1 Samuel 17:38-44: a reflection

38Saul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of bronze on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. 39David strapped his sword on his clothing and he tried to move, for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, “I can’t go with these, for I have not tested them.” Then David took them off. 40He took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag which he had. His sling was in his hand; and he came near to the Philistine. 41The Philistine walked and came near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42When the Philistine looked around and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and had a good looking face. 43The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the field.”

When young David volunteers to fight the giant Goliath, King Saul tries to help by dressing David in his own armor, a bronze helmet, a coat of mail, a sword. But David, after trying to move in it, takes it all off: I cannot go with these, he says, for I have not tested them. Instead, he takes what he knows, his shepherd's staff, his sling, and five smooth stones from the brook, and goes to meet Goliath as himself, with what God had trained him to use.

Notice David's wisdom in refusing Saul's armor. The armor was fine armor, and offered in good will; but it was not David's, and he had not proven it. To fight in another's armor, unfamiliar and untested, would have been worse than useless. So David refused it, and went instead with what was his own, what he knew, what God had trained him in through years of protecting sheep. He would fight as himself, not as a copy of Saul.

That is a wisdom we often need. We are tempted to fight our battles in someone else's armor, to imitate others, to try to be who we are not, to use methods and gifts that are not ours because they seem more impressive. But God has made each of us as we are, and given each of us our own gifts and experience; and he uses us as ourselves, with what he has given us, not as imitations of someone else. Do not try to fight your battles in another's armor. Be who God has made you, and use the gifts and experience he has given you, rather than imitating others or reaching for what is not yours. David faced the giant as himself, with his own sling; be yourself, and use what God has given you, for that is how he will use you.

Lord, when young David volunteered to fight Goliath, Saul dressed him in his own armor, but David took it off, saying he could not go with what he had not tested; instead he took his own sling and stones, what he knew and you had trained him in, and went as himself. Give me that wisdom. I am tempted to fight my battles in someone else's armor, to imitate others, to try to be who I am not, to use methods and gifts that are not mine because they seem more impressive. But you have made each of us as we are, and given each of us our own gifts and experience; and you use us as ourselves, with what you have given us, not as imitations of someone else. Keep me from trying to fight my battles in another's armor. Help me be who you have made me, and use the gifts and experience you have given me, rather than imitating others or reaching for what is not mine. David faced the giant as himself, with his own sling; help me be myself, and use what you have given me, for that is how you will use me.