
- We should seek the strength, help, support, and equipping of the Lord to proceed forth including and especially by daily and diligently studying and living by God’s Word and diving deep in particular into portions of the Bible that are applicable to what we are facing in what God is calling us to do and in our challenges standing in the way
- We should reach out to the Body of Christ for love, prayer, support, encouragement, and help in following Christ and in moving ahead in what God is leading us to do
- We should love and forgive those coming against us
What did David do, and how did he proceed forth in battle and secure victory despite those coming against him to discourage him? He did not put his trust in himself, nor anyone else, but in the Lord, remembering and proclaiming the victories God had given him in the past and being confident that the Lord would continue to provide everything he needed to secure victory once again!
If you are certain the Lord has called you to do something, please don’t let the devil or anyone else, well-meaning or not, stop you from loving and obeying God for the glory of the Lord!