SCRIPTURE:

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 John 4:4
4 . . . You are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

DEVO:

Have you ever felt completely disadvantaged in a certain season of life? Have you felt as I have, that sometimes God asks us to do something that seems outside of our capabilities to handle? There is an old adage in church, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” That phrase is often used to cheer us up or bring us comfort. The only problem is that it’s completely false. As I’ve gone through life and had to endure my fair (or shall I say unfair) share of trials, tragedies, and transitions, I find that I’m consistently put in situations that are indeed too much for me to handle.

In 1 Samuel 17, David faces his first such barrier. He encounters a situation that is not only too much for him to handle, but one that is overwhelming to the entire army of Israel. This barrier, however, ultimately becomes David’s first breakthrough.

One day as David is tending the sheep, his father Jesse asks him to take bread and cheese to his brothers on the battlefield. Can we just pause and acknowledge how strange this is? David has just been anointed King and the very next day he finds himself not in a palace being trained and mentored for royalty, but in a pasture. We’ll look into this more tomorrow, but I want to point your attention to the fact that David’s heart was in a place of humility and receptivity to whatever God wanted him to do no matter how great or small the assignment seemed.

So, for a day, David goes from being a shepherd to a pizza delivery boy and takes food to his brothers on the battlefield. When he arrives, instead of witnessing fighting, he sees the armies of Israel cowering in fear. When he inquires about it, they tell him that their enemy—the Philistines—has issued a challenge. If Israel can send over one valiant warrior to face their champion, they would set them to a duel to decide the battle. This seems like a reasonable request in order to save bloodshed, David thinks to himself. Why is everyone so fearful? “Because their champion is a nine-foot tall giant, named Goliath,” the brothers bring to David’s attention as they point beyond David down into the valley where this behemoth of a man stands. Day after day—for the past forty days—Goliath has camped in the neutral zone between the armies, beating his chest and tirelessly hurling insults and threats at the Israelite army.

Something sparks in David. A bit of courage or perhaps some curdling in his stomach from the cheese he snuck earlier on the journey. Either way, he decides that he wants to fight Goliath. So, despite the warnings and rebuttals from his brothers and from the King, David picks out five smooth stones from a brook and places them in his pocket. When his comrades see this, they question him. How is he planning on defeating Goliath, this gladiator-like champion, with a sling-shot and five stones? David looks at them with an incredible response, "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. 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 (1 Samuel 17:37).”

You see, many of us are familiar with this story, but perhaps we’re not seeing it properly. The epic battle between David and Goliath has been a story used in all kinds of circles—church gatherings, business lectures, motivational speeches, sports commentary. All of which to connote this completely unbalanced battlefield where the little guy prevails against all odds. And while this is true of the story, I wonder if David isn’t as disadvantaged as what we often presume. 

Malcom Gladwell writes in his book, David and Goliath, that in ancient warfare there were three major types of combat: fighting with slings (or bow and arrow), fighting on foot, and riding horseback. Each form of combat had an advantage and disadvantage. Similar to the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” where one always prevails over the other, archers almost always beat foot soldiers. David knew this, and so despite King Saul’s attempts earlier in the chapter to lace him up with clunky infantry armor, David chose to go at it with merely a sling and five stones. And true to form, David defeats the giant—and only needs one shot to do it.

What first appears to be a disadvantage, God leveraged to David's advantage. This is God’s modus operandi. He did this back then, and He still does it with us today. The only reason David had the skill of the slingshot in the first place is because God built it into him during a dry and lonely season in the sheepfold. Our true advantage is God’s spirit inside of us and His power working through us. Your situation, sickness, or sad event may look like a disadvantage to the world, but if you embrace what looks like your disadvantage as actually being your advantage it will set you up for your destiny. Scripture says in 1 John 4:4, "Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.” God can use us in much greater ways when we walk with a limp, not a swagger. He will use our trials even more than He uses our talent. Why? So that people look at us and they see God’s power, not our own, and He gets the credit for the victory. And all the while, we experience an even truer joy from seeing His work manifested through us.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND JOURNALING:

1. What kinds of things in your life have you felt disadvantaged by up to this point?

2. In what ways could you see God may be using your disadvantages to set you up for your destiny?

PRAYER:

Lord, I recognize there are so many things in my life that I’m incapable and insufficient to handle on my own. I need a touch from You. I need Your Spirit to be present and powerful on my behalf. I recognize that You allow things into my life to help me further acknowledge my need and dependence on You. As I humble myself before You, would You turn my disadvantage around and lead me to my destiny? To You, be the glory.