In I Samuel 17:26-30, when Goliath was challenging Israel in the Valley of Elah, it says, “Then David spoke to the men were standing by him, saying, ‘What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach away from Israel? …. The people answered and said to him, thus it will be done for the man who kills him.” Verse 30 says that after an initial conversation (in which David was rebuked and shamed by his brother for asking this question) “Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as before.” Why did David keep asking this same question throughout the camp? There had to be some reason and purpose in it.

It doesn’t make sense that he would ask that question throughout the camp to make certain of the reward. Asking only one authoritative person would have ascertained that. Rather it seems that perhaps he was doing to make sure that all the men of the army did know — and that they had no intention of fighting Goliath themselves. In a very real way it proved that that there was no excuse for any of them; they had truly all fallen short of the challenge — and that there was NO ONE ELSE was going to do it. Perhaps as a young man, David was reluctant to thrust himself into the forefront, but if no one else was going to do it, then in God’s Spirit and power, HE was!

That would be a humble and godly motivation — and one which should challenge us. For one, just like all the army of Israel, we have each fallen short of what we should have been doing — and need to rely upon the Jesus whom David foreshadowed to deliver us from bondage to the one who was too strong for us.

But secondly, this passage should also challenge us to be like David. We do not need to proudly “thrust ourselves forward” into the limelight, but if we see something that we feel strongly about, and that needs done, perhaps, as in the case of David, the Spirit of God is leading US to be the one to do it! Is no one else doing outreach at your church? Don’t stand back and criticize; ask God if YOU are the one He is calling to do it! Is no one else taking care of the widows? Perhaps that burden is God’s call for YOU to do it! There are many such applications. If like David in this passage, you are burdened by something that needs to be done, perhaps that is God’s way of telling you that YOU are the one He is calling to do it!