WHAT'S YOUR STORY? ALLOWING YOUR HISTORY TO BECOME HIS LEGACY

"But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'”

When we accept Christ as our savior, whether we aim to or not, our past, present, and future become a part of His legacy. God is capable of using us in whatever state we are in. He can use our weaknesses and unwillingness or He can use our passion and commitment to further His kingdom. Therefore, it is up to us to determine how we want our history to be used, what kind of part we want to play in the legacy that Christ is developing. Over the course of the week we are going to look at several people from the Bible. We are going to dig a bit into their pasts and we are going to unearth how their histories added to the Lord’s legacy. Today we will be looking at David.

David was not an “impressive” man. He wasn’t the first born, the tallest, or the most experienced. In fact, when Samuel came to Jesse’s family to anoint the man that God would soon place as king over the people, David was not Samuel’s first pick. Please read 1Samuel 16:7 tells us of just how God chooses his anointed ones. He does not look at outward appearance as man does, but instead God sees the heart. David had a heart for God and because of this it didn’t matter what his outward appearance was or his birth order. 1Samuel 16:11-13 tells us that the Lord picked David and that upon his anointing that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power.

Skipping ahead a little we are going to look at the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:32-37 (please read them now). In these verses David is full of an understanding that he serves a living God, and that the Philistines defiance of His God will be their demise no matter who steps up to battle the giant. Verses 42-47 of chapter 17, go on to tell us of how David testifies to this fact. In the face of a giant adversary who was spewing threats while laughing and mocking, David spoke words such as these, “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.” 1Samuel 17:42.

What an amazing testimony! what an awesome addition to the legacy of Christ! David, a young boy with no battlefield experience faced a giant with a sling and a few stones. He didn’t just face Goliath though. Instead, he set up the battle with an epic monologue giving credit where credit was due. David didn’t just go into the battle knowing that God would take care of things, he went in proclaiming to everyone around him that the battle was the Lord’s and would be won not by sword or spear or any other man-made device. The battle would be won because the Lord is capable of salvation.

Before David probably even realized it, he became an integral piece in the story of new testament salvation. God had already chosen to use David’s bloodline as the ancestry for Christ’s birth, but David chose to use the opportunities that arose in front of him as a testimony for God’s faithfulness to save His people. David was not perfect by any means. He had his faults that created difficulties for him later on down the road. One thing is for sure, David was a man of great faith and a man who was adamant about proclaiming that faith to others. I often wonder how mind-blowing the realization was of exactly what he predicted regarding God’s commitment to save when he reached Heaven. 

When I reach heaven, I want realizations like that. I want to know that I willingly submitted every aspect of my life to fulfilling the legacy that God is creating. I want a life overflowing with opportunities to give God the glory by extolling the fact that it is not by my strength that the battle will be won, but by His.

Father God, we just come to you today, ask You for the humility that David possessed in this situation. All to often it is easy to justify our decision to take credit for things that only You could accomplish, or to place blame on You when we can’t yet see the big picture You are creating. Help us Lord to be humble and to search out opportunities to testify about Your saving grace. Give us the wisdom to look beyond the giant obstacle standing before us with threats and mocking and to see Your ability and commitment to save those who believe that You can and You will. Lord give us a desire to choose you in every situation so that one day we will be able to see that we were not only a piece in the legacy because You chose us, but that we were a piece in the legacy because we chose You as well. We ask all of this in your precious name Jesus, Amen.




Devotional written by Lindsey.


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Focus on this today: "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'"