Serenity VII

Courage

1 Samuel 17:24-25

24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. 25 Now the
Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to
defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him
his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

a. God Prepares Us 1 Samuel 17:34-47

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep.
When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after
it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I
seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 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. 37 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.”Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

b. Use Your Gifts

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” 38 Then Saul dressed David in his
own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David
fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used
to them.“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he
took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from
the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand,
approached the Philistine.

c. Be Confident

41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to
David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with
health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you
come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he
said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” 45 David said to the
Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against
you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have
defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down
and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to
the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in
Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord
saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”