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Whose armor are you wearing?

Diane Houghtaling - Columnist
Posted 5/26/21

It started out as any ordinary day, but little did the shepherd David know that when his father, Jesse, asked him to take a basket of food to his brothers on the front lines and check on them that …

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Whose armor are you wearing?

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It started out as any ordinary day, but little did the shepherd David know that when his father, Jesse, asked him to take a basket of food to his brothers on the front lines and check on them that God was setting up a divine appointment for him. For this would be a day of destiny - the day he would face a giant, the day his God would fight for him.

The Israeli troops were fighting against the Philistines, but the battle had come to a standstill. Each day the Philistine champion, Goliath, a giant of a man, stepped out from the lines to shout defiantly against Israel and their God, causing the Israelites to run in fear.

This is where David enters, asking who is this man defying the armies of the living God. He told King Saul that he would be willing to fight this giant, and Saul replied he is just a boy. But David had a story to tell.

David had spent years as a shepherd, keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came to steal a sheep from the flock, he went after it, struck and killed it, and rescued the sheep. He announced that the Lord had delivered him from the lion and the bear, so He will also deliver him from this Philistine.

Saul relented and told David to give it a try. But first he dressed David in his own armor, which was too big. While Saul thought that his armor would help to protect David, David knew that it was his God who would protect him. Since he wasn't used to wearing armor, he took it off and took up his own armor, a sling shot and five smooth stones.

As Goliath saw David approaching to fight him, he was highly insulted. David shouted out his battle cry, “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” (I Samuel 17:45).

All it took was one stone slung at the giant and it was all over. It struck Goliath in the forehead and killed him. God gave Israel the victory that day and opened a door for David to eventually become their king.

Even though the Lord won the victory for David, David also knew his armor. He knew the gifts and talents and abilities God had placed within him. He had been trained in battle out in the field using a sling shot and stones. Besides his great faith in God, that was the only armor he was skilled in using at the time.

Do you know what your armor is? Do you know how to use the gifts, talents and abilities the Lord gave you? Have you cooperated in the training process to best use them for His glory? Or have you let others place their armor upon you?

Sometimes it's a parent telling you the armor they think you need and how they expect you to use it. It could be a teacher, employer or leader trying to convince you of the armor they think you should wield. If we give in and use the armor others place upon us, we will never fulfill the plans God has for us in the way He intended. Know your own armor.

Hope Ministries is a Christian counseling center, and we are here to help. If you would like to speak confidentially with someone, give us a call at 482-5300.

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