Challenge Yourself

The story of David and Goliath is well known. I've heard it used as a metaphor for overcoming the obstacles in your life. This is a very effective and useful approach. However, I'd like to put a little different spin on the story for consideration.

We all know David was a shepherd boy. The youngest son of Jesse. He was tending sheep while his oldest brothers were serving in the Israeli army. The Israelites had come up against the Philistines and Goliath was challenging one of them, any one of them, to a duel. Winner take all. No one on the Israeli side would take the challenge. David just happened to be taking food and supplies to his brothers on the front line when he heard the taunting challenge from Goliath. David stepped up and, in one of the great underdog stories ever, defeated Goliath.

Here's what I'd like you to consider this Monday morning; Goliath was not an obstacle in David's way. David wasn't even supposed to be there, on the front line, that day. David chose the challenge of Goliath.

What challenges are you choosing to take on today?

We all have those daily situations that life throws at us that are challenging. But what we need to realize is that overcoming the situations that come at us are only preparation for the battles we are supposed initiate ourselves. David had faced lions and bears and other obstacles in his daily routine of being a shepherd. But they weren't the challenges that propelled him to his destiny. Goliath was! And Goliath was a challenge he chose to take on.

As you look back on your life, what are the battles you've fought and won (or, maybe, lost but learned from) that were the preparation for a challenge you feel you can now win in pursuit of your purpose? Look for the challenges that will allow you to grow into the person you are called to be. Be aggressive in taking on those challenges of your choosing because of what you've overcome in your past. You're still standing and there's a reason for that. You've conquered your lions and bears along the way. Now, find Goliath and go for it!

"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, 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. 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.'
"Saul said to David, 'Go, and the Lord be with you.'" - 1 Samuel 17:34-37