INTRODUCTION
The story here is about David and Goliath. How the people of God were molested for forty days by the Philistines. However, victory came their way.
Everyone in life has one hurdle or the other to cross to arrive at his destination. Let us use the story of David and Goliath this morning and learn few lessons there on our subject.
1. DELAY OR DISCRIMINATION – Vs. 12-15
“Now David was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons... His three older brothers enlisted in Saul’s army... but David was held back to care for the sheep in Bethlehem.”
The first barrier in fulfilling your dream is delay or discrimination. When God plants a dream in your heart, there is always a waiting period. There are going to be people in your life who hold you back from the dream that God has given you.
Sometimes the people who hold you back the most are those who love you the most. In this case it’s David’s father.
God has a plan for your life. But so does everybody else. When God’s plan contradicts somebody else’s plan, there’s going to be a delay and people are going to try to hold you back. They have plans for your life too. David’s father just wanted him to be a shepherd.
2. DISCOURAGEMENT – Vs. 8-10
“Each day Goliath would stand and shout at the ranks of Israel’s army, ‘Why do you come out here and line up for battle?... Choose one man to fight me. If he’s able to kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I kill him, you’ll become our subjects and serve us.’ Day after day Goliath taunted them saying ‘This day I defy the ranks of Israel!’ When Saul [that’s the king] and the Israelites heard this, everyone was deeply shaken and paralyzed with fear.”
Goliath had created a climate of fear in Israel. And everybody had concluded we’re going to lose this battle and nobody can beat Goliath. They’re all demoralized. They’re gripped with anxiety. They’re terrified. They’re traumatized. They feel hopeless. One translation says “They were so frightened they couldn’t do anything.” Have you ever been in a situation where everybody around you thought this is hopeless? Why had they gotten so discouraged from this one giant? The answer is they were listening to the wrong voice.
Who are you listening to? Who are you listening to who says it can’t be done? Who is putting down your dreams, saying it won’t ever happen. Forget it. Who’s telling you that you’re not the person to do it? Don’t hang out with fearful people so that you don’t become fearful. 3. DISAPPROVAL – Vs. 28-29 “Why are you even here anyway? Why aren’t you taking care of your scrawny little flock of sheep? You cocky little brat. I know how conceited you are!’ [And David, the younger brother goes…] ‘Now what have I done?’ said David. ‘Can't I even ask a question?’” David had to handle this in his life. He had to be willing to face the disapproval of people around him in order to go after his dream.
The reason why most people don’t ever go after their dream is they’re afraid of disapproval. They are afraid of rejection. In this case David’s own brother questions his motives. David’s own brother questions his motives and disapproved of David going after the giant.
Sometimes it’s your own family that doesn’t want you to accomplish God’s dream. It may be envy. It may be jealousy. It may be they think they know you better than you do and they know your weaknesses. But they don’t know God’s strength.
4. DOUBT – Vs. 32-33
“Don't worry about a thing,’ David told the King, ‘I'll fight this Philistine!’…‘Don't be ridiculous!’ Saul replied. ‘There’s no way you can go against this Philistine! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a professional warrior all his life!”
In David’s case the expert doubted his ability. There was nobody who was a greater expert on war than King Saul because Saul had been in battle his entire life. That expert is saying you can’t do it. That’s enough to make you start doubting yourself.
Conclusion
There are a lot of things in your life you don’t have control over. You didn’t choose your natural talent. You didn’t choose when you’d be born, where you would be born. You didn’t choose your race. You didn’t choose your gender. But you do get to choose how much you’re going to trust God.